“Essence and existence”, in Encyclopaedia of Islam – Three, ed. Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas and Everett Rowson (section editor: Ayman Shihadeh), Brill, Leiden-Boston, 2015, IV, pp. 118b-124b. (original) (raw)
Related papers
Oriens, 2017
The essence-existence distinction was a central issue in metaphysical disputes among post-Avicennian thinkers in the Islamic world. One group argued that what a thing is is different from that it is only conceptually. A rival view would have it that the distinction between essence and existence is real. The purpose of this article is to analyze the philosophical core of the dispute, by isolating the main arguments and their metaphysical foundations. I will study four central issues of the essence-existence debate: (1) the argument that existence is distinct from essence because one can conceive of an essence without knowing whether it exists; (2) the argument that if existence were really distinct from essence, existence would itself have to exist, leading to an infinite regress; (3) the question of whether God is responsible for the existence of essences only or also for their essential content (this relates to the problem of the ontological status of the non-existent); (4) the problem of whether essences are prior to existence.
Wuğūd-Mawğūd/Existence-Existent in Avicenna. A key ontological notion of Arabic philosophy
Quaestio, 2003
In order to analyze the notion of existence in the Arabic-Islamic context, with any sort of thoroughness, one would have to investigate many often mutually contradictory elements. An exploration of the meaning of the terms implicit in this notion would need to take into account the difference between the existential and the predicative function of the verb "to be" as well as the theory first found in Arabic philosophy (falsafa) concerning the distinction between essence and existence. At the same time one could not afford to ignore the contribution of theology, in the form of the Qur'an itself 1 and the discussions about the meaning of the term "thing" in the Mu'tazilite and the Aš'arite schools; one would also have to include Sufism and the mystical branch of Islamic philosophy, particularly the concept of "unity of existence" (waÌdat al-wuǧºd) 2. In this brief article we shall, without pretending to be exhaustive, examine only the basic elements, starting with terminological questions (and perhaps exposing problems rather than of-* I would like to thank Karen Christenfeld for her help in preparing the English version of this article.
"Wujud-Mawjud/Existence-Existent in Avicenna. A Key Ontological Notion of Arabic Philosophy"
Quaestio (éd. Brepols/Pagina, Bari), 3 (2003), pp. 111-138
In order to analyze the notion of existence in the Arabic-Islamic context, with any sort of thoroughness, one would have to investigate many often mutually contradictory elements. An exploration of the meaning of the terms implicit in this notion would need to take into account the difference between the existential and the predicative function of the verb "to be" as well as the theory first found in Arabic philosophy (falsafa) concerning the distinction between essence and existence. At the same time one could not afford to ignore the contribution of theology, in the form of the Qur'an itself 1 and the discussions about the meaning of the term "thing" in the Mu'tazilite and the Aš'arite schools; one would also have to include Sufism and the mystical branch of Islamic philosophy, particularly the concept of "unity of existence" (waÌdat al-wuǧºd) 2 . In this brief article we shall, without pretending to be exhaustive, examine only the basic elements, starting with terminological questions (and perhaps exposing problems rather than of-* I would like to thank Karen Christenfeld for her help in preparing the English version of this article.
2020
Avicenna is an influential philosopher whose contributions in ontology led to the transformation of Greek philosophy into philosophical theology in the Middle Ages. He distinguished between existence and essence, divided beings into necessary and contingent beings, and believed in the objectivity of existence. This article discusses Avicenna’s innovations in philosophical ontology and its influence on Christian ontology and theology, especially on Aquinas’ thought. The article focuses on the distinction between existence and essence and its implications in Avicenna’s philosophy and studies its influence on Aquinas’ theology. It will show that although Aquinas, especially in his De Ente et Essentia, is influenced by Avicenna’s ontology, his understanding of Avicenna’s views are sometimes inaccurate, and this has led him to disagree with Avicenna in some cases.
Definition and Essence in Aristotle's Metaphysics vii 4
Ancient Philosophy, 2014
This paper discusses Aristotle’s notions of essence and definition as they are developed in Metaphysics vii 4, a chapter in which Aristotle seems to hesitate or even to contradict himself about criteria for determining what an essence is. This paper offers a full discussion of Aristotle’s argument and try to show that there is no inconsistency nor hesitation in Aristotle’s approach. Aristotle begins with a more general account of essence and definitions, which is based on merely logical-epistemic requirements, but at 1030a2-17 he introduces a stricter account, which rests on additional criteria concerned with explanatory power of essences and definitions. The two accounts are far from being incompatible with each other. Aristotle’s strategy can be satisfactorily understood from his broader concerns at Metaphysics vii as a whole.
Aristotle and the Arabic Tradition
This volume of essays by scholars in ancient Greek, medieval, and Arabic philosophy examines the full range of Aristotle's influence upon the Arabic tradition. It explores central themes from Aristotle's corpus, including logic, rhetoric and poetics, physics and meteorology, psychology, metaphysics, ethics and politics, and examines how these themes are investigated and developed by Arabic philosophers including al-Kindî, al-Fârâbî, Avicenna, al-Ghazâlî, Ibn Bâjja and Averroes. The volume also includes essays which explicitly focus upon the historical reception of Aristotle, from the time of the Greek and Syriac transmission of his texts into the Islamic world to the period of their integration and assimilation into Arabic philosophy. This rich and wide-ranging collection will appeal to all those who are interested in the themes, development and context of Aristotle's enduring legacy within the Arabic tradition.
Oriens, 2023
This paper argues that both Aristotle’s theory of the so-called focal homonymy of “being” and Avicenna’s corresponding theory of the ambiguity of “existence” (tashkīk al-wujūd) are meant to address the same dilemma of categorial ontology, but by recourse to different solutions. Avicenna retains Aristotle’s concerns but rejects his solution of focal homonymy, offering a new theory which more satisfactorily addresses each horn of the dilemma. This reading departs from prior scholarship, which, taking Avicenna to have adopted the focal theory basically intact from his Late Antique predecessors, instead tends to privilege the theory’s (peripheral) theological applications.