“From the One, Only One Proceeds”: The Post-Classical Reception of a Key Principle of Avicenna’s Metaphysics

Abstract The separated intellects play a crucial but notoriously controversial role within the Neoplatonic systems of al-Fārābī and Avicenna. While both thinkers provide an array of proofs to support the existence of such immaterial substances, the most enduring of these is based on a metaphysical r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oriens
Main Author: Amin, Wahid M. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2020
In: Oriens
Further subjects:B Emanation
B Avicenna
B ṣudūr
B intellects
B Procession
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Summary:Abstract The separated intellects play a crucial but notoriously controversial role within the Neoplatonic systems of al-Fārābī and Avicenna. While both thinkers provide an array of proofs to support the existence of such immaterial substances, the most enduring of these is based on a metaphysical rule of Avicenna’s metaphysics known as the “rule of one” (qāʿidat al-wāḥid): that from the One, only one proceeds (lā yaṣdur ʿan l-wāḥid illā l-wāḥid). The following paper explores the various ways in which Avicenna defended this principle and traces their reception in the post-classical period, thereby showing how vigorously the question of emanation was debated among scholars of the later medieval period.
ISSN:1877-8372
Contains:Enthalten in: Oriens
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/18778372-04801005