The Heirs of Avicenna (2016 - 2023)

This project investigates the reception of Avicenna's philosophy in the Islamic East in the 12th and 13th centuries CE. Its aim is to lay a foundation for future research by analysing central topics from Avicenna's works. This includes the translation and analysis of textual passages as well as the compilation of a three-volume anthology and an online database. The project is funded by the DFG.

Abstract

The project focuses on the reception of Avicenna’s philosophy in the Islamic East in the 12th to 13th centuries CE. There has been very little research into the large number of extant philosophical works from this period, in part because of the long-standing but now discredited myth that philosophy in the Islamic world ended with Averroes (d. 1198).

Yet this was a period of complex and sophisticated philosophical activity, embracing three major traditions: philosophical kalām (Islamic theology), Illuminationism, and philosophical Sufism. Avicenna (d. 1037) was the dominant philosophical authority in later Islamic philosophy, much as Aristotle had been for earlier generations, with thinkers of all three traditions responding to him.

To understand his influence better, we will select a range of distinctive Avicennan ideas across a range of themes in logic, physics, psychology, and metaphysics. We will identify, translate, and analyse passages in which authors of the 12th to 13th centuries engage with Avicenna on these themes, producing volumes of sources in translation accompanied by analytical material, alongside research articles on specific themes.

The passages translated in the sourcebooks will also be made freely available online in their original languages. The project will thereby make a wide range of texts available as never before, demonstrate the interest of this overlooked material for a broad philosophical audience, and lay groundwork for future research into still later periods of philosophy in the Islamic world.

Project information

Project title
The Heirs of Avicenna: Philosophy in the Islamic East from the 12th to the 13th Century
Funded by
DFG
Project link
The Heirs of Avicenna
Project duration
1.10.2016 - 30.9.2023
Funds awarded
1,098,214 €
Project team
Prof. Dr. Peter Adamson
Fedor Benevich
Sarah Virgi
Dustin Klinger
Michael Noble
Andreas Lammer
Associated Chair
Chair of Late Ancient and Arabic Philosophy