Avicenna on Existence (History of Philosophy)

#Philosophy #Avicenna #Metaphysics

[charlescarpenter]

I really appreciate your podcasts and your books, of which I have read four volumes. Philosophy is so undervalued nowadays, and this explains why you get so few listeners. What Maurice De Wulf said about medieval philosophy could be repeated in today’s truer Dark Ages: “Scholasticism collapsed not because of lack of ideas, but for lack of brains.”

[ftahmasebi]

Iranians have enjoyed a long cultural continuity, something that distinguishes them from other Middle Eastern neighbors. Avicenna's presence in Iranian landmarks not only serves as a reminder of his remarkable achievements but also fosters a sense of national pride among Persians

[myblackaura]

"How does he prove these things? To find out, it will be necessary for you to listen next time to Avicenna on God here on the History on Philosophy - without any gaps."

Okay. So, why have I been waiting years for you to upload part two? Where is it? "Without any gaps" - really??

[StatelessLiberty]

tbh I struggle to understand what is supposed to be the difference between "necessary" and "contingent" things in an absolute sense. there is only one universe and I don't understand what it could possibly mean to say that something which doesn't exist "might have existed" (as if it does exist in a parallel universe). humans use terms like possible and impossible because our knowledge is limited, and "impossible" means something we can conclusively rule out even with our limited knowledge and "possible" means we can't rule it out (or couldn't rule it our before-the-fact). but for an omniscient being (like God) the difference between possible and actual seems to collapse. given the laws of physics and the initial conditions of the universe, everything else is "guaranteed." this is maybe what avicenna meant by saying the phoenix is "impossible, " but it seems to me to undercut the whole aristotelean idea that certain beings are intrinsically contingent.

[thomasvieth]

What a strange notion it is to think that non-rational humans are impossible!

[johnmanno]

I really really hate being "that guy", but does the "human = rational" thing apply to deeply brain damaged people, archaic hominid species (Homo Erectus, Neanderthal, Denisovan, etc) and/or human foetuses?

[johnmanno]

I hate to be "that guy", but....

Carnivory has been observed in giraffes!!!

There are no square circles though.

[Thegeniusmonkey]

Its ibn sina not Avicenna wht are people trying to conceal the fact that he was a muslim. Like do we call Shakespeare Sheikh Zubayr. Please stop latinizing muslim names