Evaluating Avicenna's Response to Ibn Kammụna's Problem of Unity of the Necessary Being

جستارهایی در فلسفه و کلام

Volume 57, Issue 1 - Serial Number 114, May 2025, Pages 47-71   

Document Type: Original Article

DOI: 10.22067/epk.2024.88669.1348

Authors

Vahid Davari chahardeh^{* 1}; Mahmood Dayyani²; ramezan mahdavi²

¹Daneshgah shahid mafani azarbaijan

²Daneshgah mazandaran

Abstract

The importance of theology to philosophers is not hidden. The unity of the Necessary Being is one of the most important issues in this regard. Among the most important doubts about God's unity is the suspicion of Ibn Kammụna. Its denial of the most important principle of Islam and the emphasis of some of Avicenna's commentators, highlight the importance of a response. In this problem, the philosophers' argument for the rejection of the composition in Divine essence, which considers the necessity of the Necessary Being to be essential for Him, is undermined and such an essential necessity is considered to be "accidental". The purpose of the article is to deal with Ibn Kammụna's suspicion and to examine it within the context of Avicenna's thought. Therefore, the present study seeks to respond to the aforementioned problem based on Avicenna's philosophical foundations, including the simplicity of Necessary Being, the notion that His essence is the same as His Existence, and the univocality of existence, and also through the historical examination of this problem and even its background in the traditions of the Imams of Shi‘a and the ancient times (Greek philosophers). Therefore, given the age of this suspicion, Avicenna's philosophical principles and arguments appear to be able to respond to Ibn Kammụna's problem.

Keywords

Avicenna; Ibn Kammụna's Problem; Unity of the Necessary Being; argument for the rejection of composition; the essence of the Necessary Being; the simplicity of the Necessary Being

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