Ibn Sina's Remarks and Admonitions - (Hardcover)

About the Book

Grounded in an exploration of logic and happiness (the ultimate human goal), the text illuminates the divine, the human being, and the nature of things through a wide-ranging discussion of topics.

Book Synopsis

Al-Isharat wal-Tanbihat (Remarks and Admonitions) is one of the most mature and comprehensive philosophical works by Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980-1037). Grounded in an exploration of logic (which Ibn Sina described as the gate to knowledge) and happiness (the ultimate human goal), the text illuminates the divine, the human being, and the nature of things through a wide-ranging discussion of topics. The sections of Physics and Metaphysics deal with the nature of bodies and souls as well as existence, creation, and knowledge. Especially important are Ibn Sina's views of God's knowledge of particulars, which generated much controversy in medieval Islamic and Christian philosophical and theological circles and provoked a strong rejection by eleventh-century philosopher al-Ghazali.

This book provides the first annotated English translation of Physics and Metaphysics and edits the original Arabic text on which the translation is based. It begins with a detailed analysis of the text, followed by a translation of the three classes or groups of ideas in the Physics (On the Substance of Bodies, On the Directions and Their Primary and Secondary Bodies, and On the Terrestrial and Celestial Souls) and the four in the Metaphysics (On Existence and Its Causes, Creation Ex Nihilo and Immediate Creation, On Ends, on Their Principles, and on the Arrangement [of Existence], and On Abstraction. The Metaphysics closes with a significant discussion of the concepts of providence, good, and evil, which Ibn Sina uses to introduce a theodicy.

Researchers, faculty, and students in philosophy, theology, religion, and intellectual history will find in this work a useful and necessary source for understanding Ibn Sina's philosophical thought and, more generally, the medieval Islamic and Christian study of nature, the world beyond, psychology, God, and the concept of evil.

Review Quotes

A considerable contribution to Avicennan scholarship with her translation of the Isharat.-- "Journal of Islamic Studies"

This is an important translation from the original Arabic of a major text by one of the most influential Muslim philosophers to date. It is handsomely presented by Columbia University Press.-- "International Journal of Philosophy of Religion"

Finally, thanks to Inati, we have now available in English the Physics and Metaphysics of Ibn Sina's most famous work in the East, the Isharat, or Remarks and Admonitions. The Isharat offers Ibn Sina's more mature thinking, so access to it in English is invaluable. Now East and West can truly meet to discuss one of the greatest philosophers.--Thérèse-Anne Druart, Catholic University of America

An important text by one of the leading writers on Islamic philosophy and the first English translation of high quality. It will be heavily used by those in the discipline.--Oliver Leaman, University of Kentucky

Ibn Sina (the Avicenna of Latin fame) is without doubt among the most important and influential Muslim philosophers of all time. He presented his unique intellectual system with its mix of Greek science and Islamic theology in no less than three encyclopedias, of which Remarks and Admonitions is the shortest and most enigmatic. With Ibn Sina's Remarks and Admonitions: Physics and Metaphysics, Shams C. Inati has provided us with a helpful tool with which future scholars can dig deeper into the nuanced philosophical system of Ibn Sina and mine the virtually untapped riches of postclassical Islamic philosophy.--Jon McGinnis, University of Missouri, St. Louis

Inati's masterful translation has produced a remarkable work that is useful both for students and scholars. Her extensive analysis, commentary, and annotations have added much value to this work, which will no doubt shed further light on our understanding of Ibn Sina.--Mehdi Aminrazavi, University of Mary Washington

This work continues Inati's earlier volumes of analysis and translation into English of Ibn Sina's al-Isharat wal-Tanbihat, the last philosophical masterpiece of the shaykh of Muslim peripatetic philosophers. In providing a clear and accessible translation of difficult text with very useful annotations, Inati has made a major contribution to Avicenna's studies and has put students of Islamic as well as Western medieval philosophy in her debt.--Seyyed Hossein Nasr, George Washington University

About the Author

Shams C. Inati is an internationally renowned intellectual and scholar on Islamic philosophy, a poet, and an educator. She is professor of Islamic philosophy and theology at Villanova University. Dr. Inati is the author of numerous articles and a number of books, including The Problem of Evil: Ibn Sina's Theodicy; Ibn Sina and Mysticism: Remarks and Admonitions; and Remarks and Admonitions: Logic.