Reconstruction of Avicenna’s Method in Psychology

Document Type : Scholarly Article

Author

Associate Professor at the Department of philosophy, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The common point of the various sections that make up Islamic theoretical philosophy is the apodictique knowledge of the world, although the apodictique principles of each section differ according to the subject of that section. In the classification of immediates, the specific principles of psychology fall into the category of sensa, which Avicenna attributes their perception to the internal senses and the very soul. One question is, based on the functions that Avicenna defines for each of them, whether any of the internal senses can be, next to the soul, the source of knowledge of the soul or not. The only faculty that is a candidate for this is the faculty of estimation. But its function is the perception of particular meanings, not the knowledge of the perception of particular meanings that leads to the knowledge of the soul. Another question is how the soul can know the animal and plant faculties of the soul that are material and impressed in the body. The present article, by examining the functions that Avicenna attributes to the faculties of the soul, shows that none of the external and internal senses of the soul are used for the knowledge of the soul, and that it is the soul itself that knows the apodictique principles of psychology by perceiving itself and its states and actions immediately. In addition, knowledge of the animal and material faculties of the soul is achieved through the direct perception of actions of these faculties, which are at the same time accidents of the soul.

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References

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