The Use of Conceptual Metaphors in Avicenna’s Knowledge of the Soul

Document Type : Scholarly Article

Authors
mostafa momeni 1
Mohammadkazem Alavi 2
Mohammad nejati 3
Fatemeh mobaraki 4
1 Associate Professor, Department of Islamic studies, Sabzevari University Of Medical sciences, Sabzevar, Iran
2 Associate Professor of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Department of Islamic Philosophy and Wisdom, Research Core of Health Studies (RCHS), Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran
3 Associate Professor, Department of Islamic studies, Hormozgan University Of Medical sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran
4 PHD of Islamic Philosophy and Theology , Research Asistant of Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran
10.30497/ap.2025.248907.1755
Abstract
Unlike the traditional and classical view, which was limited to the literary and rhetorical field, conceptual metaphors have found a wide scope in the contemporary view. Today, conceptual metaphor, as a valuable tool, plays an important role in recognizing abstract facts and matters and makes it easier for the public to understand complex topics, and helps teachers and learners to build and criticize conceptual structures. From this perspective, metaphor, by relying on the construction of words and previous information, helps to understand and represent unfamiliar phenomena. Although the term "conceptual metaphor" is a new term, it has been used in the expressions of Islamic philosophers and mystics to understand and explain metaphysical concepts; in this regard, Ibn Sina's view of the self and its truth contains attractive and captivating schemas. Therefore, this research has addressed the following question using a descriptive-analytical method: What metaphors did Ibn Sina use to help understand and recognize the self? By referring to his expressions and works, metaphors such as: "The soul is power and strength" or "The soul is a container and volume" or "The soul is a bird" and also "The soul is a painting tablet" can be seen, which are introduced and analyzed in this article.
Keywords
soul
power
potential
metaphor
Avicenna
schema
Subjects
 
Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā). (1352). Mi‘rāj Nāmah (Edited by: Bahman Karimi). Rasht: Maṭba‘‘Urwat al-Wuthqā.
Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā). (1363). Al-Mabda’ wa al-Ma‘ād. Tehran: Moasseseh Motale’at-e Eslami. [In Arabic]
Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā). (1370). Risālat al-Ṭayr. Tehran: Entesharat-e Al-Zahra.
Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā). (1375). Al-Ishārāt wa al-Tanbīhāt. Qom: Nashr al-Balāgha. (Noor Software) [In Arabic]
Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā). (1379). Al-Najāt min al-Gharq fī Baḥr al-Ẓulumāt. Tehran: Tehran University Press. [In Arabic]
Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā). (1382). Al-Uḍḥawiyyah fī al-Ma‘ād. Tehran: Shams Tabrizi. [In Arabic]
Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā). (1388). Majmū‘at Rasā’il Ibn Sīnā (Corrected by: Seyyed Mahmoud Taheri). Qom: Āyat Ishrāq. [In Arabic]
Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā). (1404a). Al-Ta‘līqāt. Qom: Maktabat al-A‘lām al-Islāmi. [In Arabic]
Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā). (1404b). Al-Shifā’ – Al-Ṭabī‘iyyāt. Qom: Mar‘ashī Najafī. [In Arabic]
Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā). (1404c). Al-Shifā’ – Al-Ilāhiyyāt. Qom: Mar‘ashī Najafī. [In Arabic]
Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā). (1405). Al-Shifā’ – Al-Manṭiq. Qom: Mar‘ashī Najafī. [In Arabic]
Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā). (1405a). Al-Qaṣīdah al-Muzdawijah. Qom: Mar‘ashī Najafī. [In Arabic]
Bostani, Fouad. (1376). Farhang-e Abjadī-e Alfobā-ye Arabī-Fārsī. Eslami. [In Arabic]
Johnson, M. (1987). The Body in The Mind (The Bodily Basis of Meaning, Imagination, and Reason). Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Lakoff, G & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors We Live By. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Lakoff, G & Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the Flesh (The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought). New York: Basic Book.
Lakoff, G. (1993). The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor, in Metaphor and Thought, edited by Andrew Ortony. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mokhles, Saham, Akbari, Reza, et al. (1395). “Risālat al-Ṭayr Ibn Sīnā: Farārevāyati Namādīn az Ma ‘nā-ye Zendegī.” Hikmat-e Sīnawī, No. 56. [In Persian]
Momeni, Seyyed Ali; Imanpour, Mansour; & Akbari, Reza. (1399). “Esti‘āreh-ye Mafhūmī va Mas’aleh-ye Ziyādat-e Wujūd bar Māhiyyat dar Falsafe-ye Eslāmī.” Hikmat-e Sīnawī, No. 63. [In Persian]
Panāhī, Nematollah. (1396). “Esti‘āreh-ye Mafhūmī; Olgū-ye Idrakī-ye Tajrobe-ye Erfānī dar ‘Aql-e Sorkh-e Sohravardī.” Kāvesh Nāmeh-ye Zabān va Adabiyyāt-e Fārsī, No. 35. [In Persian]
Qurashī Banā’ī, Ali Akbar. (1307). Qāmūs al-Qur’ān. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah. [In Arabic]
Tūsī, Nasir al-Din. (1375). Sharh al-Ishārāt wa al-Tanbīhāt. Vol. 2, Qom: Nashr al-Balāgha. [In Arabic]
Tūsī, Nasir al-Din. (1375). Sharh al-Ishārāt wa al-Tanbīhāt. Vol. 2. Qom: Nashr al-Balāgha. [In Arabic]