PDF Avicenna's Metaphysics in Context by Robert Wisnovsky in History

Review

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful. A profound study of a profound mindBy Philip JeyaratnamAvicenna (a Latinised version of Ibn Sina) was born in 980 A.D. in Central Asia. He died in 1037 in Persia. A child prodigy who memorised the Koran by age 10; Ibn Sina also taught himself medicine and treated patients as a teenager.Arguably the greatest mind of Islamic civilisation; his intellectual achievements stand out all the more when you examine the context of his prodigious output. He produced about 450 works on philosophy; medicine; psychology; to name a few areas.Wisnovsky; an accomplished historian of philosophy and classical Arabist; has provided a precise and painstaking study of Avicenna's philosophy in context. The 'contextualism' championed by Wisnovsky; which owes a debt to the pioneering work of the philosopher of science; AI Sabra; seeks to recreate the situation and context in which Avicenna's ideas were generated. Wisnovsky has mastered a difficult topic and rendered the work of a complext mind with aplomb. He eschews reductionism (simplfying stuff)or precursorism (glorifying achievements) to produce a balanced; sympathetic but level-headed study of the work of a great Islamic and world thinker.Wisnovsky writes well; but the subject matter is heavy-going. Not for the lay reader but certainly very useful for students of the subject; whether professional or the garden variety; like myself. I look forward to future works of Wisnovsky.