Realism Transformed: The Ontology of Universals in Avicennan Philosophy and Qutb al-Din al-Rāzī’s Theory of Mental Exemplars

The onto-epistemological status of mental representations can be seen among the most controversial problems of Post-Avicennan philosophy. The problem has its roots in Ibn Sīnā’s attempt to get a predicational unity between the layers of being on one hand and in Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s criticisms of m...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: İbrahim Halil Üçer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: İstanbul Medeniyet Üniversitesi Bilim Tarihi Enstitüsü 2020-10-01
Series:Nazariyat: Journal for the History of Islamic Philosophy and Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://nazariyat.org/content/5-sayilar/13-cilt-6-sayi-2/2-gercekciligin-donusumu-ibn-sinaci-felsefede-tumellerin-ontolojisi-ve-kutbuddin-er-razinin-zihni-misaller-teorisi-uzerine/2_ucer_ibrahim_halil_en.pdf
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849736969982050304
author İbrahim Halil Üçer
author_facet İbrahim Halil Üçer
author_sort İbrahim Halil Üçer
collection DOAJ
description The onto-epistemological status of mental representations can be seen among the most controversial problems of Post-Avicennan philosophy. The problem has its roots in Ibn Sīnā’s attempt to get a predicational unity between the layers of being on one hand and in Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s criticisms of mental existence and universality of mental exemplars on the other. Al-Rāzī’s criticisms led the prominent followers of Ibn Sīnā to reconsider the Avicennan principle of the preservation of essences in multi-layered being and Ibn Sīnā’s conception of knowledge as an immaterial representation of nature. Against al-Rāzī’s criticism, al- Ṭūsī tried to narrow the ontological extension of essences and to redefine universal predication. Quṭb al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s involvement in the discussion took the restrictive efforts to the next level. In addition to al-Ṭūsī‘s restricting the ontological extensions of essences by only giving them an epistemological role, Quṭb al-Dīn al-Rāzī downgraded their epistemological roles as well and counted them just as individual exemplars (mithāl) in the individual’s mind. In addition to al-Ṭūsī’s hesitant rejection of universal natures in external world, he also clearly rejected the existence of universal natures in the external world. His first position led him to redefine the notion of correspondence and universality, and his second position led him to propose a non- explanatory interpretation of Ibn Sīnā’s hylomorphic substances. In this paper, I will discuss the continuities and discontinuities of his interpretations with respect to Ibn Sīnā’s strong metaphysical realism and his philosophical project’s aim to construct the unity of essences in a multi-layered being.
format Article
id doaj-art-806bf508b45846c096f4eababedf827d
institution DOAJ
issn 2547-9415
2547-9415
language English
publishDate 2020-10-01
publisher İstanbul Medeniyet Üniversitesi Bilim Tarihi Enstitüsü
record_format Article
series Nazariyat: Journal for the History of Islamic Philosophy and Sciences
spelling doaj-art-806bf508b45846c096f4eababedf827d2025-08-20T03:07:06Zengİstanbul Medeniyet Üniversitesi Bilim Tarihi EnstitüsüNazariyat: Journal for the History of Islamic Philosophy and Sciences2547-94152547-94152020-10-0162236810.12658/Nazariyat.6.2.M0116enRealism Transformed: The Ontology of Universals in Avicennan Philosophy and Qutb al-Din al-Rāzī’s Theory of Mental Exemplarsİbrahim Halil Üçer0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3902-0418Assoc. Prof., İstanbul Medeniyet University, Department of PhilosophyThe onto-epistemological status of mental representations can be seen among the most controversial problems of Post-Avicennan philosophy. The problem has its roots in Ibn Sīnā’s attempt to get a predicational unity between the layers of being on one hand and in Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s criticisms of mental existence and universality of mental exemplars on the other. Al-Rāzī’s criticisms led the prominent followers of Ibn Sīnā to reconsider the Avicennan principle of the preservation of essences in multi-layered being and Ibn Sīnā’s conception of knowledge as an immaterial representation of nature. Against al-Rāzī’s criticism, al- Ṭūsī tried to narrow the ontological extension of essences and to redefine universal predication. Quṭb al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s involvement in the discussion took the restrictive efforts to the next level. In addition to al-Ṭūsī‘s restricting the ontological extensions of essences by only giving them an epistemological role, Quṭb al-Dīn al-Rāzī downgraded their epistemological roles as well and counted them just as individual exemplars (mithāl) in the individual’s mind. In addition to al-Ṭūsī’s hesitant rejection of universal natures in external world, he also clearly rejected the existence of universal natures in the external world. His first position led him to redefine the notion of correspondence and universality, and his second position led him to propose a non- explanatory interpretation of Ibn Sīnā’s hylomorphic substances. In this paper, I will discuss the continuities and discontinuities of his interpretations with respect to Ibn Sīnā’s strong metaphysical realism and his philosophical project’s aim to construct the unity of essences in a multi-layered being.https://nazariyat.org/content/5-sayilar/13-cilt-6-sayi-2/2-gercekciligin-donusumu-ibn-sinaci-felsefede-tumellerin-ontolojisi-ve-kutbuddin-er-razinin-zihni-misaller-teorisi-uzerine/2_ucer_ibrahim_halil_en.pdfavicennapost-avicennan philosophymetaphysical realismproblem of universalsontology of universalsrepresentationfakhr al-dīn al-rāzīnaṣīr al-dīn al-ṭūsīquṭb al-dīn al-rāzī al-taḥtānī
spellingShingle İbrahim Halil Üçer
Realism Transformed: The Ontology of Universals in Avicennan Philosophy and Qutb al-Din al-Rāzī’s Theory of Mental Exemplars
Nazariyat: Journal for the History of Islamic Philosophy and Sciences
avicenna
post-avicennan philosophy
metaphysical realism
problem of universals
ontology of universals
representation
fakhr al-dīn al-rāzī
naṣīr al-dīn al-ṭūsī
quṭb al-dīn al-rāzī al-taḥtānī
title Realism Transformed: The Ontology of Universals in Avicennan Philosophy and Qutb al-Din al-Rāzī’s Theory of Mental Exemplars
title_full Realism Transformed: The Ontology of Universals in Avicennan Philosophy and Qutb al-Din al-Rāzī’s Theory of Mental Exemplars
title_fullStr Realism Transformed: The Ontology of Universals in Avicennan Philosophy and Qutb al-Din al-Rāzī’s Theory of Mental Exemplars
title_full_unstemmed Realism Transformed: The Ontology of Universals in Avicennan Philosophy and Qutb al-Din al-Rāzī’s Theory of Mental Exemplars
title_short Realism Transformed: The Ontology of Universals in Avicennan Philosophy and Qutb al-Din al-Rāzī’s Theory of Mental Exemplars
title_sort realism transformed the ontology of universals in avicennan philosophy and qutb al din al razi s theory of mental exemplars
topic avicenna
post-avicennan philosophy
metaphysical realism
problem of universals
ontology of universals
representation
fakhr al-dīn al-rāzī
naṣīr al-dīn al-ṭūsī
quṭb al-dīn al-rāzī al-taḥtānī
url https://nazariyat.org/content/5-sayilar/13-cilt-6-sayi-2/2-gercekciligin-donusumu-ibn-sinaci-felsefede-tumellerin-ontolojisi-ve-kutbuddin-er-razinin-zihni-misaller-teorisi-uzerine/2_ucer_ibrahim_halil_en.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT ibrahimhalilucer realismtransformedtheontologyofuniversalsinavicennanphilosophyandqutbaldinalrazistheoryofmentalexemplars