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    The Book of Healing

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    The Book of Healing is a major scientific and philosophical encyclopedia written by Avicenna (Ibn Sina) between 1014-1020 CE. It covers logic, natural sciences like astronomy, chemistry, earth sciences and psychology, as well as philosophy, logic, and metaphysics. In psychology, Avicenna discussed the mind-body relationship and introduced the concept of five internal senses. He also used early forms of psychotherapy to treat mental illnesses like depression. The Book of Healing was a major work in the Islamic Golden Age that incorporated ideas from Greek, Hellenistic, and earlier Muslim scholars.

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    The Book of Healing

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    gitano
    3K views5 pages
    The Book of Healing is a major scientific and philosophical encyclopedia written by Avicenna (Ibn Sina) between 1014-1020 CE. It covers logic, natural sciences like astronomy, chemistry, earth sciences and psychology, as well as philosophy, logic, and metaphysics. In psychology, Avicenna discussed the mind-body relationship and introduced the concept of five internal senses. He also used early forms of psychotherapy to treat mental illnesses like depression. The Book of Healing was a major work in the Islamic Golden Age that incorporated ideas from Greek, Hellenistic, and earlier Muslim scholars.

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    The Book of Healing is a major scientific and philosophical encyclopedia written by Avicenna (Ibn Sina) between 1014-1020 CE. It covers logic, natural sciences like astronomy, chemistry, earth sciences and psychology, as well as philosophy, logic, and metaphysics. In psychology, Avicenna discussed the mind-body relationship and introduced the concept of five internal senses. He also used early forms of psychotherapy to treat mental illnesses like depression. The Book of Healing was a major work in the Islamic Golden Age that incorporated ideas from Greek, Hellenistic, and earlier Muslim scholars.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    3K views5 pages

    The Book of Healing

    Uploaded by

    gitano
    The Book of Healing is a major scientific and philosophical encyclopedia written by Avicenna (Ibn Sina) between 1014-1020 CE. It covers logic, natural sciences like astronomy, chemistry, earth sciences and psychology, as well as philosophy, logic, and metaphysics. In psychology, Avicenna discussed the mind-body relationship and introduced the concept of five internal senses. He also used early forms of psychotherapy to treat mental illnesses like depression. The Book of Healing was a major work in the Islamic Golden Age that incorporated ideas from Greek, Hellenistic, and earlier Muslim scholars.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 5

    The Book of Healing

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    "al-Shifa" redirects here. For other uses, see al-Shifa (disambiguation).

    The Book of Healing

    Author Avicenna

    Original title ‫كتاب الشفاء‬

    Language Arabic

    Genre Natural Philosophy

    Published 1027 (Arabic)

    Part of a series on

    Avicenna
    (Ibn Sīnā)

    Works


    o The Book of Healing
    o The Canon of Medicine
    o Al-Nijat

    Thoughts

     Avicennism
     On God's existence
     Floating man
     Al-Ghazali's criticism of Avicennian philosophy

    Pupils

     Abu 'Ubayd al-Juzjani


     Bahmanyar
     Ibn Abi Sadiq
     Ali ibn Yusuf al-Ilaqi

    Monuments

     Avicenna Mausoleum
     Avicenna (crater)
     Bu-Ali Sina University
     Avicenne Hospital
     The Physician
     The Physician (2013 film)
     Avicenna Cultural and Scientific Foundation
     Scholars Pavilion

     v
     t
     e

    The Book of Healing (Arabic: ‫کتاب الشفاء‬, romanized: Kitāb al-Shifāʾ; Latin: Sufficientia; also
    known as The Cure or Assepha) is a scientific and philosophical encyclopedia written
    by Abu Ali ibn Sīna (aka Avicenna) from medieval Persia,
    near Bukhara in Maverounnahr. He most likely began to compose the book in 1014,
    completed it around 1020,[1] and published it in 1027.[2][3]
    This work is Ibn Sina's major work on science and philosophy, and is intended to "cure"
    or "heal" ignorance of the soul. Thus, despite its title, it is not concerned with medicine,
    in contrast to Avicenna's earlier The Canon of Medicine (5 vols.) which is, in fact,
    medical.
    The book is divided into four parts: logic, natural
    sciences, mathematics (a quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy),
    and metaphysics.[3] It was influenced by ancient Greek philosophers such
    as Aristotle; Hellenistic thinkers such as Ptolemy; and earlier Persian/Muslim scientists
    and philosophers, such as Al-Kindi (Alkindus), Al-Farabi (Alfarabi), and Al-Bīrūnī.

    Contents

     1Sciences
    o 1.1Astronomy
    o 1.2Chemistry
    o 1.3Earth sciences
    o 1.4Psychology
     2Philosophy
    o 2.1Logic
    o 2.2Metaphysics
    o 2.3Philosophy of science
     3Sections of the text
     4In English Translation
     5See also
     6References
     7External links

    Sciences[edit]
    Astronomy[edit]
    In astronomy, the book proposes the theory that Venus is closer to Earth than the Sun.
    Chemistry[edit]
    Ibn Sina's theory on the formation of metals combined the alchemical sulfur-mercury
    theory of metals (although he was a critic of alchemy) with the mineralogical theories
    of Aristotle and Theophrastus. He created a synthesis of ideas concerning the nature of
    the mineral and metallic states.[4]
    Earth sciences[edit]
    Toulmin and Goodfield (1965), commented on Avicenna's contribution to geology:[5]
    Around A.D. 1000, Avicenna was already suggesting a hypothesis about the origin of
    mountain ranges, which in the Christian world, would still have been considered quite
    radical eight hundred years later
    Paleontology
    Ibn Sina also contributed to paleontology with his explanation of how
    the stoniness of fossils was caused. Aristotle previously explained it in terms of
    vaporous exhalations, which Ibn Sina modified into the theory of petrifying fluids (succus
    lapidificatus), which was elaborated on by Albertus Magnus in the 13th century and
    accepted in some form by most naturalists by the 16th century.[6] Ibn Sina made the
    following observation on the theories held at the time on fossils and the petrifaction of
    plants and animals:
    "If what is said concerning the petrifaction of animals and plants is true, the cause of this
    (phenomenon) is a powerful mineralizing and petrifying virtue which arises in certain
    stony spots, or emanates suddenly from the earth during earthquake and subsidences,
    and petrifies whatever comes into contact with it. As a matter of fact, the petrifaction of
    the bodies of plants and animals is not more extraordinary than the transformation of
    waters."
    Psychology[edit]
    See also: Avicennism and The Canon of Medicine

    In The Book of Healing, Avicenna discusses the mind, its existence, the mind–body
    relationship, sensation, perception, etc. He writes that at the most common level, the
    influence of the mind on the body can be seen in voluntary movements, in that the body
    obeys whenever the mind wishes to move the body. He further writes that the second
    level of influence of the mind on the body is from emotions and the will. As an example,
    he states that if a plank of wood is placed as a bridge over a chasm, a person could
    hardly creep over it without falling if that person only pictures himself/herself in a
    possible fall so vividly that the "natural power of limbs accord with it."
    He also writes that strong negative emotions can have a negative effect on the
    vegetative functions of an individual and may even lead to death in some cases. He
    also discusses hypnosis (al Wahm al-Amil), stating that one could create conditions in
    another person so that he/she accepts the reality of hypnosis. Avicenna was also the
    first to divide human perception into the five external senses (the classical senses
    of hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch known since ancient history) and the five
    internal senses which he discovered himself:[7]: 366 

    1. sensus communis ('common sense'), which integrates sense data into percepts;
    2. the imaginative faculty, which conserves the perceptual images;
    3. imagination, which acts upon these images by combining and separating them, serving
    as the seat of the practical intellect;
    4. wahm (instinct), which perceives qualities (such as good and bad, love and hate, etc.)
    and forms the basis of a person's character whether or not influenced by reason; and
    5. ma'ni (intentions), which conserve all these notions in memory.
    Avicenna also gives psychological explanations for certain somatic illnesses, alwayings
    linking the physical and psychological illnesses together. He
    describes melancholia (i.e. depression) as a type of mood disorder in which the person
    may become suspicious and develop certain types of phobias. He states
    that anger heralds the transition of melancholia to mania, and explains
    that humidity inside the head can contribute to mood disorders. He recognizes that this
    occurs when the amount of breath changes: happiness increases the breath, which
    leads to increased moisture inside the brain, but if this moisture goes beyond its limits,
    the brain would lose control over its rationality and lead to mental disorders. He also
    writes about symptoms and treatments for nightmare, epilepsy, and weak memory.[7]: 366 
    Avicenna often used psychological methods to treat his patients.[7]: 366  One such example
    is when a Persian prince had melancholia, suffering from the delusion that he was
    a cow. He would moo and cry out, "Kill me so that a good stew may be made of my
    flesh," and would never eat anything. Avicenna was persuaded to take the case.
    Avicenna sent a message to the patient, asking him to be happy as the butcher was
    coming to slaughter him, and the sick man rejoiced. When Avicenna approached the
    prince with a knife in his hand, he asked "where is the cow so I may kill it." The patient
    then mooed like a cow to indicate where he was. The patient was laid on the ground for
    slaughter. When Avicenna approached the patient, pretending to be ready to slaughter
    him, he said, "the cow is too lean and not ready to be killed. He must be fed properly
    and I will kill it when it becomes healthy and fat." The patient was then offered food
    which he ate eagerly, and gradually "gained strength, got rid of his delusion, and was
    completely cured."[7]: 376

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