MAIN TOPICS that will be covered but not restricted to are:
Medicine: There will be two different panels on Medicine to analyze this Heritage:
I) IBN SINA, MEDICINE and al-Kanun-fi’t-Tıbb: Ibn Sina’s Heritage on Medicine, his specific subjects on medicine
Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abdullah ibn Sina, known as Ibn Sina, and in the West as Avicenna, was one of the most celebrated philosophers and physicians in the history of Mankind. He wrote prolifically on a wide range of subjects. Forty of his medical texts have survived, the most famous of which are the Kitab ash-Shifa (the Book of Healing) and the al-Qanun fi al-Tibb - or Canon of Medicine. The latter is one of the most significant books in the history of medicine; for instance it was printed in Europe at least 60 times between 1516 and 1574. The Canon remained a major authority for medical students in both Persia and Europe until well into the 1700s.
At this panel the legacy and prominent features of his medical issues will be addressed.
II) IBN SINA’s MEDICINE and HERBALS: As a separate subject of this panel will be mainly phytotherapeutic agents, volatile oils, and other therapies mentioned by Ibn Sina in Canon. Ibn Sina was a man of many interests, however Medicine is the foremost subject that he had influence on Global Scale.
Avicenna developed a medical system that combined his own personal experience with that of Islamic medicine, the medical system of Hippocrates (460 - 370 B.C.), Galen (129 - 200 A.D.), and ancient Mesopotamian, Chinese and Indian medicine. In particular, he is credited with: the introduction of systematic experimentation and quantification into the study of physiology; the discovery of the concept of syndromes; the identification of the importance of dietetics and the influence of climate and environment on health; the pioneering of aromatherapy treatment; the anticipation of the existence of micro-organisms; and early work on psychology, neuropsychiatry, psychophysiology and psychosomatic medicine.
III) Philosophy: Ibn Sina’s Philosophical efforts and his influence in this matter will be a subject of a separate panel in this Symposium.
Avicenna is also called "the most influential philosopher of the pre-modern era".[15] He was a peripatetic philosopher influenced by Aristotelian philosophy. Of the 450 works he is believed to have written, around 240 have survived, including 150 on philosophy and 40 on medicine. One ofhis most famous works are The Book of Healing, a philosophical and scientific encyclopedia.
While he was imprisoned in the castle of Fardajan near Hamadhan, Avicenna wrote his famous "Floating Man" – literally falling man – thought experiment to demonstrate human self-awareness and the substantiality and immateriality of the soul. Avicenna believed his "Floating Man" thought experiment demonstrated that the soul is a substance, and claimed humans cannot doubt their own consciousness, even in a situation that prevents all sensory data input. The thought experiment told its readers to imagine themselves created all at once while suspended in the air, isolated from all sensations, which includes no sensory contact with even their own bodies. He argued that, in this scenario, one would still have self-consciousness.
His philosophy was also influential in medieval Europe: even if it was proscribed in 1210, it nevertheless had a great impact on leading Scholastics such as William of Auvergne, Albertus Magnus and St. Thomas Aquinas and others.
IV) Metaphysics: For Ibn Sina, Metaphysics was a legitimate science to understand the inner nature of beings. This aspect of his legacy will be investigated in this panel.
His other major work was “The Book of Healing”, a scientific and philosophical encyclopedia. This book was intended to ‘heal’ the soul. It was split into four parts: logic, natural sciences, mathematics and metaphysics. His commentaries on the works of Aristotle often "corrected" the philosopher, encouraging a lively debate in the spirit of ijtihad (a term used in Islamic law describing independent interpretation of the sources). Due to the success of Avicenna's reconciliation of Aristotelianism and Neo-Platonism with Islamic Kalam, Avicennism became the leading school of Islamic philosophy by the 12th Century.
V) History of Science: Ibn Sina’s place in the Global History of Science will be traced through papers which discover his scientific legacy both in the East and the West and by this way aiming to bridge the gap between Scientific Cultures via Ibn Sina’s scientific Influence.
Also popularly known as ‘Avicenna’, Ibn Sina was indeed a true polymath with his contributions ranging from medicine, psychology and pharmacology to geology, physics, astronomy, chemistry and philosophy. He was also a poet, an Islamic scholar and theologian. For example, He invented an instrument for observing the coordinates of a star. He made several astronomical observations and stated that the stars were self-luminous. In mathematics, Avicenna explained the arithmetical concept and application of the “casting out of nines”. Ibn Sina also contributed to poetry, religion and music. At this panel some prominent contributions of him will be discussed.
VI) Cross Cultural Heritage of Ibn Sina: Ibn Sīnā left behind a vast oeuvre of philosophical, medical and scientific works of which many survived. The Süleymaniye Manuscript Library in Istanbul is known to preserve the manuscript copies of all so far known surviving works. Beside their value regarding the history of philosophy, science and spirituality, the manuscripts witness the high standard of book art (calligraphy, illumination, miniatures, illustrations and bindings) from the eleventh century onwards. In 2003 the collection was listed as World Document Heritage.
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (980-1037) is one of the foremost philosophers of the golden age of Islamic tradition. He is also known as al-Sheikh al-Rais (Leader among the wise men) a title that was given to him by his students. In the West he is also known as the "Prince of Physicians" for his famous medical text al-Qanun "Canon". In Latin translations, his works influenced many Christian philosophers, most notably Thomas Aquinas.
Some prominent features of the legacy and cultural heritage of Ibn Sina will be discussed at this panel.
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