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Paper   IPM / Philosophy / 16847
School of Analytic Philosophy
  Title:   A Neglected Interpretation of Avicenna's Theory of God's Knowledge of Particulars
  Author(s):  Amirhossein Zadyousefi
  Status:   Forthcoming
  Journal: Asian Philosophy
  Year:  2022
  Pages:   201-214
  Supported by:  IPM
  Abstract:
It seems Avicenna's passages regarding God's knowledge of particulars are susceptible of being given two different types of interpretation. The main difference between these two accounts of his theory concerning God's knowledge of particulars is that one of them, which I call the Neglected Interpretation, appeals to some metaphysical entities as the proxies of concrete particular objects, which are distinct from God's essence, to explain God's knowledge of particulars, while the other type does not. The views of post-Avicennian thinkers like Suhrawardi and Ṭusi of Avicenna's account are classifiable under the Neglected Interpretation, as shown by their objections to Avicenna's theory of God's knowledge of particulars. This type of interpretation of Avicenna's theory of God's knowledge of particulars has been neglected in the secondary English literature on the issue. In this paper, I will present a reconstructed version of this type of interpretation of the Avicennian theory of divine knowledge.

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