SOAS Research Online

A Free Database of the Latest Research by SOAS Academics and PhD Students

[skip to content]

Shihadeh, Ayman (2013) 'A Post-Ghazālian Critic of Avicenna: Ibn Ghaylān al-Balkhī on the Materia Medica of the Canon of Medicine.' Journal of Islamic Studies, 24 (2). pp. 135-174.

[img]
Preview
Text
Download (8MB) | Preview

Abstract

This article sheds new light on the sixth/twelfth-century anti-Avicennan current, which took its cue primarily from al-Ghazālī’s Incoherence of the Philosophers (Tahāfut al-falāsifa). A key representative of this current, Ibn Ghaylān al-Balkhī (d. ca. 590/1194), veers away from the usual points of conflict in metaphysics and natural philosophy, directing his attention instead to descriptions of the properties of simple drugs in Avicenna's Canon of Medicine and Heart Remedies (al-Adwiya al-qalbiyya) and Ismāʿīl al-Jurjānī's (d. 531/1136) medical encyclopaedia The Khwārazmshāhī Treasure (Dhakhīra-yi Khwārazmshāhī). In a dedicated text, he highlights various inconsistencies in these sources, with a view to demonstrating that Avicenna's works are unreliable and exposing a culture of uncritical imitation among contemporary Avicennists. The article includes an edition and translation of the text.

Item Type: Journal Article
SOAS Departments & Centres: Departments and Subunits > School of History, Religions & Philosophies > Department of History
Legacy Departments > Faculty of Languages and Cultures > Department of the Languages and Cultures of the Near and Middle East
ISSN: 09552340
DOI (Digital Object Identifier): https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/ett017
Date Deposited: 03 Jan 2013 09:31
URI: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/14660
Related URLs: http://jis.oxfo ... /2/135.abstract (Publisher URL)

Altmetric Data

Statistics

Download activity - last 12 monthsShow export options
Downloads since deposit
6 month trend
869Downloads
6 month trend
650Hits
Accesses by country - last 12 monthsShow export options
Accesses by referrer - last 12 monthsShow export options

Repository staff only

Edit Item Edit Item