Self-Knowledge and Avicenna’s Floating Man Thought Experiment

نوع مقاله : مقاله علمی پژوهشی

نویسنده

Assistant Professor, Philosophy Department, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

چکیده

Avicenna’s floating man thought experiment has been examined and criticized for over a thousand years from various philosophical perspectives. While traditional and modern criticisms exist, the latter primarily focus on the confusion between epistemology and ontology. The ontological dimensions have received significant attention, but the epistemological aspects remain underexplored. I propose a modern critique suggesting that if valid, the thought experiment may not support substance dualism. However, some modest versions could bolster modest dualism, which posits that mental properties are distinct from physical ones, without adhering to Cartesian concepts. I present seven versions of the thought experiment. The first differs from Avicenna’s original and focuses on the individuation of self and body, but is vulnerable to modern critiques due to its conflation of ontological and epistemic aspects. The remaining six versions avoid this issue and do not assert that the mind is an immaterial substance. The second version examines epistemic differences between basic self-knowledge and knowledge of the body. The third addresses self-referential and self-verifying aspects of self-knowledge. The fourth explores modal properties, while the fifth highlights the self's necessary relationship to self-knowledge. The sixth emphasizes the environmental neutrality of basic self-knowledge, and the final version utilizes the self as a critical reasoner. I also support and revise these six versions with eleven general remarks.

کلیدواژه‌ها

موضوعات


عنوان مقاله [English]

Self-Knowledge and Avicenna’s Floating Man Thought Experiment

نویسنده [English]

  • Alireza Mazarian
Assistant Professor, Philosophy Department, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
چکیده [English]

Avicenna’s floating man thought experiment has been examined and criticized for over a thousand years from various philosophical perspectives. While traditional and modern criticisms exist, the latter primarily focus on the confusion between epistemology and ontology. The ontological dimensions have received significant attention, but the epistemological aspects remain underexplored. I propose a modern critique suggesting that if valid, the thought experiment may not support substance dualism. However, some modest versions could bolster modest dualism, which posits that mental properties are distinct from physical ones, without adhering to Cartesian concepts. I present seven versions of the thought experiment. The first differs from Avicenna’s original and focuses on the individuation of self and body, but is vulnerable to modern critiques due to its conflation of ontological and epistemic aspects. The remaining six versions avoid this issue and do not assert that the mind is an immaterial substance. The second version examines epistemic differences between basic self-knowledge and knowledge of the body. The third addresses self-referential and self-verifying aspects of self-knowledge. The fourth explores modal properties, while the fifth highlights the self's necessary relationship to self-knowledge. The sixth emphasizes the environmental neutrality of basic self-knowledge, and the final version utilizes the self as a critical reasoner. I also support and revise these six versions with eleven general remarks.

کلیدواژه‌ها [English]

  • axioms
  • intersubjective
  • validation
  • intuitive
  • knowledge-by-presence
  • Mullā Ṣadrā
  1. Ahmad Alwishah, A. (2013). “Ibn Sina on Floating Man Arguments. Journal of Islamic Philosophy, 9, 49-71, 2013. https://doi.org/10.5840/islamicphil201395

    Black, DL. (2008). Avicenna on Self-Awareness and Knowing that One Knows. In S. Rahman, T. Street & H. Tahriri (Eds.), The Unity of Science in the Arabic Tradition (pp. 63-87)., ed. Shahid Rahman, Tony Street, and Hassan Tahiri (Dordrecht:  Springer Science, 2008), 63–87.

    Burge, (2010). Modest Dualism in Koons & Bealer (eds.). The Waning of Materialism, Pp. 234-250, Oxford University Press.

    Burge, T. (1982), “Other Bodies”, in A. Woodfield (Ed.), Thought and Object (pp. 97-120).  A. Woodfield (ed.), New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 97–120.

    Burge, T. (1986), “Intellectual Norms and the Foundations of Mind”. Journal of Philosophy, 84, 697–720. https://doi.org/10.2307/2026694

    Burge, T. (1988), “Individualism and Self-Knowledge.,” Journal of Philosophy, 85(1): 649–663. https://doi.org/10.5840/jphil1988851112

    Burge, T. (1993)., “Content Preservation.,” The Philosophical Review, 102, 457–488. https://doi.org/10.2307/1523046

    Burge, T. (1996)., “Our Entitlement to Self-Knowledge.,” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 96,: 91–116. https://doi.org/10.1093/aristoteliansupp/69.1.255

    Burge, T. (1998).,  Memory and Self-Knowledge,  in P. Ludlow & N. Martin (eds.), Externalism and Self-Knowledge, CSLI Publications, Stanford, (pp. 351–370).

    Burge, T. (2013).,  Cognition Through Understanding Self-Knowledge, Interlocution, Reasoning, Reflection:, Philosophical Essays, (Volume 3). Oxford University Press.

    Burge, T., (1979). Individualism and the Mental. Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 4,: 73–121. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4975.1979.tb00374.x

    1. Hasse, D. (2000). Avicenna’s De Anima in the Latin West. (London: Warburg Institute, 2000).

    Druart, A. (1988). “The Soul and Body Problem: Avicenna and Descartes.,” in  A. T. Druart (Ed.), Arabic Philosophy and the West (pp. 27-48)., ed. A. T. Druart (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press., 1988), 27–48.

    Hasnawi, A. (1997). “La Conscience de Soi chez Avicenne et Descartes.,” in J. Biard & R. Rashed, Descartes et le Moyen Âge (pp. 283-291)., ed. J. Biard and R. Rashed (Paris:  Vrin. 1997), 283–291.

    Hilli, H. (2005). Kashf al-mMurad fi Sharh alt-tTajrid al-Iʿ’itiqad., 2005, Nashr-i Islami, Qom. [In Arabic].

    Ibn Sīnaˉ ([Avicenna)]. (1959). [Aš-Šifaˉ ʾ, at. -T. abī ʿiyyaˉt, an-Nafs] Kitab al-shifaʾ (Avicenna’s De Anima). (Arabic Text): Being the Psychological part of Kitaˉb al-Shifaˉ’, ed. (F. Rahman, Ed.).  (London: Oxford University Press, 1959). [In Persian].

    Kaukua, J. (2015). Self-Awareness in Islamic Philosophy: Avicenna and Beyond., 2015, Cambridge University Press.

    Marmura, M. (1986). Avicenna’s ‘Flying Man’ in Context. Monist, 69, (1986), 383–396.

    Sorabji, R. (2006). Self. University of Chicago Press.

     

CAPTCHA Image