Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā was born at Afshana, near Bukhara; the traditional date of his birth is 980, though some scholars place it in the 970s. Of Persian background and writing mainly in Arabic, he largely taught himself the philosophical curriculum, became a renowned physician, and served as physician and counsellor at several courts before dying in Hamadan in 1037.

His philosophical summa, The Cure, covers logic, natural science, mathematics and metaphysics. He developed a metaphysics distinguishing what a thing is from the fact that it exists, and described God as the Necessary Existent. In his thought experiment of the “flying” or “floating” man, a person suspended in the air without any sensation would still be aware of his own existence. His Canon of Medicine was taught in European universities until the 17th century.