The knowledge of anything, since all things have causes, is not acquired or complete unless it is known by its causes. Some of his most important quotes include: He eventually passed away in June of 1037.A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas.įor example, a polymath is known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Eventually, his health grew worse and worse. He was advised to slow down his busy life, but he refused. As he aged, he began to suffer from a colic-related disease. The last years of the life of Avicenna saw him serve Abu Ja’far ‘Ala Addaula in the capacity of scientific advisor and physician. His prolific and diverse writing career certainly earned him the title of polymath. While this might be an overstatement, the truth remains that the book is quite vast in terms of its material.Īs a philosopher, Avicenna wrote a great deal on subjects related to logic, reason, metaphysics, and science. It could be said the work covers virtually every topic related to psychology imaginable. The text delves into subjects related to the mind, moods, perceptions, rationality, and logic. However, it is in the section on psychology that the more interesting philosophical components emerge. Earth science and chemistry would be two main areas the book covers. There are many different components to The Book of Healing. In a way, it could be deemed a work that seeks to teach self-development, which would not be far removed that the theories professed by Socrates and others in past civilizations. Rather, it is a work intended to help treat the common ailments that might afflict the soul. This is a massive encyclopedia that seeks not to offer medical insights into treating common ailments. The Book of Healing might be considered his greatest work of all. A section of the book also covers the topic of good hygiene. Many different diseases are examined in this work and suggestions for treatments are provided. The work also describes suggested steps for quarantining such problems before they get worse. The Canon of Medicine deals with infectious and sexually transmitted diseases. Of all his written works, there are two that stand out as his seminal achievements: The Canon of Medicine and The Book of Healing. A number of the works also dealt with astronomy and astrology and he also crafted poetry. More than 200 of them do remain with 40 dealing with medicine and 150 dealing with philosophy. While Avicenna had written roughly 450 treatises, a significant number of them have been lost. He formally studied to become a physician and, by the age of 18, he was a practicing doctor. The primarpy profession of Avicenna was medicine. The journey eventually led to him becoming a writer and philosopher of great esteem. This would lead to a journey into the study of philosophy. He could not understand it so he began to expand his study of the material by reading other works about it. While a young teen, his inquisitive mind tried to make sense of the Metaphysics of Aristotle. He met a traveling scholar who schooled Avicenna in the basics of medical treatment for the sick. Historians are not sure what Muslim school of law Avicenna belonged to, although theories do exist connecting him to several different ones.Īt a very young age, Avicenna invested a significant amount of time studying the Qur’an and mathematics. His father had served as a governor and this allowed his father to offer Avicenna many educational opportunities. in the village close to Bukhara, which is located in what is now modern-day Uzbekistan. We know that Avicenna was born around 980 A.D. In general, it is possible to draw a reasonable and realistic portrait of the man and his early beginnings. Since there is no other source to verify what is in the autobiography, it is impossible to determine how much is fully accurate and how much is alliteration. He did not write the work himself, but dictated it to his disciple Jūzjanī. The life of Avicenna is recorded in only one source, his autobiography. He is considered one of the greatest philosophers of the Islamic Golden Age. He wrote roughly 450 different treatises on various subjects. Afshana near Bukhara (capital of the Samanid Empire), in present-day UzbekistanĪvicenna (also known as Pūr Sinɑ) was a Persian philosopher who was known as a polymath, which is a person with a significant amount of knowledge on a range of different subjects.