Between ontology and henology: Ibn Gabirol’s dynamic metaphysics

Authors

Keywords:

Ibn Gabirol. Matéria. Forma. Dialética. Fluxo.

Abstract

Schlomo Ibn Gabirol (Avicebron), medieval Spanish jew under Islamic rule was a heterodox and original thinker in all areas in which he worked. Banished from the Jewish community in 1045 by a herem, there is no reliable information about his life since then. During this period, he would have written his fundamental metaphysical work, whose Arabic original is lost and only the Latin translation (Fons Vitae) has survived until our days. In this work he describes the reality of the created world from a universal composition of matter and form. Behind its markedly Aristotelian language, it presents a Neoplatonic model in which matter and form interact dynamically to form intelligible and sensible realities. In this paper we intend to show that, neither exactly an ontology nor exactly a henology, Ibn Gabirol’s dynamic metaphysics unfolds from a very peculiar radical dialectic in which there are no fixed elements.

Author Biography

Cecilia Cintra Cavaleiro de Macedo, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)

Doutora em Ciências da Religião com a tese “Metafísica, Mística e Linguagem em Schlomo Ibn Gabirol: uma leitura bergsoniana”. Pós-doutorado em Filosofia Medieval. Professora Associada da Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Departamento e Programa de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia. Pesquisadora-líder do NUR – Núcleo de Pesquisas em Filosofia Islâmica Judaica e Oriental.

References

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Published

2024-12-31

Issue

Vol. 16 No. esp. (2024)

Section

Medieval Ontology

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Copyright (c) 2024 Cecilia Cintra Cavaleiro de Macedo

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