Abstract
This study provides a survey of Avicenna’s theoretical or abstract discussions of the methods of science and the psychological processes laying behind them as they appear in his Kitāb al-Burhān. Since that text has not been studied in-depth, the chapter is primarily exegetical, focusing what might be termed Avicenna’s ‘naturalized epistemology’. The study is divided into two sections. The first treats Avicenna’s theory of demonstrative knowledge, and how Avicenna envisions the relation between logic and science, where it is argued that one of the primary functions of Kitāb al-Burhān is to provide heuristic aids to the scientist in his investigation of the world. The second half concerns Avicenna’s empirical attitude in Kitāb al-Burhān towards acquiring the first principles of a science, where such cognitive processes as abstraction, induction and methodic experience are considered.
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McGinnis, J. (2008). Avicenna’s Naturalized Epistemology and Scientific Method*. In: Rahman, S., Street, T., Tahiri, H. (eds) The Unity of Science in the Arabic Tradition. Logic, Epistemology, and The Unity of Science, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8405-8_5
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