An Analytical Reading on the Relationship Between Theoretical and Practical Wisdom in IBN Sina's Thought

Abstract

Determining the subject for a science plays a significant role in identifying and determining the problems of a science. The division of sciences, which was first proposed and examined by Aristotle in terms of the history of philosophy, is considered to follow the determination of a specific subject for each science. In Islamic philosophy after Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina has presented a detailed discussion in this area.

Following the division of reason into theoretical and practical, Ibn Sina has also divided wisdom into two categories: theoretical and practical. By defining wisdom as the non-seasonal, inorganic science, he has divided it into two categories: theoretical and practical, and consequently, each of them has been divided into three categories: physics, mathematics, and theology in theory, and politics, management in the home, and ethics in practice. Finally, from Ibn Sina's point of view, although theoretical and practical are common in the divisions of reason and wisdom in the end, which is the perfection of the soul, they are distinguished from each other due to the difference in their belongings, principles, results, and consequences.

The following essay attempts to discuss the theoretical and practical division of reason and wisdom in Avicenna's thought, after examining why and how the sciences were divided in a specific way.