| 1022 | Commentary on the Metaphysics |
| p.50 | 15036 | An essence can either be universal (in the mind) or singular (in concrete particulars) | |
| Full Idea: Avicenna's 'indifference of essence' says the essence of certain things can become universal or singular, according to whether it is entertained by the mind (as a universal) or concretely exemplified as a singular thing. One essence can exist in two ways. | |||
| From: report of Avicenna (Abu Ibn Sina) (Commentary on the Metaphysics [1022]) by Claude Panaccio - Medieval Problem of Universals 'Sources' | |||
| A reaction: This would appear to be a form of nominalism, since in the concrete external world we only have particulars, and it is our mode of thinking (by abstraction?) that generates the universal aspect. I think this is probably right. |
| 1/6 | p.91 | 11193 | Understanding begins with the notion of being and essence |
| Full Idea: Understanding begins with the notion of being and essence. | |||
| From: Avicenna (Abu Ibn Sina) (Commentary on the Metaphysics [1022], 1/6), quoted by Thomas Aquinas - De Ente et Essentia (Being and Essence) p.91 | |||
| A reaction: I think I might put it that wisdom is only really possible for people who aim to grasp being and essence in some way. I see no prospect of understanding 'being', and even essences may be forever just beyond our grasp. |
| 11/12.14 | p.97 | 11204 | The ultimate material of things has the unity of total formlessness |
| Full Idea: The ultimate material of things has the unity of total formlessness. | |||
| From: Avicenna (Abu Ibn Sina) (Commentary on the Metaphysics [1022], 11/12.14), quoted by Thomas Aquinas - De Ente et Essentia (Being and Essence) | |||
| A reaction: This remark is not invalidated by developments in modern particle physics. |
| 5.5 | p.103 | 11209 | The simple's whatness is its very self |
| Full Idea: The simple's whatness is its very self. | |||
| From: Avicenna (Abu Ibn Sina) (Commentary on the Metaphysics [1022], 5.5), quoted by Thomas Aquinas - De Ente et Essentia (Being and Essence) p.103 | |||
| A reaction: Aquinas endorses this Aristotelian view in Idea 11208. |