Mercredi 26 Janvier 2022 : Conference A. Lammer “What is an Avicennian Theory of Time? Features and their Traces”

Séminaire de philosophie médiévale de Paris 1 “Le temps” – Séance 1

(organisation J.-B. Brenet et V. Decaix)

What is an Avicennian Theory of Time? Features and their Traces

Andreas Lammer (Radboud University Nijmegen)

Mercredi 26 Janvier 2022 – 17h-19h – salle de formation de la BIS

In response to various lines of reasoning in the preceding late ancient tradition of natural philosophy, Avicenna devised a complex theory of time (zamān). Within the overall largely Aristotelian physics of his magnum opus called The Cure (al-Šifāʾ), his understanding of time as a real feature of the universe could be considered the least Aristotelian component, i.e., the component with the strongest Platonist overtones. Irrespective of the question whether Avicenna was aware of the fact that he was actively trying to fuse disparate Aristotelian and Platonist elements into a coherent theory, his resulting conception bears distinctive, identifiable features which, in their combination, make up the “Avicennian Theory of Time.” If we wanted to trace the influence of that theory upon the Latin tradition, we should first single out these features and trace them independently. In the hope of spurring further research in the reception of Avicenna’s theory, this presentation will give an overview of its most salient features and provide some hints towards their Latin fortuna.

contact et réservation obligatoire : Veronique.Decaix[at]univ-paris1.fr ou Jean-Baptiste.Brenet[at]univ-paris1.fr 

Télécharger le programme complet du séminaire en pdf