Practical wisdom According to Avicennian Philosophy; Its Position, Basis and Its diminution

Abstract

Despite the importance of practical wisdom which has not developed in Islamic philosophy, today ,society needs knowledge of ethics and house management and politics. Therefore, it is imperative to study of practical wisdom in the light of Muslim philosophers. Avicenna, the leading Muslim philosopher, classifies wisdom into theoretical and practical and considers the latter as being a part of philosophy. And he states its sources, ultimate aims, and relation with theoretical reason. Avicenna has addressed practical wisdom in some brief treatises but his works on practical wisdom are not considerable. The main causes of philosophers' failing in developing of practical wisdom are their inability to drive the Aristotelian practical wisdom from theoretical one and the focus of jurisprudence on practical wisdom as well as the importance of First Philosophy in comparing with the practical wisdom. However, according to the philosophical basis and method Avicenna provided to explain practical wisdom, it is fair to claim that Avicenna's practical wisdom contains enough capacity to be developed especially in the issues like ethics as well as his theoretical wisdom.

Keywords

• Avicenna
• Practical wisdom
• Theoretical wisdom
• Practical reason
• Ethics