Comparative Study of Concept of First and Second Perfection in Aristotle and Avicenna

Abstract

The discussion of perfection is of different natures in the ideas of Aristotle and Avicenna. Both have divided perfection into first perfection and second perfection. What is the difference between the two? What are the meanings of each of these concepts and what is the domain of their usage? Has Avicenna been influenced by Aristotle or has he exceeded him? To discuss perfection, Aristotle has employed the two terms of "energia and entelecheia’, and he has discussed it in different positions in metaphysics, sciences, natural sciences and ethics. He has discussed first perfection and the second perfection in On Soul and talk of movement. To him, the first perfection of the primitive stage is secondary perfection. In the On Soul, the first perfection has potency, and it is imperfect perfection in motion. In his works, Avicenna has used the first perfection and the second perfection as related to natural subjects such as movement, soul, and sometimes regarding God and His relation to creatures. Avicenna perceives the soul from two perspectives: in terms of its relation to the body, as well as the abstract view of the two. And for him, perfection is existential and intensive, and the second perfection is subordinate to the first. The purpose of the present paper is to discuss this division into first and second perfection and its position in Aristotle and Avicenna’s reasoning.

Keywords

• first perfection
• second perfection
• form
• actuality
• cause