Dialogue· 2026Q2
Good, Evil, and Holistic Purposivism: Avicenna’s Providential God Reconsidered
- 0citations
- Q2SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Avicenna implicitly denies traditional theistic attributes (omniscience, omnipotence, omnibenevolence) and proposes an ananthropocentric "holistic purposivism" where the good of the whole dictates the good of the part, rendering evil relative.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Avicenna implicitly denies traditional theistic attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, and omnibenevolence.
- The article proposes Avicenna's concept of "holistic purposivism" as an alternative model of providence.
- Holistic purposivism posits that the good of the whole determines the good of each part.
- Under this model, evil is considered relative, and absolute evil is eliminated in an optimally ordered world.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Abstract This article develops an alternative reading of Avicenna’s conception of providence. I first examine whether he affirms the traditional theistic attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, and omnibenevolence that ground the standard view of providence, arguing that he implicitly denies them and thus renders his argument in Ilāhīyyāt IX.6 non-theodical. I then offer a positive account, proposing that Avicenna advances an ananthropocentric model of providence, which I call “holistic purposivism,” according to which the good of the whole determines the good of each part, making evil relative and eliminating absolute evil in an optimally ordered world.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Dialogue, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Philosophy
PhilosophyArts and Humanities