Classify Avicenna

[Evolved]

Abn Ali Al Hosain Ibn Abdallah Ibn Sina (aka Avicenna)
Ethnicity: Persian
Born: 980 in Kharmaithen (near Bukhara), Central Asia (now Uzbekistan)
Died: June 1037 in Hamadan, Persia (now Iran)

Philosophy, medicine, mathematics, metaphysics, geology, astronomy, logic and psychology- a self taught genius.

Ibn Sina's father was the governor of a village in one of Nuh ibn Mansur's estates. He was educated by his father, whose home was a meeting place for men of learning in the area. Certainly ibn Sina was a remarkable child, with a memory and an ability to learn which amazed the scholars who met in his father's home. By the age of ten he had memorised the Qur'an and most of the Arabic poetry which he had read. When ibn Sina reached the age of thirteen he began to study medicine and he had mastered that subject by the age of sixteen when he began to treat patients. He also studied logic and metaphysics, receiving instruction from some of the best teachers of his day, but in all areas he continued his studies on his own. In his autobiography ibn Sina stresses that he was more or less self-taught but that at crucial times in his life he received help.

Ibn Sina's wrote about 450 works, of which around 240 have survived. Of the surviving works, 150 are on philosophy while 40 are devoted to medicine, the two fields in which he contributed most. He also wrote on psychology, geology, mathematics, astronomy, and logic. His most important work as far as mathematics is concerned, however, is his immense encyclopaedic work, the Kitab al-Shifa' (The Book of Healing). One of the four parts of this work is devoted to mathematics and ibn Sina includes astronomy and music as branches of mathematics within the encyclopaedia. In fact he divided mathematics into four branches, geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and music, and he then subdivided each of these topics. Geometry he subdivided into geodesy, statics, kinematics, hydrostatics, and optics; astronomy he subdivided into astronomical and geographical tables, and the calendar; arithmetic he subdivided into algebra, and Indian addition and subtraction; music he subdivided into musical instruments.

Avicenna's own philosophy was based on a combination of Aristotelianism and Neo-Platonism. Contrary to orthodox Islamic thought, Avicenna denied personal immortality, God's interest in individuals, and the creation of the world in time. The Islamic philosophers and even some of the Persian philosophers like Ghazali who had strong religious beliefs attacked Avicenna for his views. Nevertheless, Avicenna's humanistic philosophy has remained influential throughout the Middle Ages and up to the present day.

Portraits

[cosmocreator]

Looks like an Irano-Afghan to me.

[Shapur]

He is Iranian and he wrote some of his works on Persian/Kurdish.
He looks to me Irano-Afghan/Armenoid mix!