In his talk, Ahmed Alwishah will examine the concept of the “self” and its relation to human body in Islamic philosophy. In the course of his examination, he will show how early Muslim philosophers, Avicenna in particular, offer a form of dualism between intellect and body to justify the immortality of the soul. In his well-known thought experiment the “Flying Man,” Avicenna argues that one can be aware of the existence of her self without being aware of the existence of her body and identifies human self-awareness with the attributes of immediacy, continuity, and certitude. He makes it clear that by apprehending certain activities, one must presuppose the existence of the self and this special knowledge of the self is inherent in the self, and not in the act of cognition. The self, on his view, is conscious of itself continuously, and conscious of others in virtue of being conscious of itself.
Alwishah’s research focuses on Islamic Philosophy, especially Avicenna, Post-Avicennian philosophers, and Philosophy of Language in Islamic tradition. He is the co-editor of Ibn KammÅ«na Refinement and Commentary of SuhrawardÄ«’s Intimations (Mazda, 2002) and the forthcoming Aristotle and Arabic Tradition, 2015 Cambridge Press. He translated the Arabic testimonia of Thales jointly with Richard Mckirahan in Thales (De Gruyter, 2014). He also published “The Early Arabic Liar: The Liar Paradox in the Islamic World from the Mid- Ninth to the Mid Thirteenth Centuries CE” with David Sanson, Vivarium Journal 47, 1999. In addition he is the author of two forthcoming articles “Avicenna on Floating Man Arguments” Journal of Islamic Philosophy, volume 10/2014 “Avicenna on Animal Self-Awareness, Cognition and Identity” Cambridge Journal of Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 2015. He is currently is working on monograph book Avicenna’s Philosophy of Mind, where investigate a set of topics in Avicenna’s psychology. Before coming to Pitzer College, Dr. Alwishah taught at Stanford University and UCLA. He is a life member of Clare Hall College at Cambridge University and awarded a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, UCLA, 2007-2008.