FAKHR AL-DĪN AL-RĀZĪ ON PLACE

Abstract

AbstractThe twelfth century philosopher-theologian Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī is well known for his critique of Avicennan metaphysics. In this paper, I examine his critique of Avicenna's physics, and in particular his rejection of the Avicennan and Aristotelian theory of place as the inner boundary of a containing body. Instead, Fakhr al-Dīn defends a definition of place as self-subsisting extension, an idea explicitly rejected by Aristotle and Avicenna after him. Especially in his late work, the Maṭālib, Fakhr al-Dīn explores a number of important philosophical issues with reference to this theory of place, including the principle that two indiscernible things (in this case two overlapping extensions) must be identical and the idea that motion and rest are always relative.