Seyyed Ali Hosseini
Abstract
In this article we examined the conflicts of Avicenna as an Aristotlian philosopher and two groups of Islamic theologians on the applicability of mathematical idealizations in natural ...
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In this article we examined the conflicts of Avicenna as an Aristotlian philosopher and two groups of Islamic theologians on the applicability of mathematical idealizations in natural philosophy. for our aim, we considered two ideal thought experiments suggested by theologians in which the geometrical idealization was emphsised. by considering the reactions to theses cases, we found that there are two different views on applicability of this method: in the theologians' side, their metaphysical assumption, atomism, led them to a limitless method which could make their theory satisfactory and one of the ways among this boundless domain is mathematical idealization. in the other side, Avicenna and the other prepatetic philosophers didn't require this method for proving their metaphysical assumption and also believed in some bounded method in natural philosophy, in which hypothetical possibilities weren’t allowed. according to this limited method, mathematical idealization counted as an abstract hypothesis and may noy be used in concrete natural inquiries
