The Theoretical Foundations of Deterministic Emanation in of Avicenna's Philosophy

The theory of emanation (ṣudur) is one of the solutions proposed in the Islamic philosophy for the problem of causation relation. This theory originates from the Neo-Platonist philosophy. In Avicenna’s works, this theory is sometimes based on the ‘determination of the effect by its adequate cause’, and sometimes on the notion of ‘causal necessity’. This article shows that Avicenna has argued for the theory of emanation based on a new model he provides for the latter notion. Avicenna discusses a new analysis for the relation between cause and effect according to which effect should be ‘possible by itself’. He argues that a being which is possible by itself does not come to existence unless it is necessitated—i.e., it comes out of the mere possibility—by some other thing that is ‘necessary by itself’. Therefore, ‘necessitation’ plays the most crucial role in bringing something that is possible by itself to existence.