The Place of Practical Wisdom with Emphasis on Ethics in Avicenna's Philosophy

Following philosophers preceding him, Avicenna divided wisdom into theoretical and practical categories and recognized the latter as being a sibling of philosophy. He considered its end to be man's perfection and happiness both in the world and in the hereafter. In explaining theoretical and practical ration, Avicenna considered theoretical ration to be the means of perceiving generalities – no matter generalities which exist or those supposed to have to exist – and practical ration to be at the service of the former and the means of perceiving details pertaining to acts and motives. Therefore, practical wisdom – defined as the knowledge of general truths relating to man's deeds – is derived from theoretical ration, the sources of which are axioms, rumors and reliable experiences and can therefore be verified or denied. Avicenna has addressed practical wisdom in some brief treatises which are not considerable in comparison to his works on theoretical wisdom. However, given these brief discussions beside the sources he explained for practical wisdom, it is fair to say that Avicennan wisdom has something to say in practical wisdom, especially on ethics.