A Comparison of Avicenna and Al-Ghazali's Viewpoints on Universal Concepts

the present paper discusses the issue of universal natural concepts according to the viewpoints of Avicenna and Al-Ghazali. Although Avicenna’s point of view on the issue is fundamentally based on Aristotle’s theory of universal concepts, it has such new idioms, expressions and features that it is possible to maintain that his theory is quite different. In contrast, when it comes to Al-Ghazali’s view of universal natural concepts, he seemingly approves of Avicenna’s theory of it, which, however, is not compatible with the rest of his theories. In other words, it is sometimes possible to discern certain inconsistencies and incompatibilities in his writings on the issue.