The Place of Art in Ibn Sina's Ideas and Its Relation to Reason and Mysticism

Man and God constitute the central pillars of Ibn Sina’s ideas. From Ibn Sina’s view, man as an entity in the world of sense objects and the world of intellects and non-material objects is the outcome of creation and the knowledge of God is the essential goal of the world after and the most important part of thought. The validity of other types of knowledge are assessed against the knowledge of God. To understand the status of art in Ibn Sina’s ideas, one should determine it place against this end. What gives art a special place in Ibn Sina’s cosmology is the fact that Ibn Sina’s world is a circle whose descending arc starts with the originator and ends with the material and in its ascending arc it starts with man and moves toward the world of intellects and non-materials. The prime intellect is within the capacity of man. Being aware of his limitations and capacities, Ibn Sina approaches the assessment of intellect. The outcome of his assessment is the appearance of mysticism and art in Ibn his world. Although Ibn Sina considers mysticism capable enough for the spiritual journey, the difficulty of its expression and mysticism’s silence and its limitation to special individuals are the factors which guided him toward art.