ABSTRACT
The commentary explores several themes in the Theology that resonate with Avicenna’s philosophy: the nature of thought, the fashion in which God creates the world, the nature of God. But the most useful point of departure is the treatment of soul in Avicenna’s commentary, because the Theology itself is, either by accident or design, largely devoted to the subject of soul. The ultimate ‘perfection’ attainable by soul – in other words, the state in which soul is most perfect – is the rational soul’s grasp of universals. This sort of perfection is to be distinguished from the ‘perfection’ of the body that is the animal soul. Avicenna finds the doctrine of the Theology so implausible that he decides to remove it by emending the text – a temptation many of us will recognize.
