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Step 3 of 6~8 min read~30 min left
The Floating Man
Explore Ibn Sina's thought experiment on self-knowledge and essence.
“In metaphysics, Ibn Sina makes a distinction between essence and existence; essence considers only the nature of things, and should be considered apart from their mental and physical realization. This distinction applies to all things except God, whom Ibn Sina identifies as the first cause and therefore both essence and existence. He also argued that the soul is immaterial and that its existence can be grasped directly through the '==floating man==' thought experiment: a person created in mid-air, deprived of all sensory input, would still know that they exist, demonstrating that self-awareness does not depend on body or language. — Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Kitāb al-Shifā' (The Book of Healing) and Kitāb al-Najāt (The Book of Salvation), c. 1020–1030 CE”