God's Knowledge of the Particulars: An Evaluation of the Classical Interpretations of Avicenna

Although Avicenna clearly states throughout his works that God knows everything, according to the dominant interpretation of his position, for Avicenna God does not know the particulars. In this article, I examine interpretations of Avicenna's position by two authors, al-Ghazali and Michael Marmura, who are representatives of medieval and modern thinkers, respectively. Both authors attempt to determine Avicenna's answer to the question of whether God knows particulars on the basis of his answer to the question of how God knows the particulars. Arguing that Avicenna's answer to the second question fails to show that they are included in the divine knowledge, they conclude that for Avicenna God does not know the particulars. However, I argue that the legitimate conclusion one can draw at best is that Avicenna does not provide a full explanation of how God knows particulars; not that for Avicenna God does not know particulars. Rahim ACAR

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