Henry Corbin and Ibn Sīnā: Epistemology, Hermeneutics, and Imaginal World

Abstract

What if Ibn Sīnā was not only a philosopher of reason but also a thinker of imagination, experience, and inner transformation? For centuries, Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) has often been remembered primarily as one of the greatest architects of rational philosophy in the Islamic intellectual tradition. His contributions to metaphysics, logic, medicine, and philosophy established him as one of the most influential thinkers in world history. Yet Henry Corbin, one of the twentieth century’s most original interpreters of Islamic philosophy, proposed a different and more nuanced reading. In Henry Corbin and Ibn Sīnā: Epistemology, Hermeneutics, and the Imaginal World, Kamaruzzaman Bustamam Ahmad examines Corbin’s attempt to recover dimensions of Ibn Sīnā’s thought that are often overlooked: symbolic narration, visionary philosophy, intellectual experience, and the relationship between knowledge and transformation. This volume explores a central philosophical question: Is knowing merely the construction of concepts, or is it also a transformation of the one who knows? Through a careful engagement with Corbin’s interpretation of Avicennian philosophy, this book investigates: • the limits of reading Ibn Sīnā only through rationalist frameworks; • Corbin’s hermeneutical approach to Islamic philosophy; • the philosophical significance of Avicennian visionary narratives; • the role of imagination and symbolic language in human understanding; • knowledge as participation rather than mere representation; • the relationship between philosophy, existence, and self-transformation. Rather than opposing reason and imagination, this study shows how Corbin’s reading invites a broader understanding of philosophical inquiry—one where rational analysis, symbolic meaning, and existential experience interact. As the tenth volume of the Henry Corbin Studies series published by KBA13 Insight, this book continues a larger intellectual exploration of Corbin’s philosophical legacy and his dialogue with major figures in Islamic and Western thought. Written for students, scholars, and readers interested in Islamic philosophy, comparative philosophy, religious studies, and the history of ideas, this work offers a reflective journey into one of the most fascinating encounters in modern philosophical interpretation: Henry Corbin reading Ibn Sīnā—and the rediscovery of philosophy as a search for both knowledge and being.