The Foundations of Natural Temperament and the Four Humors - Hardcover

Ibn Sina, Al-Hussain; Avicenna

Hardcover

ISBN 13: 9798888230114

Publisher: Ist Institute Press, 2025

Synopsis

In this opening volume, The Foundations of Natural Temperament and the Four Humors, of Ibn Sīnā's monumental Canon of Medicine, the reader enters the living architecture of classical science-where health and disease are governed by balance, not chance. Here, the philosopher-physician unfolds the universal principles of life: the elemental roots of nature, the temperaments that shape bodies and dispositions, and the four humors-blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile-through which vitality circulates and decline begins.

With clarity and precision, Ibn Sīnā reveals how moderation sustains existence and how its disturbance gives rise to illness. This first book thus forms the foundation of the entire medical art, offering both the logic and the ethics of care that unite body, soul, and cosmos.

The Ancient Wisdom Collection continues with the subsequent volumes of the Canon, each devoted to a distinct realm of knowledge-from the organs and their faculties, to the causes and cures of disease, and the composition of remedies-restoring to view one of humanity's most enduring systems of thought.

About this title

About the Author

Abu Ali al-Hussain Ibn Abdullah Ibn Sina (980-1037 CE), known in the Latin West as Avicenna, was a Persian philosopher, physician, and scientist whose contributions profoundly impacted the development of both Islamic and European intellectual history. Regarded as one of the most significant thinkers of the Islamic Golden Age, he authored over 450 works across a wide range of disciplines, including philosophy, medicine, astronomy, logic, and mathematics. His most celebrated works, The Canon of Medicine and The Book of Healing, reflect a synthesis of Aristotelian philosophy with empirical scientific inquiry. Ibn Sina's methodical approach to diagnosis, experimentation, and ethical medical practice marked a turning point in the history of medicine. His legacy endures not only in the annals of medical science but also in the broader tradition of rational thought and humanistic scholarship.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ist Institute Press
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798888230114
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 76