Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate self-knowledge in the works of Abu $\sp{\rm c}$Ali al-Husayn Ibn Sina . The question of self-knowledge has been a central theme in philosophy since ancient times. Expressed in the Delphic maxim "Know thyself," it was a prominent theme in Plata's depiction of Socrates. However, the theme of the present investigation is not about Socratic self-knowledge. Rather, it seeks to describe Ibn Sina's account of one's awareness of one's self as "I" and what is involved in the affirming that "I exist"? It is discovered that, while self-knowledge of this order plays a prominent role in Ibn Sina's epistemology, previous accounts of his thought have construed his view of self-cognition in terms of the reflexivity of knowledge in general. Countering this interpretation, it is argued that in Ibn Sina the consciousness involved in self-cognition is a mental state in which the subject has a direct cognitive inner awareness of a mental act as it occurs. It is further argued that Ibn Sina believed that the quality of consciousness that makes our knowledge of ourselves appear obvious must be distinguished from consciousness as such just as it must be distinguished from other features contemporaries have attributed to it such as its intentionality