Ibn Sina’s Metaphysical Proof

In this paper i shall deal with ibn sīnā’s views on proving god’s existence (isbāt al-wājib). today, there have been hot debates among the philosophers whether ibn sina’s argument for god’s existence is ontological or cosmological. the majority of the philosophers argue that ibn sīnā, following aristotle, tries to explain god’s existence by a way which moves from the created to the creator; he does not offer an a priori argument but rather an a posteriori one. analyzing ibn sīnā’s views on being, modality, the distinction of essence and existence, the subjects and the aims of metaphysics, i claim that he is not trying to prove god’s existence through sensible things, moving from the created to the creator. on the contrary, ibn sīnā attempts to prove god’s existence by analyzing the nature of being qua being; in his argumentation god witnesses to the existence of the created not vice versa. at the end of the paper, by examining the similarities, more importantly, the differences between ibn sīnā’s argument and the cosmological and the ontological ones, also by referring to the views of the most leading avicennaist medieval christian philosopher henry of ghent, i argue that his argument is neither cosmological nor ontological in anselmian sense, but it is better to call it “the metaphysical proof.”