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Notes on Uayy
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Authored by Frank Redmond, 2013
In the beginning, we find Uayy awaken to a world that surrounds him, and, with an innate sense of wonder, he begins to examine “all the bodies found in the world of generation and corruption” (McGinnis & Reisman 358). He noted that things like “the various species of animals and plants and minerals and the kinds of stones, soil, water, vapor, snow, cold, smoke, ice, flame and heat” (358) all had different descriptions and moved and acted in particular ways. He made connections and differentiated between the various attributes of these things, yet he could not sort out the world into different orders of being; there was too much multiplicity in the world. He even considered his own body to be a multiplicity since “he observed the difference of his organs and that each of them is individuated by a certain action” (359).
Nevertheless, he eventually came to the conclusion that although his organs were many and had a multitude of functions, they all belonged to one body; they are all continuous with one another. This, he determined, was due to power of the animal spirit which is one in itself and conjoins all the organs together - “spirit is one in itself and is the […] true nature of the self, whereas all of the other organs are like instruments. […] He seemed himself one” (359).
Next, he determined that animals can be divided into species and each species was one. He observed the fact that “individuals of each species resembled one another with respect to external and internal organs, modes of perception, motions and appetites” (360). Therefore, he judged that the spirit of the whole species was one except for the fact that each individual had their own heart which belongs to the whole of the species 9reword0. He argued that if he could bring together all the “spirit” from each heart and place it in one receptacle, it would be all of one thing.
He then began to consider these species more closely, and through observing what each species senses, why they seek nourishment, and how they move, he determined that animal spirit which belongs to an entire genus of animals is in reality one. The whole genus of animal is one.
He now turned his attention to plants. He observed that plants resembled one another in respect to their “branches, leaves, flowers, fruits and activities” (361). Like animals, they too have a common, single thing which is comparable to the animal spirit, in that they are all one. And, he also investigated the whole genus, plant, and concluded that it is one, for all plant seeks nourishment and growth.
Uayy then compared the two genii, animal and plant, and he determined that they both seek nourishment and growth. However, only animals supersede plants since they have the virtues of sensation, perception, and locomotion. Still, Uayy noticed that plants “turn in the direction of the sun and their roots move in the direction of nourishment” (361). Thus, they must be of one thing since they both exhibit this quality. While the animal might be more complete and perfect than the plant, they still are one.
Uayy then turned towards the bodies which neither sense, nor seek nourishment - “rocks, soil, water, air, and flame” (362). He noted that they were all three dimensional, that some were colorless and some colored, and some were hot and some cold. Uayy saw that hot things become cold things, and visa-versa; water becomes vapor, and visa-versa; and things that are burned turn to embers, smoke, and ashes. However, when a dome is placed over the smoke wafting to the sky, it coagulates together and becomes like “earthly things” (362). By observing all these processes, he determined that they are all one thing.
He then took what he learned from his investigations on plants and animals and applied it to his investigations just mentioned. Uayy found that inanimate bodies and the animate bodies shared the same attributes, save for the fact that the animate bodies could move. However, Uayy determined that movement is an accident, a nonessential action, and should this accident creep into the inanimate bodies, then they would move too. In all, even though some bodies have attributes that others do not, they are all of one existence.
But what Uayy wanted to determine was whether or not he could find a single description common to all bodies. He determined that extension was what was common to all bodies. He ruminated over this idea for quite some time - “was it itself the account of the body without there furthermore being some other account or was that not the case?” (363). In other words, is there only one extension which body can take, or many extensions? Uayy took clay to be his example - clay can be worked into a certain shape with dimension; yet, this shape could be replaced with another shape and thereby another dimension altogether; however, the clay itself is always one and the same, even though it took on different dimensions. #12skipped
From this, he had reached a point where he had separated himself from the sensible world and began to look upon the intellectual world. But with this feeling of separation came a longing for a return to the sensible world, and, as such, he withdrew and stopped thinking about absolute body which is neither perceived sensibly nor able to be held (365). Instead, he returned to investigating the four elements - earth, air, fire, and water - which were of interest to him before.
First he observed water. He noted that, when left alone, coolness arises from its surface and this tries to move downwards. And when the water becomes slightly heated, the coldness slowly begins to disappear, but the water still tends downwards. But when the water is boiled, it tends upwards. The boiling was accompanied by a disappearance of the form altogether, and this led Uayy to the conclusion that water only has two attributes which arise from […] Therefore, he intuited that everything necessarily that comes to be has something which brings it about (365). With this observation came a general impression of an agent.
He then pursued all the forms which he knew and determined that all of them were originated and had an agent. He noted that the same patterns pervaded all forms, and, as such, activities do not belong to the soul intrinsically, but to the enacting agent. From this, he made the huge intuitive leap that some Agent was the root of these phenomena; however, Uayy was still too rooted in the sensual world to seek this Agent. He failed to know whether It was one or many, so he turned to what he knew, sensible objects, to explore some possibilities. Some times the sensible objects, he noted, were generated, other times corrupted. Whatever was no totally corrupted was corrupted in part; even the four elementary elements were not free from corruption. From this he saw that nothing is free of an origination from a free Agent, so he abandoned his sensual data and turned to the heavens for answers (367). It took him 24 years to reach this point; he was 28 at the time.
Uayy henceforth knew that the heavens and its contents were bodies, since they had dimension. But were they finite? or infinite? He was, at first, at a loss; however, as his discernment grew, he reckoned that an infinite body is an empty notion, for it is impossible and cannot be made intelligible (367). His arguments for this is as follows: (1) [….]
After he proved his hypothesis to be true, Uayy became aware of the celestial body in its entirety, that it is a single thing composed of continuously joined together parts. This was likewise seen in his initial investigations into animals and plants; a celestial sphere, he concluded, wholly resembled some individual animal. The animal's faculty of sense is analogous to the stars and planets. But how is this so? Uayy intuited that each various celestial sphere was connected to the next one like animal's organs are to one another. This observation produced a macrocosm of sorts in Uayy's mind.
Uayy then understood that the universe is one big individual that subsists under the agency of an Agent. But, is it something that has come to be or has it always existed? He was “at loggerheads” over this problem, for he saw that (1) when he believed in the world's pre-eternity, he was confronted by the impossibility of infinite existence, and, when he observed that the universe is never deplete of things that come to be in time and never precede from them, he determined that things that cannot precede other things in time must be in time as well. He saw also that (2) when he believed in the world's temporal creation, he came to the problem pp. 369-70.
In order to resolve this issue at hand, he sat down and gave this a great deal of thought; he mainly thought about the consequences of each belief. For, if the world was temporally created, then it needs an Agent to bring it into existence. This Agent certainly has to be beyond the senses because it is not a body. (If it were a body, then it would require another Creator above it, and this process would go ad infinitum, which leads to an absurdity). Also, since It cannot be sensed, It cannot be imagined, “because the imagination is nothing presenting to oneself the forms of sensible objects that are no longer present” (371). Conclusively, if the universe has an Agent creator, then it must necessarily have power and knowledge over it.
However, if the world's pre-eternity was never preceded by non-existence, then this concedes that the universe's motion is eternal and never began. Uayy determined that every motion must have a mover, and the mover either is a power that pervades one body amongst many or it is a power the does not pervade the body (371). As a principle, “every power that pervades and spreads through a body is divided and multiplied by the body's being divided and multiplied” (371). [….] pp372
Nevertheless, he saw that both viewpoints rely on an Agent who is beyond corporeality. Since matter is dependent on form and can have no fixed reality without it, all things are dependent upon this Agent, who produces these forms. The things of matter are the effect of the Agent, thus making their existence wholly contingent upon the activities of the Agent. The Agent however can exist free from them. “Thus the whole universe – including the heavens, Earth, planets, stars, and whatever is between them, above and below them – is the result if Its action and creation” (373). [argument here….pp 373].
These investigations ultimately provided Uayy with the means to consider the power of the Agent and to marvel at Its craftsmanship, brilliance, and subtlety. Henceforth, all things, however subtle and small, seemed to Uayy to be made by the creative workmanship of the Agent. This seemed to further verify that everything stems form the Agent.
His final step in learning is that Uayy learned that nature has purpose. He saw that the animal's organs were created for an expressed end and purpose. Moreover, when he looked upon anything he saw the outpouring of the Agent. Uayy continued to pursue and think about all the perfect attributes of the Agent. Playing devil's advocate, he also pursued all the defects of nature and determined that the Agent is completely free from these defects. For, “there is no existence, but It; so it is existence, perfection, completion, excellence, magnificence, power, and knowledge; It is Itself!” (375).