Philosophy of Religion

Philosophy of Religion

The Attribution of Psychic Passions to God in Avicenna: Divine Personhood — Yes or No?

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Mohammad Masoud Rahmani 1
Amirabbas Alizamani 2
1 Department of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
2 Department of Philosophy of Religion, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
10.22059/jpht.2026.414552.1006205
Abstract
The question of divine personhood is one of the central issues in contemporary philosophy of religion and is closely related to the possibility of attributing psychological and affective properties to God. In this context, Avicenna’s theological–metaphysical system, with its emphasis on divine simplicity, the necessity of existence, and the denial of any change or passivity in the essence of the Necessary Existent, provides a particularly significant framework for analyzing this issue. This study focuses on the concept of *psychic passions* within the framework of Avicenna’s philosophical psychology and, by distinguishing between action and passion, examines the possibility or impossibility of attributing affective states to God within his philosophical system. To this end, the paper first explicates the meaning of psychic passion and the factors influencing the human soul; it then analyzes the criteria of divine personhood in contemporary philosophy of religion and compares them with Avicenna’s metaphysical principles. The findings indicate that although Avicenna attributes certain notions—such as love, satisfaction, and pleasure—to God, he strips them of their passional and anthropomorphic meanings and reinterprets them within a metaphysical framework. Consequently, within the Avicennian system, the attribution of psychological predicates does not entail anthropomorphic personhood; rather, it signifies a form of metaphysical individuation that remains compatible with the simplicity and immutability of the Necessary Existent.
Keywords
Divine Personhood
Avicenna
Psychic Passions
Subjects
Avicenna (1984). Al-Shifāʾ. Edited by Ibrāhīm B. Madkūr, Qum, Āyatullāh Marʿashī Najafī Library, 1st ed. (in Arabic)
Avicenna (1953). Treatises (The Treatise on the Principles of Wisdom and the Treatise on the Gift of the Leader to the Prince). Edited by Ḥilmī Ḍiyāʾ Ülken, Istanbul, Faculty of Letters, Istanbul University, 1st ed. (in Arabic)
Jacobs, Nathan A.; Chris, Firestone L. (2025). Philosophy of Religion. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, (entry/article).
Legenhausen, Gary (1986). Is God a Person?. Religious Studies, 22, 3–4, 307–323.
Swinburne, Richard (1993). The Coherence of Theism. Oxford, Clarendon Press, Revised ed.
Ṭūsī, Naṣīr al-Dīn (1996). Commentary on al-Ishārāt wa-l-Tanbīhāt. Qom, Nashr al-Balāghah, 1st ed. (in Arabic)
Philosophy of Religion
Volume 23, Issue 3
Autumn 2026
Pages 169-178