Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy and Theology (Kalam), Al-Mustafa International University, Iran.
Abstract
The imaginative faculty (al-mutakhayyila) is one of the internal powers of the human soul, characterized by inherent agency and dynamism; it neither rests nor subsides, nor does it remain occupied for a moment from imagining and picturing when suitable conditions are present. This faculty possesses free access to the repositories of imagination and memory. When the mind falls into a state of negligence and fails to perform its role in monitoring the faculties, this faculty seizes the opportunity and begins weaving fantasies and creating images. The faculty of imagination, through its function of preserving images, and the imaginative faculty through its role in creating images, interact and complement one another: imagination provides raw materials for the imaginative faculty, which in turn sends what it fashions from these materials to imagination for archiving. The most significant functions of the imaginative faculty manifest in composing disparate images and separating connected images. Among the earliest researchers in the field of psychology, Ibn Sina (Avicenna) gave particular attention to the phenomenological properties of the imaginative faculty and sought to propose new solutions and methods for controlling it. These solutions include supervising and monitoring it with the mind, keeping the repository of imagination beyond the realm of utilization, employing the imaginative faculty in a purposeful and systematic manner, strengthening the spiritual and behavioral aspects of the soul, correcting temperament and maintaining bodily health, fulfilling physical needs, and habituating oneself to speaking truth and avoiding falsehood and deception. In this research, the phenomenological properties of the imaginative faculty are examined using the rational-analytical methodology, first, followed by an exploration of its methods of management and control, as well as the consequences and results of runaway imagination from Ibn Sina's perspective.
Azizi,M. (2026). Analysis of the Imaginative Faculty in Ibn Sina's Thought and the Methods of Its Management. AL-DALEEL, 9(31), 39-59. doi: 10.64704/aldaleel.2026093102
MLA
Azizi,M. . "Analysis of the Imaginative Faculty in Ibn Sina's Thought and the Methods of Its Management", AL-DALEEL, 9, 31, 2026, 39-59. doi: 10.64704/aldaleel.2026093102
HARVARD
Azizi M. (2026). 'Analysis of the Imaginative Faculty in Ibn Sina's Thought and the Methods of Its Management', AL-DALEEL, 9(31), pp. 39-59. doi: 10.64704/aldaleel.2026093102
CHICAGO
M. Azizi, "Analysis of the Imaginative Faculty in Ibn Sina's Thought and the Methods of Its Management," AL-DALEEL, 9 31 (2026): 39-59, doi: 10.64704/aldaleel.2026093102
VANCOUVER
Azizi M. Analysis of the Imaginative Faculty in Ibn Sina's Thought and the Methods of Its Management. AL-DALEEL, 2026; 9(31): 39-59. doi: 10.64704/aldaleel.2026093102