Being and Essence in the Middle Ages

We've been reading and discussing the concepts of **Being** and **Essence** in the Middle Ages, starting with **Aristotle** and then with Islamic Scholars of the golden age, including **Ibn Sina** (**Avicenna**). So I think it's time to mix all these characters together in a play of our own. Sarah Bakewell did a wonderful little work called "*The Existential Cafe*", in which various Existential philosophers are imagined to be coming and going to a cafe in 1940's Paris. I'm going to borrow her clever idea and amend it by going back to 10th-13th century Baghdad at the House of Wisdom. Like Sarah's work, the characters will be presenting and arguing their philosophies, and especially their views on **Being** and **Essence.** Who, you may well ask, will be the main characters in this play of ours? I'm thinking of the following: **Aristotle** (of course) **Boethius**, **Ibn Sina**, **Ibn Rushd**, **Ibn Al-Haytham**, and **Thomas Aquinas**. Each one of these philosophers, to me, is wrestling with the same question: How can one best apply the wisdom of Aristotle to their own contemporary world, especially with respect to **Being** and **Essence**. It's no surprise that the development by these philosophers of these two concepts throughout the Middle Ages had such an profound impact on philosophy, even up to the 20th century Existentialist philosophers **Heidegger** and **Sartre**. So if you are interested in learning about the development of these key concepts of **Being** and **Essence** throughout the Middle Ages, please join us for a very amateur production of our own play. Note, there is no audience per se, because you will be performing all the parts. It's a lot of fun. [Aristotle's Metaphysics (pdf)](https://ia802806.us.archive.org/30/items/aristotlesmetaph0001aris/aristotlesmetaph0001aris.pdf) [Aristotle's Metaphysics (YouTube lecture)](https://youtu.be/8M8cedhT0qE?si=TwrtTpLlFpzYUVZK) [Boethius's Theological Tractates](https://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/03d/0480-0524,_Boethius,_The_Theological_Tractates,_EN.pdf) [Ibn Sina The Metaphysics of the Healing](https://archive.org/details/metaphysicsofhea0000avic/page/n731/mode/2up) [Ibn Sina An English Version of the Liber de Anima](https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/server/api/core/bitstreams/0ef6a1dc-e461-432c-9b4b-5daf5625ca49/content) [Al-Ghazali Deliverance from Error](https://ghazali.org/books/md/gz101.htm) [Al-Ghazali The Incoherence of the Philosophers](https://dn760104.eu.archive.org/0/items/imamghazali_201510/Al%20Ghazali%20Incoherence%20of%20the%20Philosophers.pdf) [Ibn Rushd The Incoherence of the Incoherence](http://www.newbanner.com/Philosophy/IbnRushd/Tahafut_al-Tahafut_en.pdf) [Thomas Aquinas On Being and Essence](https://faculty.fordham.edu/klima/blackwell-proofs/MP_C30.pdf) [The Optics of Ibn Al-Haytham](https://monoskop.org/images/f/ff/The_Optics_of_Ibn_Al-Haytham_Books_I-III_On_Direct_Vision_Sabra_1989.pdf)