Ibn Sina

Ibn Sina is one of the brightest intellects of the world. Though influenced both by Al-kindi and Al-farabi he tried to reconcile religion and philosophy through allegorical interpretation. Ibn Sina however, is a great systematic thinker of the highest order. Al-Dahbi describes him as 'the leader of Islamic philosophy'. According to George Sarton, he is the most famous scientist and philosopher of Islam and one of the greatest of all areas, places and times. He is known in the west as Avicenna. He started studying philosophy by reading various Greek, Muslim and other books on this subject and learnt logic and metaphysics from Abu Abdallah Natili, Aristotelian philosopher.

Concerning his philosophy of education, Ibn Sina did not clearly defines education and training but according to his views, we can say that the essence of the education and training from his viewpoint is: “social and personal planning and activities for family health, child growth and making decision about social affairs so that human attains felicity in this world and after death”. The definitions, which are derived from Avicenna’s works, correspond with the definition of Islamic education and both insist on the concept of growth.

Ibn Sina divides knowledge into two major categories; the first category is called as theoretical knowledge while the second category is named practical knowledge.

The theoretical philosophy comprises of three kinds of sciences which are similar to Aristotle's ideas; these are natural sciences, mathematical sciences and theological or metaphysical sciences. In this category, he adds absolute science. On the other hand, practical knowledge covers three branches of knowledge as proposed by Aristotle; those are ethics, the house hold management, the public management. He adds prophetic science in this category. On this matter, we can see Ibn Sina did not imitate the whole ideas of Greek philosophy but as a true Islamic philosopher, he successfully Islamized alien philosophy and made it compatible to Islamic teaching and world-view.

Aims of Education

According to Rosnani, Ibn Sina's view of the aims of education is similar to other Muslim philosophers', such as Al-Farabi. These two aims of education identified in his view, firstly the ultimate aim of education that is "the cultivation of intellect." Secondly, another important aim of education that is "to prepare children for their calling in life." The first aim reflects obviously his belief of the uniqueness and distinctive intellect of man from other creatures whereas the second aim is more vocational and practical in the sense that preparing the students for appropriate jobs and life-earning.

Role of Teacher

About the teacher’s manner, Ibn Sina said: “Teacher should keep the child away from bad deeds and make him choose good friends, sometimes encourage and sometimes threaten him and if the threatening did not work then punish him. Be a moderate teacher, means not being so strict that the child does not dare to pose a question or ask for an explanation and not being so mild that the child becomes so bold and ignorant to the teacher’s statements and orders or to degrade them. The teacher must know the child and evaluate his nature and talents and examine his intelligence so he can choose an art and a career which is appropriate for the child’s talent and intelligence, consider the child’s enthusiasm in choosing an art and make him get accustomed to earn a livelihood through an art or a career that he has learnt.”

Ibn Sina believed that, since the essence of the child is impressible, and forming the habits and manners begins from infancy and even prepartum period (embryonic period), so we have to do our best regarding his health, hygiene, education, and teaching from very early stages of his life. In addition, the nurturing is a slow and gradual process, and paying attention to the cares and lessons given to the child from the early stages of life is essential in the process of education. These lessons can augment his mental and physical growth, which have a mutual correlation with each other.