Metaphysical Investigations

fa Friendship as Metaphor and the Twofold Governance of the Soul in Avicenna: A Reading of the Risālat al-Ṭayr The Conceptual Metaphor of Friendship in Avicenna’s Doctrine of the Dual Governance of the Soul: A Study of The Treatise of the Birds and Hayy ibn Yaqzan فلسفی Philosophy مقاله پژوهشی Original Article <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">Based on a descriptive-analytical approach grounded in Conceptual Metaphor Theory, this study elucidates the epistemological function of the “friendship” metaphor within Avicenna’s framework for the twofold governance of the soul, as presented in his Risālat al-Ṭayr (Epistle of the Bird). It aims to investigate how concrete experiences function to conceptualize the soul’s abstract relationships with its own faculties. The findings indicate that the treatise’s conceptual structure is predicated on the macro-metaphor "OBSERVATION IS A JOURNEY" under which the sub-metaphor"THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE THEORETICAL FACULTY WITH THE INTERNAL PERCEPTIVE FACULTIES IS COMPANIONSHIP "plays a central role.This companionship is delineated as a dynamic and ascendant process. At the initial stage, the friendship metaphor is not yet applicable due to the unilateral soul-body relationship. Subsequently, at the intermediate stage, the bond between the theoretical faculty and the internal perceptive faculties is first forged as a utility-based companionship (rifqah maʿāribiyyah). Following the awakening of the will and the threefold spiritual disciplines, and in response to the divine call—“a caller from God gathers them”—this bond evolves into an epistemic companionship. Ultimately, on the basis of this “covenant of faith,” the unity and empathy among the faculties are elevated, ascending to the rank of a pure, virtue-based friendship, or khullah mumāḥiḍah (sincere amity). The culmination of this process is the perfect alignment of all the soul’s faculties on the path towards immateriality, absence from the self, and the attainment of the vision of the Truth (al-Ḥaqq). Consequently, the companionship metaphor provides the cognitive framework that models the relationship between the rational faculty and the internal perceptive faculties through two ascending stages of friendship: the utility-based (maʿāribiyyah) and the pure (mumāḥiḍah).</div> <div dir="ltr"> <div></div></div> This study adopts a descriptive–analytical approach, drawing on Lakoff and Johnson’s theory of conceptual metaphors, to explore the cognitive function of the schema of “friendship” in explaining the dual governance of the soul in Avicenna’s allegorical treatises, especially The Treatise of the Birds and Hayy ibn Yaqzan. The central problem is to understand how “friendship,” as a conceptual metaphor, structures the soul’s relations with its faculties and hierarchies as well as with higher principles, granting them new ethical and psychological meanings. The findings indicate three levels of representation. At the lower level, in the relation between the soul and the body with its sensory powers, friendship takes an instrumental form marked by one-sided utility, contingent attachment, and external causation. At the intermediate level, in the relation between the soul and the inner perceptive faculties, friendship is mutual and benefit-oriented, based on reciprocal exchange, leading to the organization of the faculties for the soul and purposeful orientation for the faculties themselves, with direct decision-making by the soul. At the highest level, in the soul’s connection with the Active Intellect, friendship becomes virtue-centered and contemplative, intrinsic and unifying, involving participation in the “sacred order” and detachment from lower forms of friendship. By uncovering the hierarchical cognitive mechanism of friendship, this research offers a new perspective on the psychological complexities of the soul’s journey in Avicenna’s thought, highlighting the central role of friendship as an organizing principle. Risālat al-Ṭayr - Conceptual Metaphors - Friendship - Soul - Avicenna’s Allegorical Treatises - Twofold Governance of the Soul Conceptual Metaphors, Friendship, the Soul, Avicenna’s Allegories, Dual Management of the Soul 0 0 http://mi.khu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-372-1&slc_lang=fa&sid=1 asmaa esaghinasab اسماء اسحاقی نسب esaghinasab.asma@yahoo.com 10031947532846002678 10031947532846002678 Yes Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University دانشگاه تربیت دبیر شهید رجایی Ainollah khademi عین الله خادمی e_khademi@ymail.com 10031947532846002679 10031947532846002679 No Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University دانشگاه تربیت دبیر شهید رجایی abdollah salavati عبدالله صلواتی salavati2010@gmail.com 10031947532846002680 10031947532846002680 No Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University دانشگاه تربیت دبیر شهید رجایی