"A Comparative Study of the Concept of Love in Avicenna and Schopenhauer: From Goodness-Centered to Will-to-Live Metaphysics"

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Document Type : Research

Authors

1 -

2 Associate Professor of Philosophy, Theology and Ethics of Payame Noor University, South Tehran

Abstract

This study, employing an analytical-comparative method, examines the concept of love in the thought of Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā) and Arthur Schopenhauer. Avicenna approaches love from three perspectives: the medical (as an obsessive illness akin to melancholy), the philosophical (as the sustaining principle of beings), and the mystical (as a chaste love purifying the soul). Schopenhauer, in turn, explicates love in three dimensions: sexual love (as a deceptive force ensuring the survival of the species), the will to life (as a pervasive metaphysical force), and pure love (manifested as compassion and leading to salvation). The findings indicate similarities in the conception of love as an all-pervading principle and the presence of will in all beings, while highlighting a fundamental divergence: Avicenna’s orientation toward the primacy of the Good versus Schopenhauer’s grounding in the primacy of evil. As the first comprehensive comparison of these two philosophers, this research opens a new horizon in understanding the philosophy of love.

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Islamic Philosophical Doctrines

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 27 December 2025

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