"The Unity of Existence" in IbnʿArabī's Seals of Wisdom and Plotinus’ Enneads

Abstract

The doctrine of ‘the unity of existence’ or ‘oneness of being’, generally referred to as the doctrine of ‘the One,’ is of cardinal importance in philosophy. It has penetrated the Greek and Islamic Metaphysics so deep that studying the history of philosophy in these two traditions would be impractical without understanding it. Two very influential thinkers advocating this doctrine are Plotinus and Ibn ʿArabī. Therefore, I think it is important to clarify the two thinkers’ positions in the best light. My primary aim is to shed light on the metaphysical position of the doctrine of the unity of existence in Plotinus’ Enneads and Ibn ʿArabī’s Seals of Wisdom. My secondary aim is to examine whether, from an entirely philosophical point of view, the metaphysical positions of the two philosophers’ doctrines are defensible and reasonable in themselves. The following is the central interpretive question I plan to resolve: ‘How do Plotinus’ Enneads and Ibn ʿArabī’s Seals of Wisdom understand the doctrine of the unity of existence?’ Examining and comparing both these masterpieces, I conclude that the metaphysical positions of the doctrines of the unity of existence echoed in these works are credible and that despite minor differences, the two doctrines are very similar, a resemblance which indicates that the latter thinker might have been influenced by the former. I think this thesis would help the reader to have a good basis to study Greek and Islamic Metaphysics. Finally, one important problem deserving further research is Ibn ʿArabī’s ‘fixed entities.’