180 KB51 KB201120252021Berndtson, Petri Joakimštevilka:103/104letnik:26str. 131-151DOI:10.35469/poligrafi.2021.292COBISSID_HOST:100051971ISSN:1318-8828URN:URN:NBN:SI:doc-KQIHM4WBenDruštvo za primerjalno religiologijoZnanstveno-raziskovalno središče KoperPoligrafiairal-nafsAvicenaBachelardbreathingdihanjefloating personflying personlebdeči človekleteči človekzrakAerial and respiratory atmospheres of Avicenna's flying person|Persian philosopher Avicenna (980?1037) is famous for his thought experiment concerning the flying person,” “floating person” or “person suspended in air.” In this thought experiment, a person is created flying in the air in a state of total sensory deprivation. Scholars have debated for centuries what this thought experiment is all about. Most scholars have interpreted this thought experiment as essentially being about the existence of the soul (al-nafs) in its immateriality, substantiality, and self-awareness, as well as about the difference between the soul and the body. In my article, I will interpret Avicenna’s thought experiment in a totally different manner within the atmospheres of air and breathing. In my reading, I will carefully examine the fact neglected by scholars that this flight happens in the air and that it is the air that defines the existence of the flying person. With this aerial attitude I will argue that this thought experiment is not above all about the soul, but about air and al-nafs as a respiratory self. In my aerial and respiratory interpretation of Avicenna’s flying person, I will use Gaston Bachelard’s phenomenologically oriented aerial thinking as well as etymological analysis of al-nafsPerzijski filozof Avicena (980?1037) je znan po svojem miselnem eksperimentu v zvezi z »letečim« ali »lebdečim človekom« oziroma s »človekom, ki visi v zraku«. Ta postulira, da se človek pojavi kakor lebdeč v zraku v stanju popolne senzorne deprivacije. Znanstveniki so stoletja razpravljali o tem, o čem naj bi šlo pri tem poskusu. Večina v njem vidi dokazovanje obstoja duše (al-nafs) v njeni nesnovno-sti, substancialnosti in samozavedanju, pa tudi kot dokazovanje neenakosti med dušo in telesom. avtor v članku razlaga avicenov miselni eksperiment na povsem drugačen način, znotraj atmosfer zraka in dihanja. V svoji interpretaciji podrobno preuči dejstvo, ki ga znanstveniki zanemarjajo, in sicer, da se ta let dogaja v zraku, torej da zrak opredeljuje obstoj letečega človeka. V takšni zračni perspektivi avtor dokazuje, da pri tem miselnem eksperimentu ne gre prvenstveno za dušo, temveč za zrak in al-nafs kot respiratorno sebstvo. V svoji zračni in respiratorni interpretaciji avicenovega letečega človeka uporabi na zrak osredinjeno fenomenološko razmišljanje Gastona Bachelarda in se opre na etimološko analizo izraza al-nafsTEXTznanstveno časopisjejournalsSlovenian National E-content AggregatorNational and University Library of SloveniaZnanstveno-raziskovalno središče Koper