Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine: Influences and Implications

Avicenna was a philosopher and physician around the year 1000 in what is modern day Uzbekistan. He was a revolutionary thinker, and had a profound influence on the way medicine was practiced for centuries through his medical textbook, The Canon of Medicine. In my thesis, I investigate how the primary influences on Avicenna in the Canon, specifically Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Galen, impacted his work. I also show where Avicenna adapted the writings of his predecessors, and forged his own ideas from their work. I also examine the present implications of the theories and methods presented in the Canon, and show how Avicenna’s thoughts can be used in a modern context