Matter and Nature

The fundamental principle—ruling both Avicenna’s metaphysics and his ethics—that the action of superior causes cannot be explained in virtue of the existence of inferior effects—seems to deny any possibility of a consistent idea of providence in Avicenna’s system. Despite this fact, Avicenna recurs to the term (ʿināya; tadbīr) as well as to the idea of providence in various contexts in his oeuvre. More precisely, providence is equated to the flow of being that originates and explains the world; and this not only in respect to the fundamental, existential, positive and “good” properties that belong to it—the world itself is good, the flow is the principle of good and the First Principle is the cause of the world in so far as the order of good is concerned—but also as regards the marginal, negative, non-existential and “bad” properties that can affect its individuals and that are necessarily consequents of the good itself: evil is something the First Principle “wants”, although in an accidental way, and it is therefore implicit in and contained by divine causality. In this paper I shall outline the fundamental structure that explains the existence of individuals in the sublunary world. I do not claim to be exhaustive (some questions require further investigation); my aim is to provide an overview of the topic, with a main question in mind: on what principles does Avicenna base his idea of providence?

THE PHENOMENON OF NEO-DETERMINISM AND ITS COMPREHENSION IN MODERN CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY

The author's research attention is focused on modern science-historical interpretations of the phenomenon of neo-determinism. The author also turned his attention to attempts at a theological interpretation of such ideas through the provisions of a religious worldview. The main objective of this article is to study an updated understanding of the fundamental principle of science – the principle of causality. In addition, the author studied the features of the manifestation of the causality principle in scientific and humanitarian projections. The author's special attention is also focused on the study of the specifics of reflection in the modern religious consciousness of the ideas of divine causality. In addition, the author focused on certain manifestations of the immanence of divine being. The author was particularly interested in the specific components of religious teaching. These are the positions in which theologians try to imagine the point of concentration of God's efforts when God carries out his will and providence. It is on the question of divine immanence that the efforts of even the most inquiring mind are broken up into obstacles caused by faith itself. The limit of that area into which the mind cannot intervene is an attempt to touch the divine causality. The question of finding access points through which God changes the natural world in acts of wonderworking also remains incomprehensible. The topic of the article, the choice and application of its theoretical and methodological approaches are determined by the very subject of thought and the nature of the tasks posed. The following cognition methods were used in the article: general philosophical, general scientific theoretical methods. The author followed the principle of objectivity, applied causal analysis. The final results of the study of the topic lead the thought to the following proposition. Within the synergetic paradigm, the focus of scientists has shifted to the phenomenon of instability and randomness in the course of the processes of the world. This led to the foundation of a new non-linear way of thinking. It also led to the penetration of the provisions of nonlinear determinism in the main disciplinary practices – science, philosophy and religion. Ontological philosophical ideas about the nature of the original nomology (about the essence of the fundamental laws of the universe) have changed. The traditional views on the uniqueness of connections and relationships in nature are revised. This was favored by the development of nonequilibrium thermodynamics and the introduction into the scientific knowledge of statistical techniques and research operations. In understanding the causality of classical science, as well as in the picture of the world that this science offered, God, who casts lots, was a stranger and superfluous. However, modern science offers a new vision of the world. It is based on the nonlinearity of the development of the world and the pluralism of being. The instability factor arises at the bifurcation nodes of a particular process. As a result of fluctuations, the instability factor makes the forecast for the development of the system similar to the "coin toss". In this case, the vectors of several future options open in front of the object. Theologians carefully study the achievements of modern science. And here the theologians again got the opportunity to talk about God in a new way. God acts in alternating necessity and chance for a fraction of chance. The main goal of God is the instantaneous realization of new divine plans for the world and man.