SEP’s Ibn Sina and Ghazali entries print the later Avicennism-versus-kalam polarisation
The Stanford Encyclopedia’s Ibn Sina entry (first published 15 September 2016) and its Ghazali entry jointly print the long school fight in which Avicennian necessary-existent metaphysics became a party badge against Ash‘ari kalam. The dated public English cluster is those encyclopedia articles, not a 1037 street fight. In the causal graph this event strengthens Political Polarization, a driver that weakens Having a say in government — a worsening welfare path.
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The Stanford Encyclopedia’s Ibn Sina entry (first published 15 September 2016) and its Ghazali entry jointly print the long school fight in which Avicennian necessary-existent metaphysics became a party badge against Ash‘ari kalam. The dated public English cluster is those encyclopedia articles, not a 1037 street fight. Polarisation here is confessional-intellectual, not a parliament score.
Context
A metaphysical dispute is not a civil war. It is a durable caption that later states and seminaries still use to sort ‘reason’ from ‘law’. Split the improving metaphysics-access row.
Avicenna is not the sole author of every later object, law, or museum label that uses the name. Shared work with courts, excavators, printers, spouses, officials, and later states does not erase a documented role, and it does not make an ancient person the signer of a twentieth-century statute.
Why it matters
Printed school-warfare around Avicennism is a cohesion cost for later classrooms that treat the name as a camp.
Who was responsible
Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.
Avicenna
PersonDirect responsibility
responsibility level 0.24 · verified
Named physician-philosopher as heading of later editions, faculties, and commemorations. Printers, faculties, and agencies publish the instrument.
What changed
Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.
- FactSEP’s Ibn Sina and Ghazali entries print the later Avicennism-versus-kalam polarisation
- strengthensDriverPolitical Polarization
- weakensIndicators (2)Having a say in government
impact weight 0.4 · Effect from 15 September 2016 · verified
Printed school-warfare around Avicennism is a cohesion cost for later classrooms that treat the name as a camp.
Weakens · Relationship strength 0.18 (weight 0.4 × strength 0.45)
Observed
29.8% of population aged 16-65 years · 8.13 below the normal line (2023)
Worse than normalTwo readings: 30.2% of population aged 16-65 years (2021) and 29.8% of population aged 16-65 years (2023).
20212023 Above normal = better
Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.18 (weight 0.4 × strength 0.45)
Observed
43.9 Score · 43.9 above the normal line (2024)
Worse than normal26 readings, 1996–2024: rose from 43 Score to 43.9 Score.
Normal is zero · any amount = worse
Evidence
The sources behind this fact and its verification state.
- 1.Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — al-GhazaliStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy · High credibility · verified
- 2.Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Ibn Sina [Avicenna]Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy · High credibility · verified
Causal path
How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.
- ActorAvicenna
- contributed toFactSEP’s Ibn Sina and Ghazali entries print the later Avicennism-versus-kalam polarisation
- strengthensDriverPolitical Polarization
- weakensIndicatorHaving a say in government
Cite this page
Factrail. (2026). SEP’s Ibn Sina and Ghazali entries print the later Avicennism-versus-kalam polarisation. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/av-ghazali-incoherence-sep
https://factrail.ai/facts/av-ghazali-incoherence-sep
Accessed 15 October 2026.
By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed
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