International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies

Running head: “THE FLYING MAN” ARGUMENT
“THE FLYING MAN” ARGUMENT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1“THE FLYING MAN” ARGUMENT
As stated by Bloch (2018), concepts like self-awareness, self-consciousness, self-
knowledge and others had formed an integral part of the different philosophical debates over the
years with each of the philosophers trying to offer a better explanation of these concepts. Lim
and Khan (2016) are of the viewpoint that the primary objective of the different philosophers
behind the exploration of these concepts was to understand the relationship between essence and
existence of the individuals and even to find out whether the human body actually contains any
soul as had been highlighted by the different religions since the traditional times. More
importantly, it had been seen that although no create evidence regarding the existence of the
human soul had been found till now yet the different philosophers have tried to interpret or for
that matter to understand the human soul in terms of their self-awareness, self-consciousness,
self-knowledge and other related aspects (Perfetti, 2018). In this relation, it needs to be said that
Avicenna’s thought experiment the “Flying Man” is an important philosophical experiment since
it helped the individuals to gain a better understanding of the human consciousness, self-
knowledge, self-awareness and others. The purpose of this essay is to undertake an analysis of
the “Flying Man” argument while highlighting the claims related to the soul, the self, the human
being and others made by the concerned argument.
Adamson and Benevich (2018) are of the viewpoint that one of the most important
aspects of the “Flying Man” thought experiment conducted by Avicenna can be attributed to the
fact that unlike the other individuals who over the years had tried to explain the human soul and
the human body in religious terms, Avicenna offers a philosophical interpretation of the same.
The words of St. Paul wherein he had stated that “the invisible things of God are clearly seen,
understood through the things which that have made” (Aquinas, 2002). In this relation, it needs
to be said that St. Paul in a subtle manner had indicated that the individuals have the opportunity

2“THE FLYING MAN” ARGUMENT
to understand themselves, their body and also their soul through an understanding of the
Almighty God who had created them. This in turn is an important reason why the individuals
over the years have tried to gain an understanding of the human body, self and the soul by
gaining an understanding of God Himself. However, this approach substantially limited the
knowledge or for that matter the understanding of the human beings regarding the above
mentioned concepts and it is precisely here that the importance of the “Flying Man” thought
experiment of Avicenna lies. Adding to this, Taheri and Ghasemi (2016) have noted that the
“Flying Man” argument was more of a metaphysical argument which was by Avicenna on the
basis of the thought experienced conducted by him so as to find the relationship which exists
between the soul, the self and the human body. Furthermore, Avicenna through his experiment
tried to show that the human body, self and the soul are intractably tied to the self-awareness,
self-knowledge, self- consciousness and the other important aspects of the individuals.
As discussed by Cameron (2018), the individuals in order to understand the concepts of
human body, self and the soul as articulated by Avicenna need to have a working knowledge of
the concepts of essence and existence since it is through the usage of these entities that Avicenna
had tried to offer an explanation for the human body, self and the soul. Adding to this, Houseker
(2018) has noted that through the “Flying Man” Avicenna was able to create a hypothetical
condition wherein an individual would not be able to feel his body parts or for that matter
perceive the same and therefore it can be said that in such a situation although the concerned
individual has essence but no existence. However, during the course of the experiment Avicenna
was able to find that the individual had no existence as per his own perception yet at the same
time he was in a condition wherein his essence became his existence (Soerensen, 2017).
Avicenna’s lines from his work “On the Soul “he considers whether he affirms the existence of