Özet:

It is clear that Avicenna, having considered the fact that the closest being to human is his own existence, sought to know and prove the existence of being/existence. The way in which it was to be done is ?to comprehend existence and its principle directly, without mediation.? In a parallel way, Heidegger thought that the way for one to understand existence is to understand and grasp one?s own existence. However, since understanding existence precedes understanding what existence is, Sartre, referring to this in his own way, coined the concepts en soi and pour soi and claimed that the real issue was for man to grasp his own existence. The aim of this article is limited to the efforts towards indicating the similarities and differences between the concepts of existence and essence that is the primary emphasis of the existentialist movement initiated by Descartes and given a new dimension by Sartre, and the concepts of existence-essence in Islamic philosophy, especially in that of Avicenna.

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