Aristotelian Logic and the Arabic Language in Alfarabi PDF
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Page i Aristotelian Logic and the Arabic Language in Alfarabi First page of the manuscript, "Risalah sudira biha 'lkitab" (Alfarabi's Introductory Risalah on Logic) (Bratislava 231). Reproduced from Almantiq 'ind Alfarabi (Alfarabi's Logic), part one, ed. Rafiq al'Aajam (Beirut: Dar alMashriq, 1986), p. 15. Page i Aristotelian Logic and the Arabic Language in Alfarabi First page of the manuscript, "Risalah sudira biha 'lkitab" (Alfarabi's Introductory Risalah on Logic) (Bratislava 231). Reproduced from Almantiq 'ind Alfarabi (Alfarabi's Logic), part one, ed. Rafiq al'Aajam (Beirut: Dar alMashriq, 1986), p. 15. Page ii SUNY Series, Toward a Comparative Philosophy of Religion Frank E. Reynolds and David Tracy, Editors A publication of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Page iii Aristotelian Logic and the Arabic Language in Alfarabi Shukri B. Abed State University of New York Press Page iv Disclaimer: This book contains characters with diacritics. When the characters can be represented using the ISO 88591 character set (http://www.w3.org/TR/images/latin1.gif), netLibrary will represent them as they appear in the original text, and most computers will be able to show the full characters correctly. In order to keep the text searchable and readable on most computers, characters with diacritics that are not part of the ISO 88591 list will be represented without their diacritical marks. Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 1991 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address the State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12246 Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Abed, Shukri. Aristotelian logic and the Arabic language in Alfarabi / Shukri B. Abed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0791403971. —ISBN 079140398X (pbk.) 1. Farabi—Language. 2. Farabi—Contributions in logic. 3. Logic—Terminology—History. 4. Aristotle—Contributions in Logic. 5. Language and logic. I. Title. B753.F34A62 1991 160'.92—dc20 8977651 CIP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Page v To my wife Joanne, whose patience, devotion, scholarly comments and insightful suggestions have been my greatest asset in writing this book. Page vii Contents Preface ix Introduction xi 1. Particulars and Universals: An Introduction to Alfarabi's Logical Lexicon 1 Particulars and Universals in Alfarabi's Writings 3 "Genus" and "Species" in Alfarabi 11 Essential Difference [Fasl Dhati] 15 Property [AlKhassah] 21 Accident [Al'Arad] 24 2. Definition and Description in Alfarabi's System 35 General Types of Phrases and Sentences in Alfarabi 35 The Place of Definition and Description in This Scheme: The Structural Point 40 of View Subject Matter of Definitory Clauses [ Hadd] 42 Subject Matter of Descriptive Clauses [Rasm] 49 3. The Concept of Essence in Alfarabi 59 The Role of Question Particles in Definition 59 The Many Facets of Essence 67 Essence as a Combination of Form and Matter: The Role of the Kayfa 77 Particle 4. The Concepts of Demonstration, Division, and Classification and Their 87 Relationship to Definition 'How?' and 'Why?' [Kayfa and Lima] Questions 87 Madha, LiMadha, BiMadha, and 'An Madha Questions 88 Theory of Demonstration 90 Division [Qismah] and Classification [Tarkib] in Alfarabi's Writings 95 5. The Term Mawjud in Nonlogical Contexts 105 The Question Particles Hal and Alif 105 Hal and its Uses in the Syllogistic Arts 109 Mawjud and the Concept of Truth 111 Page viii 6. Alfarabi's Linguistic Philosophy 119 The Arabic Verb System versus Aristotelian Logic 119 The Dual Character of Arabic Verbs: The Existential Verb as Copula 122 Filling a "Gap" in Predication: The Pronoun Huwa as Copula 126 The Elusive Present Tense and Other Anomalies of the Arabic Verb 128 System The Elusive Present Tense Continued: The Kufian View 130 The Copula as a Timeless Connector 136 Language Acquisition 141 The Concept of Mithal Awwal in Alfarabi's System 146 Abstract Nouns of the Form '... iyyah' 155 Conclusion 167 Appendix I: Primary Substance in Aristotle 175 Appendix II: Avicenna (Ibn Sina) on the Concept of 'essential' [dhati] 179 Bibliography 181 Index 187 Page ix Preface Many people have contributed in various ways to this book: Professors A. I. Sabra and Wolfhart Heinrichs, of Harvard University, both of whom have helped, advised and supported me throughout my work on the manuscript; Professors Joel Kraemer and Marcello Daskal, of Tel Aviv University, who read the manuscript and made invaluable suggestions; Professors Hilary Putnam and Muhsin Mahdi, of Harvard University, who inspired me; Dr. Judith Roumani, of the Truman Institute, whose professional editing of the final manuscript has been a major contribution to the quality of this work; and last but not least, my wife Joanne, who spent an enormous amount of time and energy going over the various drafts of this work. To all these people I am greatly indebted. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for its constant support, institutionally and on the staff level, without which I would not have been able to complete this book. Special thanks are due to the Department of Publications and Information. My sincere gratitude goes too to the State University of New York Press, particularly for their meticulous and thorough copyediting of the typescript. For references, I have used the following conventions: "(Alfaz, 47: 5)" or "Alfaz (p. 49:12)" are both example of citations (the form depending on the context). "(Huruf, 99, par. 65)'' means page 99, paragraph 65 of Huruf (in many cases, there is more than one paragraph on any given page of this work). My explanations within quotations are indicated thus: [ ... ]. The system of transliteration is that of IJMES. I have adopted the spelling "Alfarabi" except when it is within a quotation from other authors and commentators; names within quotations are always spelled as they appear in the source work. When an Arabic work is quoted, the first letter only is capitalized, even if that name begins with "Al" (the definite article in Arabic), or the term kitab [treatise or book], which is a part of many of the titles in Arabic. Page xi Introduction Medieval Islamic scholars widely referred to Aristotle as the "First Teacher," evidence of the high regard in which they held the ancient Greek philosopher. The man ranked by his contemporaries in the Arab world as second only to Aristotle was a tenthcentury Muslim thinker by the name of Abu Nasr Alfarabi. It was Alfarabi who comprehensively collected and systematized previous translations of the "first teacher's" writings, translations that on the whole were overliteral, and therefore at times confusing. 1 According to Moritz Steinschneider, Alfarabi is said to have called his collection and commentary on Aristotle's works "The Second Teaching" [alta'lim <althani>], but it was the vigor, wisdom, and sensitivity Alfarabi brought to his task and the humble, scholarly life he led that earned him the respect of his peers and the reverent title of "The Second Teacher" [almu'allim althani].2 In medieval Latin texts, Alfarabi (A.D. 870950) is referred to as Alfarabius or Avennasar, and over a hundred works of varying length are attributed to him by Arab bibliographers. Of Turkish origin, he was most likely born in the town of Wasij, Turkistan, in the district of the city of Farab. A major portion of Alfarabi's adult life was spent in Baghdad, where he was exposed to the teachings of such learned Nestorian Christian scholars as Abu Bishr Matta Ibn Yunis (A.D. 870939) and Yuhanna Ibn Haylan (A.D. 860920), from whom he studied logic, and Abu Bakr alSarraj (d. A.D. 928), from whom he studied Arabic grammar. From Baghdad Alfarabi moved to Aleppo in Syria, where he spent the last eight years or so of his life, enjoying the patronage of the ruler Sayf alDawlah alHamadani.3 Despite the fact that other Muslim philosophers—such as Avicenna (Ibn Sina [A.D. 9801037]) and Averroes (Ibn Rushd [A.D. 11261198])—have been more influential outside the Arab world than Alfarabi, Alfarabi's contributions were clearly recognized by the most perceptive among his contemporaries. The twelfthcentury Jewish philosopher Ibn Maymun (known in the West as Maimonides, A.D. 11351204) wrote to Ibn Tibon, translator of his Guide to the Perplexed from Arabic into Hebrew: You should always follow this rule: in studying logic, deal only with what was written by the wise Abu Nasr Alfarabi, for all that
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