Al-Farabi’s Short Commentary on Aristotle’s Prior Analytics

136 Pages·1963·13.6 MB·English

by  Nicholas Rescher

Al-Farabi’s
Short Commentary
on Aristotle’s
Prior Analytics
Translated, with an Introduction and
Notes, by
Nicholas Rescher
University of Pittsburgh Press

AL-FARABI’S SHORT COMMENTARY
ON ARISTOTLE’S PRIOR ANALYTICS

AL-FARABI’S
SHORT COMMENTARY
ON
ARISTOTLE’S
PRIOR ANALYTICS
Translated from the Original Arabic
with Introduction and Notes
BY
NICHOLAS RESCHER
Professor of Philosophy in the University of Pittsburgh
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH PRESS
1963
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 63-10581
Printed in Great Britain by Butler & ‘Tanner Ltd, Frome and London
This book is dedicated,
with gratitude and with love,
to my mother
and
to the memory of my father.

PREFACE
This English version of al-Farabi’s “Short Commentary
on Prior Analytics”, made from Mlle Mubahat Tirker’s
recent edition of the Arabic text (Revue de la Faculté des
Langues, d Histoire, et de Géographie de? Université d Ankara,
vol. 16 [1958]), is the first appearanceo f this treatise in a
European language. It is hoped that this addition to the
dozen or so Arabic logical texts now accessible to the non-
Orientalist will contribute to a wider appreciation of the
great mass of work constituting the Arabic contribution to
logic, which remains so largely terra incognita.
I wish to thank Mrs. Shukrieh Kassis and especially Mr.
Seostoris Khalil for help with the translation. I am in-
debted to Mr. Storrs McCall, Dr. J. Ackrill, and particu-
larly to Professor D. M. Dunlop for reading my typescript
and suggesting needed improvements. Although some
strengths of this work owet heir existence to others, all of
its weaknesses and errors must be laid at my own door.
I am grateful to Miss Dorothy Henle for performing the
taxing task of preparing the typescript with her customary
efficiency and accuracy.
This translation is part of a series of studies of Arabic
contributions to logic supported by a grant from the
National Science Foundation, which has facilitated both
the accomplishment of the work, and its publication. It
affords me great pleasure to record my sincere thanks for
this assistance.
N.R.
PirrspurcH
Janwary 1963