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Universals, and the six kinds of universal
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Universals, and the six kinds of universal
Conceptions · aqsām al-kullī · p. 52
أَقْسامُ الكُلِّيِّ
Draft · awaiting review
Our own lessons with quotations from the print of Cairo 1324/1906 · translation by The Mantiqi, draft
About this text
Ḥāshiyat al-Bājūrī ʿalā al-Sullam حاشِيَةُ الباجُورِيِّ عَلَى السُّلَّمِ
Ibrāhīm al-Bājūrī (d. 1276/1860)
- Text
- Arabic: passages quoted in the lessons, transcribed by The Mantiqi from this print (the whole text is not reproduced): Ḥāshiyat al-Bājūrī ʿalā matn al-Sullam, with al-Anbābī's taqrīr in the margin, al-Maṭbaʿa al-Azhariyya al-Miṣriyya (2nd printing), Cairo 1324/1906, pp. 26–112 (passages) View the scan
- Lessons follow
- The lessons are The Mantiqi's own explanations of the Sullam, verse by verse, following Ibrāhīm al-Bājūrī; his words are quoted where they matter most.
- Translation
- The Mantiqi's own; a draft.
- Review
- Draft, awaiting review by Ustadh Muhammad Yusuf.
In Ibrāhīm al-Bājūrī's words
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Quoted from the Arabic of Ḥāshiyat al-Bājūrī ʿalā matn al-Sullam, with al-Anbābī's taqrīr in the margin, Cairo 1324/1906
وَاعْلَمْ أَنَّ أَقْسامَ الكُلِّيِّ ثَلاثَةٌ: الأَوَّلُ ما لَمْ يُوجَدْ مِنْهُ شَيْءٌ، وَالثّانِي ما وُجِدَ مِنْهُ فَرْدٌ واحِدٌ فَقَطْ، وَالثّالِثُ ما وُجِدَ مِنْهُ أَفْرادٌ، كَذا قالَ الأَقْدَمُونَ، وَجَعَلَها المُتَأَخِّرُونَ سِتَّةً، حَيْثُ قَسَمُوا الأَوَّلَ إِلَى ما يَسْتَحِيلُ وُجُودُ شَيْءٍ مِنْهُ كَالجَمْعِ بَيْنَ الضِّدَّيْنِ، وَما لا يَسْتَحِيلُ كَبَحْرٍ مِنْ زِئْبَقٍ، وَقَسَمُوا الثّانِيَ إِلَى ما يَسْتَحِيلُ وُجُودُ غَيْرِ ذٰلِكَ الفَرْدِ الَّذِي وُجِدَ مِنْهُ كَالإِلٰهِ، وَما لا يَسْتَحِيلُ كَالشَّمْسِ، وَقَسَمُوا الثّالِثَ إِلَى ما وُجِدَ مِنْهُ أَفْرادٌ غَيْرُ مُتَناهِيَةٍ …
Know that the kinds of universal are three: one of which nothing exists; one of which a single individual exists; and one of which many exist. So said the earliest; the later scholars made them six. They divided the first into what cannot exist at all, like the joining of two contraries, and what can, like a sea of mercury; the second into that of which no individual besides the one that exists can exist, like “god”, and that of which another could, like “sun”; and the third into that of which infinitely many individuals exist …
Google Translate ↗p. 52
The lesson
The Sullam defines the as what can be understood to be shared by many, and the as what cannot. Al-Bājūrī adds that the universal is a matter of what the allows, not of what exists: a universal may have no instance at all, or only one.
So the earliest scholars counted three kinds of : one of which nothing exists, one of which a single instance exists, and one of which many exist. The later scholars made them six: what cannot exist (the joining of two contraries) and what could but does not (a sea of mercury); what has one instance and can have no other (“god”) and what has one but could have more (“sun”); and what has many instances, finite or infinite.
The five of the poem — , , , property and — are then the kinds of universal by their relation to the of what they are said of: the first three are , the last two .
Terms
- الكُلِّيُّ al-kullī
- the universal: what the mind allows to be shared by many
- الجُزْئِيُّ al-juzʾī
- the particular: what the mind does not allow to be shared
- الكُلِّيّاتُ الخَمْسُ al-kulliyyāt al-khams
- the five universals
Examples
كَبَحْرٍ مِنْ زِئْبَقٍ
“like a sea of mercury”: a universal that could exist but has no instance
Test yourself
3 questions on this lesson. With 6 out of 10 or more (two stars) the next lesson opens.
Question 1
How many kinds of universal did the earliest scholars count, according to al-Bājūrī, and how many the later?
“The kinds of are three … so said the earliest; the later scholars made them six.”
Question 2
“A sea of mercury” is al-Bājūrī's example of…
He divides the with no instance into what cannot exist, like the joining of contraries, and what can, like a sea of mercury.
Question 3
Why is “sun” a universal although there is one sun?
It is his example of a of which one instance exists while another is not impossible.
Next lesson: Words, meanings, and the kinds of request
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