The mind, the senses, and the two kinds of knowledge

Foundations · al-quwwa al-ʿāqila wa-l-ḥawāss al-khams · pp. 43–44

القُوَّةُ العاقِلَةُ وَالحَواسُّ الخَمْسُ

Draft · awaiting review

Persian text after the print of Kanpur 1279/1862–63 · translation by The Mantiqi, draft

About this text

al-Kubrā الكُبْرَى

al-Sayyid al-Sharīf al-Jurjānī (d. 816/1413)

Text: Persian, transcribed by The Mantiqi from the lithograph, without its marginal glosses: Majmūʿa-yi manṭiq, Maṭbaʿ-i Alṭāfī, Kanpur 1279/1862–63, pp. 1–42 View the scan
Lessons follow: al-Manṭiq al-manhajī li-l-mubtadiʾīn: al-Ṣughrā wa-l-Awsaṭ wa-l-Kubrā, Arabic version and arrangement by Muḥammad Anwar al-Badakhshānī (Jāmiʿat al-ʿUlūm al-Islāmiyya, ʿAllāma Banūrī Town), Islam Insight, Karachi 1420/1999, pp. 42–86. The lessons are The Mantiqi's own explanations in the order of this edition; its text is under copyright and is not reproduced.
Translation: The Mantiqi's own, into English and into vocalised Arabic; a draft. The Arabic is translated from the Persian, not taken from a printed Arabic version.
Review: Draft, awaiting review by Ustadh Muhammad Yusuf.

The text

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Persian original, Majmūʿa-yi manṭiq, Kanpur 1279/1862–63

بدانکه آدمی را قوتی است درّاکه که منتقش میگردد در وی صور اشیا چنانکه در آئینه، لیکن در آئینه حاصل نشود مگر صور محسوسات، و در قوت مدرکهٔ انسانی حاصل شود صور محسوسات و معقولات. و محسوس آنست که بیکی از حواس پنجگانه که آن باصره و سامعه و شامه و ذائقه و لامسه است مدرک شود، و معقول آنست که بآنها مدرک نشود. و هر صورتیکه در قوت مدرکهٔ انسانی که آن را ذهن خوانند حاصل شود یا تصور باشد یا تصدیق، زیرا که آن صورت حاصله اگر صورت نسبت چیزیست بچیزی بایجاب چنانکه گوئی زید نویسنده است یا بسلب چنانکه گوئی زید نویسنده نیست آن صورت را تصدیق خوانند، و اگر آن صورت حاصله غیر صورت نسبت مذکوره است آن را تصور خوانند. پس علم که عبارت از ادراک است منحصر شد در تصور و تصدیق.

Know that man has a perceiving faculty in which the forms of things are imprinted, as in a mirror; but in a mirror only the forms of sensible things come about, while in the human perceiving faculty the forms of both sensible and intelligible things come about. The sensible is what is perceived by one of the five senses, namely sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch; the intelligible is what is not perceived by them. Every form that comes about in the human perceiving faculty, which is called the mind, is either a conception or an assent: if the form that comes about is the form of a relation of one thing to another, affirmatively, as when you say “Zayd is a writer”, or negatively, as when you say “Zayd is not a writer”, that form is called assent; and if the form that comes about is other than the form of such a relation, it is called conception. So knowledge, which is perception, is confined to conception and assent.

Arabic translation

اِعْلَمْ أَنَّ لِلْإِنْسَانِ قُوَّةً مُدْرِكَةً تَنْتَقِشُ فِيهَا صُوَرُ الْأَشْيَاءِ كَمَا تَنْتَقِشُ فِي الْمِرْآةِ، غَيْرَ أَنَّ الْمِرْآةَ لَا يَحْصُلُ فِيهَا إِلَّا صُوَرُ الْمَحْسُوسَاتِ، وَأَمَّا الْقُوَّةُ الْمُدْرِكَةُ الْإِنْسَانِيَّةُ فَتَحْصُلُ فِيهَا صُوَرُ الْمَحْسُوسَاتِ وَالْمَعْقُولَاتِ جَمِيعًا. وَالْمَحْسُوسُ مَا يُدْرَكُ بِإِحْدَى الْحَوَاسِّ الْخَمْسِ، وَهِيَ الْبَاصِرَةُ وَالسَّامِعَةُ وَالشَّامَّةُ وَالذَّائِقَةُ وَاللَّامِسَةُ، وَالْمَعْقُولُ مَا لَا يُدْرَكُ بِهَا. وَكُلُّ صُورَةٍ تَحْصُلُ فِي الْقُوَّةِ الْمُدْرِكَةِ الْإِنْسَانِيَّةِ الَّتِي تُسَمَّى الذِّهْنَ فَهِيَ إِمَّا تَصَوُّرٌ وَإِمَّا تَصْدِيقٌ؛ لِأَنَّ تِلْكَ الصُّورَةَ الْحَاصِلَةَ إِنْ كَانَتْ صُورَةَ نِسْبَةِ شَيْءٍ إِلَى شَيْءٍ بِالْإِيجَابِ، كَقَوْلِكَ: زَيْدٌ كَاتِبٌ، أَوْ بِالسَّلْبِ، كَقَوْلِكَ: زَيْدٌ لَيْسَ بِكَاتِبٍ، سُمِّيَتْ تَصْدِيقًا، وَإِنْ كَانَتْ غَيْرَ صُورَةِ تِلْكَ النِّسْبَةِ سُمِّيَتْ تَصَوُّرًا. فَالْعِلْمُ، وَهُوَ الْإِدْرَاكُ، مُنْحَصِرٌ فِي التَّصَوُّرِ وَالتَّصْدِيقِ.

Google Translate ↗pp. 2–3

فصل. بعد ازین معلوم شود که نسبت چیزی بچیزی خواه بایجاب خواه بسلب بر سه وجه است: یکی حملی چنانکه معلوم شد، دوم اتصالی چنانکه گوئی اگر آفتاب برآمده باشد روز باشد، یا گوئی نیست چنین که اگر آفتاب برآمده باشد شب باشد، سوم انفصالی چنانکه گوئی این عدد یا زوج باشد یا فرد، یا گوئی نیست چنین که این شخص یا انسان باشد یا حیوان. پس ادراک نسبت حملی و اتصالی و انفصالی بایجاب یا بسلب تصدیق باشد و آن را حکم نیز خوانند، و ادراک ماورای اینها تصور باشد.

Section. From this it is known that the relation of one thing to another, whether affirmative or negative, is of three kinds: first, predicative, as has been seen; second, connective, as when you say “if the sun has risen, it is day”, or “it is not so that if the sun has risen, it is night”; third, disjunctive, as when you say “this number is either even or odd”, or “it is not so that this individual is either a man or an animal”. So the perception of a predicative, connective or disjunctive relation, affirmative or negative, is assent, which is also called judgement, and the perception of anything besides these is conception.

Arabic translation

فَصْلٌ. وَيُعْلَمُ مِنْ هٰذَا أَنَّ نِسْبَةَ الشَّيْءِ إِلَى الشَّيْءِ، إِيجَابًا كَانَتْ أَوْ سَلْبًا، عَلَى ثَلَاثَةِ أَوْجُهٍ: أَحَدُهَا الْحَمْلِيَّةُ كَمَا عُلِمَ، وَالثَّانِي الِاتِّصَالِيَّةُ، كَقَوْلِكَ: إِنْ كَانَتِ الشَّمْسُ طَالِعَةً فَالنَّهَارُ مَوْجُودٌ، أَوْ قَوْلِكَ: لَيْسَ إِنْ كَانَتِ الشَّمْسُ طَالِعَةً فَاللَّيْلُ مَوْجُودٌ، وَالثَّالِثُ الِانْفِصَالِيَّةُ، كَقَوْلِكَ: هٰذَا الْعَدَدُ إِمَّا زَوْجٌ وَإِمَّا فَرْدٌ، أَوْ قَوْلِكَ: لَيْسَ إِمَّا أَنْ يَكُونَ هٰذَا الشَّخْصُ إِنْسَانًا أَوْ حَيَوَانًا. فَإِدْرَاكُ النِّسْبَةِ الْحَمْلِيَّةِ وَالِاتِّصَالِيَّةِ وَالِانْفِصَالِيَّةِ إِيجَابًا أَوْ سَلْبًا تَصْدِيقٌ، وَيُسَمَّى حُكْمًا أَيْضًا، وَإِدْرَاكُ مَا سِوَاهَا تَصَوُّرٌ.

Google Translate ↗pp. 3–4

The lesson

The Kubrā begins further back than the other two books, with the mind itself. Man has a perceiving faculty in which the forms of things are imprinted, as forms appear in a mirror. The difference is that a mirror takes only the forms of what can be sensed, while the perceiving faculty takes in both what is sensed and what is understood.

What is sensed (maḥsūs) is perceived by one of the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. What is understood (maʿqūl) is not perceived by them but by the intellect alone. Every form that comes about in the perceiving faculty, the mind (dhihn), is either a or an : if it is the relating of one thing to another, affirmatively (“Zayd is a writer”) or negatively (“Zayd is not a writer”), it is an assent; any other form is a conception. So , which is perception, is exhausted by these two.

The relating of one thing to another comes in three kinds: predicative, “Zayd is a writer”; , “if the sun is up, it is day”; and , “this number is either even or odd”. Perceiving any of these relations, or , is , also called judgement (ḥukm); perceiving anything else is .

Terms

القُوَّةُ المُدْرِكَةُ al-quwwa al-mudrika: the perceiving faculty, in which forms are imprinted
الذِّهْنُ al-dhihn: the mind
المَحْسُوسُ al-maḥsūs: what is sensed: perceived by the five senses
المَعْقُولُ al-maʿqūl: what is understood: perceived by the intellect alone
النِّسْبَةُ al-nisba: relation: of one thing to another
الحُكْمُ al-ḥukm: judgement: another name for assent

Examples

زَيْدٌ كاتِبٌ
a predicative relation
إِنْ كانَتِ الشَّمْسُ طالِعَةً فَالنَّهارُ مَوْجُودٌ
a connective relation
هٰذا العَدَدُ إِمّا زَوْجٌ وَإِمّا فَرْدٌ
a disjunctive relation

Test yourself

3 questions on this lesson. With 6 out of 10 or more (two stars) the next lesson opens.

Question 1
How does the perceiving faculty differ from a mirror?
Question 2
Perceiving the relation in “if the sun is up, it is day” is…
Question 3
What is a maʿqūl?

Next lesson: What an assent depends on

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