Indian path · level 1 · al-Ṣughrā · Lesson 3 of 10

Particular and universal

Definition · al-juzʾī wa-l-kullī · p. 9

الجُزْئِيُّ وَالكُلِّيُّ

Draft · awaiting review

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

About this text

al-Ṣughrā الصُّغْرَى

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. 1–8 of the Ṣughrā, after the Kubrā 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. 5–18. 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

فصل در مباحث مفرد. هر چه متصور شود اگر منع کند از شرکت میان کثیرین آن را جزئی حقیقی خوانند چون ذات زید، و اگر منع نکند آن را کلی خوانند چون مفهوم انسان، و آن کثیرین را افراد و جزئیات اضافی وی خوانند چون زید و عمرو و بکر و غیر آن.

Section on single terms. Whatever is conceived, if it prevents being shared among many, is called a real particular (juzʾī ḥaqīqī), such as the person of Zayd; and if it does not prevent it, it is called a universal (kullī), such as the concept man. Those many are called its individuals and its relative particulars (juzʾiyyāt iḍāfī), such as Zayd, ʿAmr, Bakr and others.

Arabic translation

فَصْلٌ فِي مَبَاحِثِ الْمُفْرَدِ. كُلُّ مَا يُتَصَوَّرُ إِنْ مَنَعَ مِنَ الشَّرِكَةِ بَيْنَ كَثِيرِينَ سُمِّيَ جُزْئِيًّا حَقِيقِيًّا، كَذَاتِ زَيْدٍ، وَإِنْ لَمْ يَمْنَعْ سُمِّيَ كُلِّيًّا، كَمَفْهُومِ الْإِنْسَانِ، وَتُسَمَّى تِلْكَ الْكَثِيرُونَ أَفْرَادَهُ وَجُزْئِيَّاتِهِ الْإِضَافِيَّةَ، كَزَيْدٍ وَعَمْرٍو وَبَكْرٍ وَغَيْرِهِمْ.

Google Translate ↗p. 3

The lesson

deals with , so the Ṣughrā first sorts them. Everything conceived in the mind either cannot, by the very way it is conceived, be shared by many individuals, or it can. The first is called the real (juzʾī ḥaqīqī): the meaning of “Zayd” belongs to Zayd alone. The second is called the (kullī): the meaning of “man” is shared by Zayd, ʿAmr and every other man.

So a is what does not, as , prevent being shared among many; a is what does prevent it. The book adds a point that later books repeat: a meaning is universal or particular only once it is in the mind. It is the concept, not the thing outside, that is shared or not.

Terms

الجُزْئِيُّ الحَقِيقِيُّ al-juzʾī al-ḥaqīqī: the real particular: cannot be shared by many
الكُلِّيُّ al-kullī: the universal: can be shared by many
الأَفْرادُ al-afrād: the individuals a universal is said of

Examples

زَيْدٌ
“Zayd”: a particular
الإِنْسانُ
“man”: a universal, said of Zayd, ʿAmr and others

Test yourself

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

Question 1
Which of these is a universal?
Question 2
What makes a conception a particular?
Question 3
According to the note in the Ṣughrā, when is something universal or particular?

Next lesson: The five universals

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