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Logic: its founder, definition, subject and aim

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Indian path · level 2 · al-Mirqāt · Lesson 2 of 25

Logic: its founder, definition, subject and aim

Introduction

المُقَدِّمَة

Arabic text after the print of Deoband after 1336/1917 · translation by The Mantiqi, draft

About this text

al-Mirqāt المِرْقاة

Faḍl-i Imām Khayrābādī (d. 1243 or 1244/1828–29)

Text: Arabic: al-Mirqāt, with al-Shīrkūtī's gloss al-Mirʾāt (gloss not reproduced), checked against the Delhi print of 1286/1869 (Sayyid al-Maṭābiʿ); vowel marks added by The Mantiqi (draft), Kutub Khāna Iʿzāziyya, Deoband after 1336/1917 View the scan
Translation: The Mantiqi's own; a draft.
Review: Draft, awaiting review by Ustadh Muhammad Yusuf.

The text Faḍl-i Imām Khayrābādī

فائِدَةٌ

اِعْلَمْ أَنَّ أَرِسْطاطالِيسَ الحَكِيمَ مُدَوِّنُ هٰذا العِلْمِ بِأَمْرِ الإِسْكَنْدَرِ الرُّومِيِّ، وَلِهٰذا يُلَقَّبُ بِالمُعَلِّمِ الأَوَّلِ، وَالفارابِيُّ هَذَّبَ هٰذا الفَنَّ، وَهُوَ المُعَلِّمُ الثّانِي، وَبَعْدَ إِضاعَةِ كُتُبِ الفارابِيِّ فَصَّلَهُ الشَّيْخُ أَبُو عَلِيِّ بْنُ سِينا.

Know that the philosopher Aristotle set this science down in writing at the command of Alexander the Greek (al-Iskandar al-Rūmī); this is why he is given the title “the First Teacher”. Al-Fārābī refined this discipline, and he is the Second Teacher. After al-Fārābī's books were lost, the Shaykh Abū ʿAlī ibn Sīnā set it out in detail.

al-Mirqāt · p. 7

فَصْلٌ

وَلَعَلَّكَ عَلِمْتَ مِمّا تَلَوْنا عَلَيْكَ فِي بَيانِ الحاجَةِ حَدَّ المَنْطِقِ وَتَعْرِيفَهُ مِنْ أَنَّهُ عِلْمٌ بِقَوانِينَ تَعْصِمُ مُراعاتُها الذِّهْنَ عَنِ الخَطَإِ فِي الفِكْرِ.

Perhaps you have already learned, from what we recited to you in explaining the need [for ], its and its : it is a science of rules whose observance protects the mind from error in thinking.

al-Mirqāt · p. 7

فَصْلٌ

مَوْضُوعُ كُلِّ عِلْمٍ ما يُبْحَثُ فِيهِ عَنْ عَوارِضِهِ الذّاتِيَّةِ لَهُ، كَبَدَنِ الإِنْسانِ لِلطِّبِّ، وَالكَلِمَةِ وَالكَلامِ لِعِلْمِ النَّحْوِ؛ فَمَوْضُوعُ المَنْطِقِ المَعْلُوماتُ التَّصَوُّرِيَّةُ وَالتَّصْدِيقِيَّةُ، لٰكِنْ لا مُطْلَقًا، بَلْ مِنْ حَيْثُ إِنَّها مُوصِلَةٌ إِلَى المَجْهُولِ التَّصَوُّرِيِّ وَالتَّصْدِيقِيِّ.

The (mawḍūʿ) of any science is that whose accidents (ʿawāriḍ dhātiyya) are investigated in it, like the human body for medicine, and the word and the sentence for grammar. So the subject of is known things, those of and those of ; not absolutely, however, but insofar as they lead to the unknown, whether of conception or of assent.

al-Mirqāt · p. 7

فائِدَةٌ

اِعْلَمْ أَنَّ لِكُلِّ عِلْمٍ وَصِناعَةٍ غايَةً، وَإِلّا لَكانَ طَلَبُهُ عَبَثًا وَالجِدُّ فِيهِ لَغْوًا، وَغايَةُ عِلْمِ المِيزانِ الإِصابَةُ فِي الفِكْرِ وَحِفْظُ الرَّأْيِ عَنِ الخَطَإِ فِي النَّظَرِ.

Know that every science and every craft has an aim (ghāya); otherwise seeking it would be pointless and striving in it idle. The aim of the science of the balance is to be right in thinking and to keep one's judgement from error in .

al-Mirqāt · p. 7

فَصْلٌ

لا شُغْلَ لِلْمَنْطِقِيِّ مِنْ حَيْثُ إِنَّهُ مَنْطِقِيٌّ بِبَحْثِ الأَلْفاظِ، كَيْفَ وَهٰذا البَحْثُ بِمَعْزِلٍ عَنْ غَرَضِهِ وَغايَتِهِ! مَعَ ذٰلِكَ فَلا بُدَّ مِنْ بَحْثِ الأَلْفاظِ الدّالَّةِ عَلَى المَعانِي؛ لِأَنَّ الإِفادَةَ وَالاِسْتِفادَةَ مَوْقُوفَةٌ عَلَيْهِ، وَلِذٰلِكَ يَقَعُ بَحْثُ الدَّلالَةِ وَالأَلْفاظِ فِي كُتُبِ المَنْطِقِ.

The , insofar as he is a logician, has no business with investigating . How could he, when this investigation lies far from his purpose and aim? Even so, utterances that signify meanings must be investigated, because conveying to others and receiving it from them depends on this. That is why the discussion of and of utterances comes in books of logic.

al-Mirqāt · p. 8

Test yourself

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

Question 1
What does al-Mirqāt mean by the subject (mawḍūʿ) of a science?
Question 2
What, according to al-Mirqāt, is the subject of logic?
Question 3
The logician as such has no business with utterances. Why, then, do books of logic discuss signification and utterances?

Next lesson: Signification

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