Indian path · level 2 · al-Mirqāt · Lesson 7 of 25
7
Genus and species, and how they are ordered
The five universals
الكُلِّيَّات الخَمْس
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
The are five. The first [is the ]: a universal said of many that differ in their , in answer to “what is it?”, like animal. It is said of human, horse and sheep when they are asked about with “what is it?”: one says “Human and horse, what are they?”, and the answer is: animal.
The second is the : a said of many that agree in their , in answer to “what is it?”. The species also has another sense, and in that sense it is called the relative species: a of which, and of something else, the is said in answer to “what is it?”. Between the real species and the relative species there is generality and specificity in some respect: both are true of human; the real is true without the relative in the point; and the relative is true without the real in animal.
A is either lowest: one that has no genus beneath it but has a genus above it, with only a beneath it, like animal, for beneath it is human, which is a species, and above it is growing body, which is a genus, so animal is a lowest genus; or intermediate: one that has a genus beneath it and also a genus above it, like growing body, for beneath it is animal and above it is body as such; or highest: one that has no genus above it, and it is also called the genus of genera, like substance, for there is no genus above it, and beneath it are body as such, growing body and animal.
The highest genera are ten, and there is nothing in the world that falls outside these genera. These highest genera are also called the ten categories (al-maqūlāt al-ʿashr). One of them is substance (jawhar), and the remaining nine categories belong to accident (ʿaraḍ). Substance is what exists not in a (mawḍūʿ), that is, a substrate (maḥall), but subsists by itself, like bodies; and accident is what exists in a subject, that is, a substrate. The categories are: quantity (kamm), quality (kayf), relation (iḍāfa), where (ayn), possession (milk), action (fiʿl), passion (infiʿāl), when (matā) and position (waḍʿ). This Persian verse gathers them:
“مردی دراز نیکو دیدم بشهر امروز * با خواسته نشسته از کردِ خویش فیروز” [“Today in the city I saw a tall, handsome man, sitting with his riches, triumphant through his own deeds”]
Know that are sometimes arranged in descending order. A species may have a species beneath it and no species above it: this is the highest species. It may have a species beneath it and a species above it: this is the intermediate species. Or it may have no species beneath it and a species above it: this is the lowest species, which is also called the species of species.
3 questions on what the commentary explains. With 6 out of 10 or more (two stars) the next lesson opens.
Question 1
How are the real species and the relative species related, according to al-Mirqāt?
Al-Mirqāt says both are true of human; the real is true without the relative in the point, and the relative without the real in animal, which falls under a higher .
Question 2
“Animal” has “growing body” above it and only a species, “human”, beneath it. What kind of genus is it in al-Mirqāt's ordering?
A with a genus above it but only a beneath it is the lowest genus; Faḍl-i Imām gives animal as the example. Growing body is intermediate, and substance is the highest.
Question 3
What, according to al-Mirqāt, distinguishes substance from the nine other categories?
Of the ten highest genera one is substance, which exists not in a but by itself, like bodies; the remaining nine belong to accident, which exists in a subject.
Next lesson: Differentia, proprium, common accident