Risāla fī al-taṣawwur wa-l-taṣdīq

A short treatise by Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī on the division of knowledge into conception (taṣawwur) and assent (taṣdīq), the question with which every manṭiq handbook opens. It belongs to a long post-classical debate, set off by Quṭb al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s treatise of the same name, on what assent is and whether it is simple or composed of the conception of subject, predicate and judgement. A study of Ṣadrā’s logic summarises his position as holding that assent is identical with judgement, and that it is neither simply one thing, as the philosophers held, nor a compound of three parts, as Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī and his followers held, though analysis can find parts in it. It was edited with Quṭb al-Dīn’s treatise and has been translated into English, which makes it one of the more accessible entries into this debate.

Draft · awaiting review by a qualified teacher