Iranian Association of Logic
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Volume 1, Issue 1 (2026)
3 2026, 1(1): 1-7 |
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Request Type: Original Research |
Received: 2026/10/21 | Accepted: 2027/01/2 | Published: 2027/01/2
Received: 2026/10/21 | Accepted: 2027/01/2 | Published: 2027/01/2
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Mohammad Ghorbanian H. Avicenna's Modal Syllogistic: A Persian Contribution to the History of Logic. 3 2026; 1 (1) :1-7
URL: http://daneshafarand.org/article-9-87267-en.html
URL: http://daneshafarand.org/article-9-87267-en.html
Isfahan University
Abstract: (4 Views)
Aims This article introduces the modal syllogistic of Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā, d. 1037) to readers trained in modern logic and explains why it remains one of the most original episodes in the history of the subject.
Approach The discussion is expository and historical. It sets out the problem Avicenna inherited from Aristotle's Prior Analytics, reconstructs the main features of his analysis of categorical and modal propositions, and follows the reception of his ideas in later logic written in Arabic and Persian.
Main Points Avicenna's central move was to make the truth conditions of propositions explicit, in particular the temporal conditions under which a predicate belongs to a subject. His distinction between the substantial and the descriptive readings of a proposition, together with his broad reading of the subject term, explains the asymmetries of Aristotle's modal syllogisms that had puzzled earlier commentators. The same attention to truth conditions shaped his theory of quantified conditional propositions.
Conclusion Avicenna's logic is not a museum piece. It shows how careful semantic analysis can decide questions of validity, it shaped centuries of teaching in Iran and beyond, and it continues to repay formal study.
Approach The discussion is expository and historical. It sets out the problem Avicenna inherited from Aristotle's Prior Analytics, reconstructs the main features of his analysis of categorical and modal propositions, and follows the reception of his ideas in later logic written in Arabic and Persian.
Main Points Avicenna's central move was to make the truth conditions of propositions explicit, in particular the temporal conditions under which a predicate belongs to a subject. His distinction between the substantial and the descriptive readings of a proposition, together with his broad reading of the subject term, explains the asymmetries of Aristotle's modal syllogisms that had puzzled earlier commentators. The same attention to truth conditions shaped his theory of quantified conditional propositions.
Conclusion Avicenna's logic is not a museum piece. It shows how careful semantic analysis can decide questions of validity, it shaped centuries of teaching in Iran and beyond, and it continues to repay formal study.
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