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The aim of the paper is to show that Avicenna’s reorganization of the division of the predicables into a system of notions ( maʿānī ) resulting in concept formation is the product of his attempt to integrate Aristotle’s different approaches to definition in a consistent system. The first approach is the method of defining things by the ‘what-is-it way’ ( ṭarīq mā huwa ) of the Topics . The second approach is the method of the Posterior Analytics and the Metaphysics , starting from something given and rewording the what-is-it question into the question ‘which kind of thing is it with regard to its essence.’ The third approach is the method of the De partibus animalium , starting from the genera of things and dividing them by different divisions whose ultimate differentiae are aggregated to a set of attributes which as a whole belong to the described thing alone. The third method is not appropriate in demonstration. From it may result completeness ( tamām ) of description. But only from the completeness of a real definition can be reached perfection ( kamāl ) of concept formation.
Oriens – Brill
Published: Jan 1, 2016
Keywords: Avicenna; concept formation ( taṣawwur ); completeness; predicables; essential notions ( maʿānī ḏātiyya ); accidental notions ( maʿānī ʿaraḍiyya ); al-Fārābī; Alexander of Aphrodisias; Topics ; Ǧadal ; Madḫal
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