Ibn Kammūna’s Understanding of Propositions

Türkçe

The subject of this article is to examine and analyze the understanding of propositions held by Ibn Kammūna, who lived in the 13th century, from the perspective of the discipline of logic. Ibn Kammūna is a profound thinker who left significant works in the fields of philosophy and logic by thoroughly examining the works of figures such as Ibn Maymūn, Ibn Sīnā, al-Ghazālī, Abū al-Barakāt al-Baghdādī, Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, and al-Suhrawardī. The primary aim of the article is to analyze in detail the manner in which Ibn Kammūna approaches propositions, drawing upon the works he authored on matters of logic. The scope of the article is confined to al-Jadīd fī’l-ḥikma, Sharḥ al-uṣūl wa’l-jumal, and Sharḥ at-talwīḥāt, which are among Ibn Kammūna’s works containing data on the subject of propositions, and within the context of these works, the definition of the proposition, categorical propositions, conditional propositions, modal propositions, the contradiction and conversion of propositions are comprehensively addressed. The literature review conducted revealed that the philosopher has been examined to a considerably limited extent in our country from the standpoint of logic, and this study is considered to make a significant contribution to remedying the aforementioned deficiency. A qualitative research methodology was adopted in the article, and techniques of analysis and comparison were employed. It is known that Ibn Kammūna, unlike authors such as Aristotle, al-Fārābī, and Ibn Sīnā, did not compose an independent work on propositions. For this reason, approximately sixteen works that have survived to the present day were meticulously examined through an individual scanning method, passages related to the subject of propositions within the context of the three identified works were recorded, and the data obtained were systematically classified and analyzed. As a result, it has been demonstrated that Ibn Kammūna’s treatment of propositions draws substantially from the Peripatetic tradition through Ibn Sīnā. Ibn Kammūna shares a common view with Ibn Sīnā on the matter of indefinite propositions and explicitly states that such propositions ought to be understood as particular. Furthermore, he addresses propositions holistically on the subject of modality without making a distinction between simple and composite; and emphasizes that there is no limitation with respect to the number of modal propositions and that modal propositions can theoretically be unlimited.