A classic textbook on the study of logic.In the Muslim East, logic was an integral part of the syllabus of schools and found to be especially helpful for legal studies. It was in this milieu that The Rules of Logic was composed by Najm al-Dīn al-Kātibī, a scholar of the Shāfiʿī school of law.The Rules of Logic is the most widely read introduction to logic in the Arabic-speaking world. It has probably enjoyed a longer shelf-life than any other logic textbook ever written, having been in use by madrasah students from the early eighth/fourteenth century up until the present day. Building on the theories of Avicenna, al-Rāzī, and other pioneers of logic, al-Kātibī discusses the many pitfalls of building arguments and setting out unambiguous claims in natural language. The enduring nature of the text is a testament to al-Kātibī and his impact on concepts of formal discourse and argument. Accompanied by an informative commentary on the text by translator Tony Street, The Rules of Logic brings to an English readership an influential text that has shaped the work of scholars of logic for centuries.
Najm al-Dīn al-Kātibī
Born in Qazvin, Najm al-Dīn al-Kātibī (b. 600/1204) was a Persian philosopher and scholar who was a member of the Shāfiʿī school of law. His most famous work aside from The Rules of Logic is Philosophy of the Source, a text about physics and metaphysics.
Tony Street
Tony Street is Assistant Director of Research in Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Divinity and is a Fellow of Clare Hall.
Editorial Reviews
“A valuable resource for anyone interested in medieval philosophy.”
—Medievalists.net
“[Al-Kātibī's] discussion of what is essentially post-Aristotelian logic will be intelligible to anyone familiar with the basics of the traditional subject.”
—Al-Ahram Weekly