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Abstract
This article deals with Ibn Taymiyyah's criticism of the Aristotelian logical proposition. According to Ibn Taymiyyah, all universal judgments are in fact particular judgments. Therefore, the transition is from the particular to the universal. The basis for the axioms of proof is particular and not universal, and is founded upon experience and not on the intellect. This means that a person arrives at the particular proposition before the universal one.
Introduction
Ibn Taymiyyah (1263-1328 A.D.) criticizes the Aristotelian Logic in his book al-Radd 'ala 'l-Mantiqiyyin. He believes that the proposition (al-qadiyyah) that is based on experience can ensure true knowledge, it can be subjected to examination and empirical proof. Although the universal proposition (alqadiyyah al-kulliyyah) is derived from the particular one, it does not exist in the experiential world but only in the intellect. This means that we can think it, but we cannot prove it by empirical means. Therefore for Ibn Taymiyyah the particular and experiential proposition assumes a fundamental importance.
In his book De Interpretatione, Aristotle distinguished between different types of propositions: a proposition (in the sense of "assertion") is whatever can be said to be true or false.1 A prayer, on the other hand, is a proposition that is neither true nor false. This is because one cannot ask if a prayer proposition is true or false, while a universal proposition asserts something and subjects its claim to the bar of truth or falsity. Aristotle speaks about an assertive proposition that reveals the truth of things.
Most Muslim philosophers have accepted Aristotle's definition of the proposition. Al-Farabi (d. 950 A.D.) refers to the proposition in his book on syllogism, Kitab al-Qiyas.2 He deals there with the proposition as an assertion, defining it by saying that the proposition is a statement in which there exists a judgment (?ukm) of one thing about another thing, and the knowledge of one thing about another thing. For example, a person is walking, or man is a living being. The informative part is the predicate and the part concerning which the information is given is the subject. The predicate can be a noun or a verb that indicates past, present or future time. The subject does not indicate a specific time except when it...