The Ladder of the Sciences, Part 4: Judgment and the Proposition | Sullam al-ʿUlūm

Part 4 of 6. A complete reading of Sullam al-ʿUlūm, "The Ladder of the Sciences", the logic primer by Muḥibb Allāh al-Bihārī (d. 1119/1707) that became a standard text of the madrasa curriculum of the subcontinent, read phrase by phrase with the glosses Ḍiyāʾ al-Nujūm, "The Light of the Stars", by Muḥammad Ibrāhīm al-Balyāwī of Dār al-ʿUlūm Deoband (d. 1387/1967). Technical terms are explained in plain English as they come. The Arabic is on screen throughout, with real pages of the book. This part covers the text from the opening of the second half (al-taṣdīqāt) to the end of the metathetic propositions, just before the modalities. The second half of the Sullam begins: assent, and the proposition that carries it. Part 4 asks what a judgment is, using the author's own example of a white wall; how many parts a proposition has, and why "opinion" must be a simple act; the famous puzzle of the doubted proposition, with Mīrzā Jān's solution and the author's reply, "even if it has not knocked at your ear". Then the copula in Greek, Persian, Arabic and Urdu; the logicians and grammarians quarrelling over a braying donkey; the fallacy that proves anything; quantity and the quantifiers, and why logic writes J and B; al-Fārābī, Ibn Sīnā and a Byzantine who is never black; predication, and the claim that predication is impossible; why "five is even" is false; how we can judge the impossible at all; a white body, a blind man and the sky above us; and the proposition the later scholars "invented". Chapters 0:00 The Second Half 1:15 The White Wall 2:06 A Mirror, Not a Picture 2:54 A Battlefield for Giants 3:47 Three Parts, and a Persian Argument 4:51 Opinion Is a Simple Act 5:38 "I Do Admire Their Saying!" 6:42 All the Parts, But No Whole 7:36 "I Say" 8:28 A Proposition on Every Supposition 9:22 "It May Not Have Knocked at Your Ear" 10:03 Estin, Ast, Huwa 11:00 Borrowing "Huwa" 11:53 If Zayd Were a Donkey 12:54 Supposed Times 13:48 The Matchless Zayd 14:43 The Fallacy That Proves Anything 15:40 The Logicians Win 16:43 Who Is Spoken Of? 17:40 The Nature or the Individuals? 18:51 Every Language Its Own Wall 19:53 Why J and B? 20:45 Three Meanings of "Every" 21:45 What "J" Means, and the Famous Knot 22:42 The Byzantine and "Every Black" 23:38 Who Misread Ibn Sīnā? 24:32 What Predication Is 25:30 Primary and Common 26:34 "'Particular' Is Universal" 27:35 "Predication Is Impossible" 28:31 Five Is Even 29:18 How Does "Zayd Exists" Work? 30:23 Mental, External, Real 31:21 No Picture of the Impossible 32:09 Three Rival Answers 33:05 A White Body, a Blind Man, the Sky Above 34:03 The Invented Proposition 35:07 "Zayd Is Blind" and a Man Named Lifeless 36:05 The Shape of a Judgment