Logical Studies

The amount of similarity of conditional proposition to categorical proposition In Avicennian logic

Document Type : Research

Author

Seyyed Mohammad Ali Hodjati

member of philosophy Dept.Tarbiat Modares University

https://doi.org/10.30465/lsj.2026.54106.1520
Abstract
Aristotelian logic is categorical logic, and its central topic is syllogisms with categorical premises. Avicennian logicians have the same approach. Although Aristotle wanted to deal with syllogisms with conditional premises, nothing has been received from him. Muslim logicians, however, have dealt with conditional propositions, although the central topic of their logic, under the influence of Aristotle, was categorical logic, and hence have tried to analyse conditional propositions in the same way as categorical propositions. Most of them have accepted the reduction of conditional propositions to categorical propositions. In this paper, the amount of logical similarity between these two kinds of propositions is investigated. Some similarities are evident; however, some distinctions are also evident, so we cannot say that all judgments belonging to categorical propositions apply to conditional propositions. Therefore, the Avicennian logician’s approach to considering conditional propositions as essentially predicative is mistaken and leads to treating the relations of “condition” and “predication” as the same, whereas they are completely different.

Keywords

categorical proposition
conditional proposition
syllogism
similarity
Aristotle
Avicennian
Subjects
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Logical Studies
Volume 16, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
September 2025
Pages 1-36

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