Mulāzama in Action in the Early Ādāb al-Baḥth

What is it about?

This study presents and analyzes certain illustrative sequences of dialectical disputation found in an early commentary on the post-classical (13th through 18th centuries), Islamic disputation theory known as the ādāb al-baḥth wa’l-munāẓara, or "protocol for dialectical inquiry and disputation." In so doing, it reveals a set of distinct strategies which were employed for the justification of "necessary implication" (mulāzama), sheds light on additional argument types which appear to have been in regular use, and provides a scripted impression of how a disputation governed by the ādāb al-baḥth would, in practice, have sounded, along with schematic diagrams for the better comprehension of the complex syllogistic arguments here analyzed.

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Why is it important?

The ādāb al-baḥth wa’l-munāẓara (protocol for dialectical inquiry and disputation), though sadly understudied in Western academia, is a sophisticated contribution to the history of logic and dialectic, and to world intellectual history. The general patterns, impressions, and particular argument identifications of this study are the first stones in an analytical foundation for exploring the ādāb al-baḥth’s argumentative genealogy, and for assessing its formative influence in postclassical Islamic rational disciplines. It may also serve to showcase the relative complexity and sophistication of the ādāb al-baḥth as a distinctive theory of dialectic.