Part One and Part Two (Liber Conversus)

AVICENNA (Ibn Sīnā) was and remains the preeminent Islamic philosopher. His works on science, metaphysics and medicine have had great influence on Islamic culture as well as on the West. Less known in the West are his logical works, as only his treatise on Porphyry’s Isagoge was translated into Latin. A translation of Avicenna’s “commentary” on Aristotle’s On Interpretation, Al-‘Ibara, is given here: the first in a Western language. Avicenna does not paraphrase the text but instead comments upon what the correct doctrines are. He offers original doctrines on such topics as predication, the logical square of opposition, and future contingents. 

Avicenna uses and refers to these doctrines in his scientific works. This translation will contribute to a better understanding of Avicenna’s overall philosophy.

Allan Bäck, a professor of philosophy at Kutztown University, has written many articles and books on a variety of topics in the history and philosophy of logic, including ancient and Islamic philosophy. He has been awarded a Forschungspreis from the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung (Senior Humboldt Research Prize) as well as an American Philosophical Association Fellowship for the Institute for Advanced Studies at Edinburgh University in recognition of his scholarly work. He has won the Wiesenberger award for teaching and the Chambliss prize for research at Kutztown University.