On Logic ─ An Arabic Critical Edition and English Translation of Epistles 10-14

The Ikhwan al-Safa (Brethren of Purity), the anonymous adepts of a tenth-century esoteric fraternity based in Basra and Baghdad, hold an eminent position in the history of science and philosophy in Islam due to the wide reception and assimilation of their monumental encyclopaedia, the Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa' (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity). This compendium contains fifty-two epistles offering synoptic accounts of the classical sciences and philosophies of the age; divided into four classificatory parts, it treats themes in mathematics, logic, natural philosophy, psychology, metaphysics, and theology, in addition to didactic fables.

The present volume is the second of this definitive series, consisting of the very first critical edition of the Rasa'il in its original Arabic, complete with a fully annotated English translation. Prepared by Professor Carmela Baffioni, Epistles 10-14 detail the foundations of Aristotelian logic, including the ten categories of existents, the five predicables, and his formative method of syllogistic inference. With the claim that logic is the noblest of man's arts, and man the noblest of creatures, the Ikhwan cast the topic in an innovatively spiritual light.

Carmela Baffioni is Full Professor of History of Muslim Philosophy at the Universita degli Studi di Napoli `L'Orientale'. In addition, she is a member of the Academia Europea in the Section `Classical and Oriental Studies' and a founder member of the Section of Studies on the Near East Arabic Session of the Accademia Ambrosiana.

Besides those on the Ikhwan al-Safa, her articles focus on al-Kindi, al-Farabi, Yahya ibn `Adi, Avicenna, Averroes, and some Latin elaborations of Arabic heritage. Her numerous publications include studies on the fourth book of Aristotle's Meteorologica and its Arabic tradition: Italian translations with commentaries of Epistles 42 and 40 of the Ikhwan al-Safa; and the catalogue (in Arabic and French) of the manuscripts of the Ahel Habott Foundation, Cinguetti. She has also written some general works on the history of Muslim philosophy, as well as having translated books from German and Russian and having edited six collective works.