The Art of Dialectic (Jadal) in Ibn al-Mutahhar al-Hillī

Al-Hilli, known as a Shii theologian and legal theorist, was a versatile scholar of the thirteenth century who authored numerous works on the philosophical sciences. In his writings, al-Hilli carefully examined ontological problems and methodological questions, systematically discussed the problem of knowledge, and devoted considerable attention to the science of logic. This article addresses al-Hilli's views on the art of dialectic (jadal), which he considered necessary for those who have not yet attained the level of demonstration (burhan), which ranks second in importance among the five arts, and on which no dedicated study has hitherto been undertaken. The aim of the article is to determine, on the basis of his logic works composed within the Peripatetic (Mash'sha'i) tradition, the extent to which al-Hilli was influenced by earlier logicians in his understanding of jadal and the respects in which he diverged from them. The scope of the article is confined to three of al-Hilli's works: his commentary on the logic section of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi's Tajrid al-i'tiqad, entitled al-Jawhar al-nadid; his commentary on al-Katibi's logical treatise al-Shamsiyya, entitled al-Qawa'id al-jaliyya; and his independent composition al-Asrar al-khafiyya fi al-'ul & umacr;m al-'aqliyya. These works were examined through a single-subject scanning method, whereby passages containing data pertaining to the components of dialectical theory-including its definition, premises, structure, and application-were identified and analysed. In this context, recourse was made to the works of logicians who had written on jadal prior to al-Hilli, among them Aristotle, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, al-T & umacr;si, and al-Katibi, with particular attention given to a comparative analysis of the explanations offered by Ibn Sina and al-Hilli. It was ultimately established that al-Hilli followed both the Aristotelian and the Peripatetic logical tradition in his theory of jadal, and that he was especially influenced by Ibn Sina.