Avicenna (Ibn Sina) 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. However, although often mentioned in his metaphysics, his logical works have had less influence in the West are, as only his treatise on Porphyry's Isagoge was translated into Latin. A translation of Avicenna's "commentary" on Aristotle's Categories, Al-Maqulat (Part One, Volume Two of As-Shifa ), is given here with explanatory notes. Avicenna does not paraphrase the text. Rather, as he states, he comments upon what the correct doctrines are. He offers original doctrines on such topics as paronymy, the ontological square in Categories 2, predication, the antepredicamental rule, the number of the categories, distinction of primary and first substance, an account of relation, as opposed to relationship, the ontology of mathematical objects, and the predication of contraries. Avicenna uses and refers to these doctrines in his scientific works, particularly in his metaphysics. Translating Author 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.
Translating Author 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.Also in Liber ConversusAvicenna / Ibn SinaAL-'IBARAAvicenna's Commentary on Aristotle's de InterpretationePart One and Part TwoTranslated by Allan BäckFrancisco SuarezSelections from de AnimaOn the Nature of the Soul in General On the Immateriality and Immortality of the Rational Soul Translated by John Kronen and Jeremiah Reedy

Table of Contents_________________________Introduction IX Part One _____________________________ 29 Chapter One 29 The Aim of the CATEGORIES Chapter Two 41Synonymy, Homonymy, Paronymy Chapter Three 57Being 'Said Of' and Being 'In' Chapter Four 73The Definition of Accident Chapter Five 87Connections Between Being 'Said of' and 'Being in' Chapter Six 97Do Substance and Accident Have Modes? Part Two_______________________105 Chapter One 105 The CategoriesChapter Two 116Is Accident a Category? Chapter Three 121Views on the Number of the Categories Chapter Four 126The Adequacy of the Categories Chapter Five 141 The State of the Number of the Categories Part Three _____________________________151 Chapter One 151 Substance - First, Second, and Third Chapter Two 157 First and Second and Third Substance Chapter Three 166 The Descriptions of Substance and its Propria Chapter Four 179 The Beginning of the Account about Quantity Part Four_______________________ 197 Chapter One 197 The Other Division for the Quantum, and the Quantum Per Accidens

The translation of Avicenna's "commentary" on Aristotle's Categories, Al-Maqulat (Part One, Volume Two of As-Shifa ), is given here with explanatory notes. Avicenna does not paraphrase the text. Rather, as he states, he comments upon what the correct doctrines are. He offers original doctrines on such topics as paronymy, the ontological square in Categories 2, predication, the antepredicamental rule, the number of the categories, distinction of primary and first substance, an account of relation, as opposed to relationship, the ontology of mathematical objects, and the predication of contraries. Avicenna uses and refers to these doctrines in his scientific works, particularly in his metaphysics.