Af frmation and Negation Reading Avicenna’s Al-‘Ibara Alongside Hellenistic Commentators E. Burak Şaman * Abstract: Te relation of priority and posteriority between the afrmation and negation, which Aristotle put forth in Peri Hermêneias, has had some important consequences in terms of logical attribution and judgement. Te problem encountered here is the question of whether afrmation (i.e., afrming something of something) and negation (i.e., denying something of something) share the same status as a statement (qawl). In the ffth chapter of the frst article (I.5) of al-‘Ibāra, the volume from al-Shifā corpus that corresponds to Peri Hermêneias, Avicenna deals with afrmation and negation in terms of these logical consequences and reveals his own position on the subject by way of distinguishing between attribution and judgement. However, the text of al-Shaikh al-Raīs presents some obscurities for the reader. Te reason behind this obscurity is that a debate taking place among Hellenistic commentators lies in the background of Avicenna’s text. Tis article proposes to study this text alongside the Hellenistic commentators in order to better understand the logical problem in the relevant passages from al-‘Ibāra. Our guide in this reading will be Boethius, who wrote a Latin commentary on Peri Hermêneias. In the present study, I will try to reveal how the positions of the Hellenistic commentators (i.e., Alexander of Aphrodisias, Porphyry, and Syrianus), whose views Boethius conveyed, coincide with the views Avicenna defended and criticized regarding afrmation and negation. In this respect, my reading in this article aims to better understand Avicenna’s relevant text and its logical extensions as well as the dimensions of his relationship with Hellenistic commentators. Keywords: afrmation, negation, statement, attribution, judgement, logic, al-‘Ibāra, Peri Hermêneias, Avicenna, Aristotle, Boethius, Alexander of Aphrodisias, Porphyry, Syrianus * Assist. Prof., İstanbul 29 Mayıs University, Faculty of Literature, Department of Philosophy. Correspondence: e.b.saman@gmail.com Şaman, E. Burak. “Afrmation and Negation: Reading Avicenna’s Al-‘Ibara Alongside Hellenistic Commentators”, Nazariyat 8/1 (May 2022): 1-24. Atıf© dx.doi.org/10.12658/Nazariyat.8.1.M0179en DOI https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4857-2764 Received 3 March 2022 22 March 2022 Accepted