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The Dialectical Forge

Juridical Disputation and the Evolution of Islamic Law

  • Book
  • © 2017

Overview

Authors:
  1. Walter Edward Young

    1. Alexander von Humboldt Kolleg for Islamicate Intellectual History, Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany

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  • First monograph which identifies dialectic as a primary formative dynamic in the evolution of pre-modern Islamic legal systems
  • Offers the first introduction and development of a dialectics-based analytical method for the study of pre-modern Islamic legal argumentation
  • Presents the “proto-system” juridical dialectical teaching and practice of Islam’s second century in an analytical light?

Part of the book series: Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning (LARI, volume 9)

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. The Current Project

    • Walter Edward Young
    Pages 1-18

  3. Evolutionary Narratives

    • Walter Edward Young
    Pages 19-45

  4. The Subject-Text and Its Genre

    • Walter Edward Young
    Pages 47-84

  5. The Full-System Jadal Theory of the Lens-Texts

    • Walter Edward Young
    Pages 85-216

  6. Extended Dialectical Sequences

    • Walter Edward Young
    Pages 217-377

  7. Short Dialectical Sequences and Independent Dialectical Formulae

    • Walter Edward Young
    Pages 379-433

  8. A Picture of Proto-System Jadal

    • Walter Edward Young
    Pages 435-489

  9. Uṣūl al-Fiqh and Jadal-Theory in the Dialectical Forge

    • Walter Edward Young
    Pages 491-553

  10. Supplementary Paradigms and Open Doors

    • Walter Edward Young
    Pages 555-563

  11. Back Matter

    Pages 565-643
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Keywords

About this book

The Dialectical Forge identifies dialectical disputation (jadal) as a primary formative dynamic in the evolution of pre-modern Islamic legal systems, promoting dialectic from relative obscurity to a more appropriate position at the forefront of Islamic legal studies. The author introduces and develops a dialectics-based analytical method for the study of pre-modern Islamic legal argumentation, examines parallels and divergences between Aristotelian dialectic and early juridical jadal-theory, and proposes a multi-component paradigm—the Dialectical Forge Model—to account for the power of jadal in shaping Islamic law and legal theory.In addition to overviews of current evolutionary narratives for Islamic legal theory and dialectic, and expositions on key texts, this work shines an analytical light upon the considerably sophisticated “proto-system” of juridical dialectical teaching and practice evident in Islam’s second century, severalgenerations before the first “full-system” treatises of legal and dialectical theory were composed. This proto-system is revealed from analyses of dialectical sequences in the 2nd/8th century Kitāb Ikhtilāf al-ʿIrāqiyyīn / ʿIrāqiyyayn (the “subject-text”) through a lens molded from 5th/11th century jadal-theory treatises (the “lens-texts”). Specific features thus uncovered inform the elaboration of a Dialectical Forge Model, whose more general components and functions are explored in closing chapters.

Reviews

“Young’s monograph is invaluable for understanding the emergence of dialectics in Islamic thought and for appreciating the role that dialectics played in the formation of Islamic law. It provides a rare example of the effective use of debates on individual points of Islamic law … . the book also constitutes an excellent pedagogical resource: with its parallel text, translation, and analytic discussion, it offers an ideal way for students to learn to decipher such complex discussions.” (Ahmed El Shamsy, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 141 (3), 2021)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Alexander von Humboldt Kolleg for Islamicate Intellectual History, Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Walter Edward Young

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