One feature that united medieval philosophers across religious boundaries was a shared emphasis on logic and language. Studying Aristotle’s logical corpus was seen as foundational for metaphysics and natural philosophy.
The Centrality of Logic
In the ancient world, logic was not part of the standard curriculum. But in the medieval period, it became a fundamental discipline, required for all advanced education.
Both the Islamic madrasa system and European universities made logic mandatory. Muslims, Christians, and Jews alike recognized logic’s vital epistemic function. Demonstrating one’s argument rigorously was seen as a scholarly virtue across traditions.
The medieval period did not develop a universal philosophy, but it cultivated a common language of reason spanning across cultures. Despite many disagreements on conclusions, philosophers could argue rigorously using shared logical techniques derived from the Greek tradition. This set the stage for fruitful, if often contested, interreligious and cross-cultural intellectual exchanges.
The Flowering of Arabic Logic
In the Islamic intellectual tradition, Aristotle’s Organon was fully translated into Arabic by the 10th century. This sparked extensive commentary and refinement of Aristotelian logic.
Al-Farabi wrote discursive commentaries on Aristotle’s texts, including innovative semantic analysis. But the most important figure was Avicenna, who thoroughly reworked Aristotelian syllogistic logic into his own system.
After al-Ghazali, Avicenna’s logic was widely incorporated into the madrasa curriculum. Post-classical kalam theology also appropriated principles of Aristotelian reasoning for use in legal and theological argumentation.
This tradition was continued for centuries, with later Muslim logicians expanding on Avicenna’s innovations in modal logic, relational syllogisms, and paradoxes. The concerns were largely formal, detached from metaphysical questions.
The Expansion of Logic in Latin Europe
In Latin Europe, Boethius’ translations made Aristotle’s logical works available in the early medieval period. Thinkers like Abelard used logic to develop metaphysics and theology.
After the recovery of the full Organon and the rise of universities, Aristotle’s logic formed the core of the Arts curriculum, studied through detailed commentaries. Logicians also devised new techniques like obligations and insolubilia.
This scholastic tradition of commenting on Aristotle’s texts while expanding logic continued for centuries. The emphasis on reason and argumentation was one of medieval Latin philosophy’s defining features.
Logic in Byzantium and Among the Jews
Although less central than in Islam and Latin Europe, logic remained an important discipline elsewhere. The Byzantines studied the Organon informed by the Alexandrian school of late antiquity.
Among Jews in Christian Europe, Aristotle’s logic reached them through Arabic translations of al-Farabi and Averroes. Thinkers like Gersonides wrote commentaries and made original contributions, for instance in formal logic.
