The ʿIbāra (De Interpretatione) of Ibn Sīnā’s Kitāb al-Šifāʾ. On the Manuscript Tradition and the Interplay of Truth-values, Modality, and Ontology

This dissertation presents a complete English translation of Avicenna’s ʿIbāra—his reworking of Aristotle’s De Interpretatione within the Logic (al- Manṭiq) of the Šifāʾ—together with a thematic commentary. While al- Fārābī’s treatment of future contingents has been extensively discussed, Avicenna’s has rarely been examined, especially on the basis of systematic manuscript evidence. The translation offered here rests on the collation of fifteen manuscripts and is accompanied by notes that register significant variants and clarify doctrinal and terminological points. The commentary integrates philological reconstruction with conceptual analysis and situates the ʿIbāra within the Greek and Arabic exegetical traditions, indicating both lines of continuity and points at which Avicenna reconfigures inherited material. The first focus of the commentary is Avicenna’s account of future contingents. On the reading defended here, he maintains bivalence for single future-tense propositions via a realist solution, explicitly separating the logical question of truth-values from theological discussions of divine omniscience. The second focus is Avicenna’s treatment of modality. The study examines his distinction between mādda and ǧiha—the intrinsic modal status of a predication and its assertoric expression—and follows the role of ǧiha in ʿIbāra II.4 and related logical texts (Qiyās I.4; Burhān II.1; with reference to Naǧāt and Išārāt). The analysis considers both the logical use of modal notions in propositional and syllogistic contexts and their metaphysical treatment as modes of being, indicating areas of correspondence between the two without conflation. Overall, the dissertation provides a textually grounded basis for interpreting Avicenna’s ʿIbāra and a thematic analysis of his approaches to future contingents and modality within the broader architecture of his logic.