The last section of Avicenna's treatise on logic describes Aristotle's "Poetics". Iraj Dadashi has translated this description into Persian and has added notes to it.
Iraj
Dadashi, philosophy researcher, stated: "This translation is accompanied
with precise marginal notes and corrections since the original Greek text and
other translations are applied for its correction."
He
added: "Aristotle's "Poetics" has been translated twice in the
Muslim world. One is not at hand and the other is an abridgment. This
abridgment was the one Avicenna and other Islamic philosophers like Farabi
favored."
Dadashi
continued: "Based on Ottoman Yahya's findings about Farabi, this Muslim
philosopher did not suffice with mere translation and had referred to the Greek
text as well. Therefore, Farabi's explanations are the closest to the original,
whereas the translation is not. So it could be regarded as both translation and
description."
He
mentioned that Avicenna has made use of Farabi's description on translation
'The Poetics' and said: "Avicenna provides a precise description of the
issue of poetry as viewed by the Greek, yet he brings Arabic poems as
examples."
He
explained that in Poetics, Aristotle describes types of poetry and poetic
imitation and analyzes them in terms of structure and application; he then
said: "Muslim philosophers like Farabi and Avicenna, despite Aristotle,
regard poetry as a logical device. In their opinion, poetry is a logical
device, therefore, the last part of Avicenna's treatise "Shefa" is an
elaboration of Aristotle's 'Poetics'. "
Dadashi
finally reminded: "The translation presented in this book by Avicenna is
about how poetry is regarded as a figure of logic and thought in the world of
Islam".
Source:
IBNA News Agency