Lesson 3 · Words, existence and signification (dalāla)
Source: Book pp. 10–14.
1. Why a logician studies words at all
Logic is about meanings, yet meanings travel in words. The logician needs words for two reasons:
- To be understood by others. Words can be mixed up and misread, so he studies them in a general way, not tied to any one language.
- To think at all (the stronger reason). We think in words. When you bring a meaning to mind, a word comes with it; we "whisper to ourselves" in inner speech. Al-Ṭūsī (Sharḥ al-Ishārāt): the mind moves between meanings through mental words. So a mistake in words becomes a mistake in thought.
2. Four modes of existence
| Mode | Example | Real or by convention? |
|---|---|---|
| External (khārijī) | the sun itself | real |
| Mental (dhihnī) | your knowledge of the sun | real |
| Verbal (lafẓī) | the spoken word "sun" | by convention (waḍʿ) |
| Written (kitābī) | the letters s-u-n | by convention (waḍʿ) |
The chain points one way: writing → word → meaning in the mind → thing outside.
Through coining and constant use, a word and its meaning get welded together, so saying the word is like handing over the meaning. Hence "the existence of the word is the existence of the meaning", though only figuratively. The proof of the weld: the beloved's name sounds sweet even if it is harsh, and an enemy's name sounds ugly even if it is pleasant.
3. Signification (dalāla)
A knock at the door, and at once you think: someone is outside. The knock is the signifier (dāll), the person is the signified (madlūl).
Definition: dalāla is "the state of a thing such that knowing it moves the mind to another thing."
The cause of that movement is a firm bond between the two in the mind, which comes from knowing a necessary link between them. The link can be of three kinds:
| Kind | The link comes from | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| ʿAqliyya (rational) | an essential tie in external reality, like cause and effect | morning light on the wall → the sun has risen; a voice behind a wall → someone is speaking |
| Ṭabʿiyya (natural) | human nature; it can vary between people | "Agh!" → pain; yawning → tiredness; fiddling with prayer beads → deep in thought |
| Waḍʿiyya (conventional) | a decision by people to make one thing stand for another | words, writing, sign language, road signs, mathematical symbols |
Conventional signification splits again:
- Lafẓiyya (verbal): the signifier is a spoken word.
- Ghayr lafẓiyya (non-verbal): signs, written lines, symbols, signposts.
ʿAqīda link. The classic argument that the world points to its Maker is a dalāla ʿaqliyya: effect pointing to cause. The famous Bedouin saying puts it plainly: dung points to the camel and footprints to the traveller, so does a sky with constellations and an earth with wide paths not point to the Subtle, the All-Aware? The Qurʾān calls created things āyāt: signs.
4. The three verbal significations
When a word is heard from a speaker, knowing the word leads to knowing what he meant. It does so in one of three ways:
| Kind | The word points to... | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Muṭābaqa (correspondence) | its whole meaning | "book" → pages, writing and cover together; "human" → rational animal |
| Taḍammun (inclusion) | part of its meaning | "book" meaning just the pages; "human" meaning just "animal" or just "rational" |
| Iltizām (concomitance) | something outside its meaning but bound to it in the mind | asking for "an inkwell" and expecting the pen to come too |
The book's market example: you buy "a book" and want only the pages; the seller insists the word includes the cover. That shows the cover is in the word's full meaning.
Taḍammun and iltizām both depend on muṭābaqa: the mind reaches the part, or the companion, only by way of the whole meaning.
Two conditions for iltizām:
- The bond must exist in the mind. A link that exists only out in the world (one the listener does not have in mind) cannot carry the mind anywhere.
- The bond must be obvious (bayyin): picturing the meaning brings the companion to mind at once, with no middle step.
ʿAqīda link: the Divine Names. Books on the Names of Allah (for example Ibn ʿUthaymīn, al-Qawāʿid al-Muthlā) apply exactly these three. Take al-Khāliq, the Creator:
- By muṭābaqa it points to Allah's Essence together with the attribute of creating.
- By taḍammun it points to the Essence alone, or to the attribute of creating alone.
- By iltizām it points to knowledge and power, since no one creates without knowing and being able.
Quiz 3
- Of the four modes of existence, which two are real and which two exist by convention? Put this chain in order: meaning in the mind, written word, external thing, spoken word.
- Which kind of dalāla is it (ʿaqliyya, ṭabʿiyya, waḍʿiyya lafẓiyya, waḍʿiyya ghayr
lafẓiyya)?
- a) Smoke → fire
- b) A groan → pain
- c) A red traffic light → stop
- d) The word "masjid" → a mosque
- e) The heavens and the earth → their Maker
- f) Someone yawning → he is tired
- Muṭābaqa, taḍammun or iltizām?
- a) "Human" understood as "rational animal"
- b) "I washed the car", when only its outside was washed
- c) Asking for "an inkwell" and expecting the pen to come too
- d) "Al-Khāliq" pointing to the attribute of creating alone
- e) "Al-Khāliq" pointing to knowledge and power
- What two conditions does iltizām need?
- Logic is about meanings, so why does the logician study words? Give the stronger of the two reasons.
- Review: someone is 90% sure a hadith is authentic. What is his state towards "it is authentic", and towards "it is not authentic"?
Show answers
- Real: external and mental. By convention: spoken and written. Chain: written word → spoken word → meaning in the mind → external thing.
- a) ʿaqliyya (effect → cause) · b) ṭabʿiyya · c) waḍʿiyya ghayr lafẓiyya · d) waḍʿiyya lafẓiyya · e) ʿaqliyya · f) ṭabʿiyya
- a) muṭābaqa · b) taḍammun (the word for the whole used for a part) · c) iltizām · d) taḍammun · e) iltizām
- The bond must exist in the mind, not only out in the world; and it must be obvious, so that the meaning brings its companion to mind with no middle step.
- We think in words: inner speech carries our thoughts, so a mistake in words becomes a mistake in thought. (The weaker reason: to be understood by others.)
- Ẓann towards "it is authentic"; wahm towards "it is not authentic".