On Demonstration and Non-Demonstration

In this chapter, I strive to argue that the failure to exercise axioms (al-badihiaat) in a syllogism would lead one's argument to dialectics and rhetoric especially in the Islamic study of mantiq (the linguistic logic). Apparently, the Muslim worlds prefer to develop dialectics for various theological reasons rather than establishing demonstration whose foundation is axioms or self-evident truths. This could be one factor which encourages the divisions of burhan (the Islamic version of perfect syllogism) instead of strengthening and emphasising the necessity of axioms in the perfect syllogism (demonstration).