Nawʿ

نوعnawʿ

Preferred translation
species
Technical sense
a universal predicated essentially of individuals that agree in their reality

General Technical Meaning

In logic, nawʿ has two related senses. A real species is a universal predicated in answer to ‘What is it?’ of one or more individuals agreeing in reality; it may therefore be confined to a single individual. A relative species is a quiddity placed under a genus and considered in relation to what stands above it.

In ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Works

Chapter 1 §1 uses nawʿ for a real species whose perfection consists in possessing the perfection proper to it. It then distinguishes preparatory factors belonging to that species’ own genus from those belonging to another genus. Ordinary uses meaning ‘kind’ are not included.

Source: Risālat al-Manāmāt wa-l-Nubuwwāt

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Open a passage in the edition where this term is linked.

Canonical address: /glossary/naw/