What is meant
What is meant is that non-contradiction is the basic law on which abstract human thinking rests. Abstract thinking does not hold if it combines contraries at the same time.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: definitional
- Movement of the argument: affirming non-contradiction as the basis of abstract thinking.
- Key terms: non-contradiction, abstract thinking, contraries.
- Degree of centrality: central.
It makes internal coherence a primary condition for abstract thought and prevents the acceptance of combining contraries within the same rational path, thereby regulating the limits of inference.
Links that help with reading
Basis
- Supporting text: “Non-contradiction: the basic law of abstract human thinking.”
Location of the basis in the book
- Book: the Book and the Qur’an.
- Location: in the middle section of the book
- Type of basis: nearby witness.
- Marker that helps verify: abstract revelation
- Reading note: this location supports the atom because its discussion of abstract revelation is linked to the basis of abstract thinking and non-contradiction.
Degree of documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom rests on an explicit witness close to the formulation of the claim.
- Limits of reading: the wording above is an analytical summary, and is not treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is transmitted textually.
Its function in the book
Its function here is definitional; it sets out a meaning or conceptual distinction on which Shahrur relies in constructing the idea.
Editorial note
This atom is a premise before it is a conclusion.