Â鶹AV

Walter Edward Young

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Dr. Walter Edward Young is a post-doctoral researcher currently working with Prof. Robert Wisnovsky (PI) on the John Templeton Foundation project “Muḥammad Ê¿Abduh’s Supercommentary on al-DawÄnī’s Commentary on al-Ījī’s Creed: A New Source for the Renewal of Islamic Analytical Theology.†With both an MA and PhD in Islamic Studies from Â鶹AV’s Institute of Islamic Studies, he has held numerous post-doctoral research positions in the broader domain of Islamicate Intellectual History. His research interests permeate several domains of Islamic thought, with particular concentrations in premodern law, legal theory, logic, and dialectic.

Dr. Young’s MA thesis theorized pre-Islamic origins for various ḥa»å»å-penalties (esp. those for theft and adultery), while his doctoral dissertation uncovered proto-systems of juristic dialectic, contributing a theoretical model for dialectic’s formative dynamic with respect to legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh). He has since held research appointments at Harvard Law School (on juridical dialectic), the University of Oxford (on the ÄdÄb al-baḥth, or “protocol for dialectical inquiryâ€), Ruhr-Universität Bochum (on post-Avicennan dialectical empiricism), the Universität Bonn (on the ÄdÄb al-baḥth), and Â鶹AV (Islamic philosophical and scientific manuscripts). His first monograph, The Dialectical Forge (link: ), was published by Springer in early 2017. Ongoing research falls in the domains of early manuscripts on the ÄdÄb al-baḥth and juristic dialectic (jadal), post-classical scholastic prosopography, Islamic legal and dialectical theory, and cross-discipline argument analysis. Among other projects he envisages for the future is a broadening of the currently self-administered Society for the Study of Islamicate Dialectical Disputation (SSIDD) (link: ) into a greater association for the study, teaching, and practice of dialectic.

CV

[Complete version for download PDF]

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Education

  • (2012) Ph.D., Islamic Studies, Â鶹AV, Institute of Islamic Studies
  • (2006) M.A., Islamic Studies, Â鶹AV, Institute of Islamic Studies (Dean’s List)
  • (1994) B.A., Studio and Visual Arts, Hamilton College (Honors: Sculpture and Arabic Language Studies)

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PhD Dissertation: “The Dialectical Forge: Proto-System Juridical Disputation in the KitÄb IkhtilÄf al-Ê¿IrÄqiyyÄ«nâ€

MA Thesis: “Stoning and Hand-Amputation: The Pre-Islamic Origins of the ±áÌ£²¹»å»å Penalties for ´Ü¾±²Ô²¹Ì„ and Sariqaâ€

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Academic Positions

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Visiting Fellowships

  • (2016-2017) Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Alexander von Humboldt Kolleg (AvHK) for Islamicate Intellectual History
  • (2015-2016) Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Käte Hamburger Kolleg (KHK), Dynamics in the History of Religions Between Asia and Europe
  • (2014-2015) University of Oxford, Faculty of Oriental Studies, Islamic Philosophy and Theology (IMPAcT)
  • (2013) Harvard Law School, Islamic Legal Studies Program (ILSP)

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Research Associate / Assistant Positions

  • (2017-Present) Â鶹AV, Institute of Islamic Studies
    • current project: “Muḥammad Ê¿Abduh’s Supercommentary on al-DawÄnī’s Commentary on al-Ījī’s Creed: A New Source for the Renewal of Islamic Analytical Theology†(PI: Robert Wisnovsky)
  • (2012-2014) Â鶹AV, Institute of Islamic Studies
    • Post-classical Islamic Philosophy Database Initiative (PIPDI)
    • Transmission, Translation, and Transformation in Medieval Cultures (TTT)
    • Islamic Scientific Manuscripts Initiative (ISMI)

Publications

Books

  • (2017) The Dialectical Forge: Juridical Disputation and the Evolution of Islamic Law; Springer: Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning

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Articles [in square brackets = year submitted, awaiting proofs]

  • (2019) “Concomitance to Causation: Arguing ¶Ù²¹·É²¹°ùÄå²Ô in the Proto-Ä€dÄb al-Baḥth,†in Peter Adamson, ed., Philosophy and Jurisprudence in the Islamic World, pp. 205-281 (De Gruyter: Philosophy in the Islamic World in Context)
  • [2019] “On the Formal Evolution of Islamic Juridical Dialectic,†[edited volume from the workshop “Logic, Law, and Legal Reasoning,†at the 6th World Congress and School on Universal Logic (UNILOG), Vichy, France, 2018], Springer: Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning
  • [2019] “Ibn Ḥazm on Heteronomous Imperatives and Modality. A Landmark in the History of the Logical Analysis of Norms†(Co-authored with Shahid Rahman and Farid Zidani), Cambridge Journal of Arabic Sciences and Philosophy
  • (2018) “Al-Samarqandī’s Third ²Ñ²¹²õ’a±ô²¹: Juridical Dialectic Governed by the Ä€dÄb al-Baḥth,†Oriens 46.1-2, pp. 62-128 (Special Issue: Rationalist Disciplines and Postclassical Islamic Legal Theories)
  • (2016) “²Ñ³Ü±ôÄå³ú²¹³¾²¹ in Action in the Early Ä€dÄb al-Baḥth,†Oriens 44.3-4, pp. 332-385 (Special Issue: Major Issues and Controversies of Arabic Logic)
  • [2015] “Have You Considered (´¡-°ù²¹â€™a²â³Ù²¹)? Don’t You See/Opine (A-lÄ TarÄ)? A Working Typology of ¸é²¹â€™Ä Formulae in Early Islamic Juridical Disputation,†in Patterns of Argumentation and Exchange of Ideas in Late Antiquity and Early Islam, Y. Papadogiannakis and B. Roggema, eds., Routledge: Centre for Hellenic Studies

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Online Resources

  • (2019) Digital Edition and Translation: Shams al-DÄ«n al-SamarqandÄ«, KitÄb Ê¿Ayn al-Naẓar fÄ« Ê¿Ilm al-Jadal (TEI infrastructure by Frederik Elwert), Digital Humanities at the Center for Religious Studies (DH@CERES), Ruhr-Universität Bochum;
  • (2016) Website and Forum: Society for the Study of Islamicate Dialectical Disputation (SSIDD);

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Encyclopedia Entries [in square brackets = year submitted, awaiting proofs]

  • [2018] “Dialectic, in the Religious Sciences,†Encyclopaedia of Islam Three
  • (2014) “KarakÄ«, Ê¿AlÄ« (1466-1534),†Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics; Oxford Islamic Studies Online
  • (2013) “Origins of Islamic Law,†Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Law; Oxford Islamic Studies Online
  • (2013) “Uṣūl al-Fiqh,†Oxford Islamic Studies Online (originally for Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Finance)

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Book Reviews

  • (2016) “The Logic of Law Making in Islam: Women and Prayer in the Legal Tradition, by Behnam Sadeghi,†Journal of the American Oriental Society 136.1, pp. 227-230

Research

Publications in Progress

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Books

  • On the Protocol for Dialectical Inquiry (Ä€dÄb al-Baḥth): A Critical Edition and Parallel Translation of the Sharḥ al-RisÄla al-Samarqandiyya by Quá¹­b al-DÄ«n al-KÄ«lÄnÄ« (fl. ca. 830/1427), Prefaced by a Critical Edition and Parallel Translation of its Grundtext: the RisÄla fÄ« Ä€dÄb al-Baḥth by Shams al-DÄ«n al-SamarqandÄ« (d. 722/1322)
  • Dialecticians in the Margins: Common Glosses on Quá¹­b al-DÄ«n al-KÄ«lÄnī’s Sharḥ al-RisÄla al-Samarqandiyya
  • The Jadal Primer: An Introduction to Classical SunnÄ« Juridical Dialectic

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Articles

  • “Islamic Legal Theoretical and Dialectical Approaches to Fallacies of Correlation and Causation (7th-8th/13th-14th centuries)†[for an edited volume: papers from the conference “Islamic Legal Theory: Intellectual History and Uṣūl al-Fiqh,†Istanbul, 2019]
  • “On the Logical Machinery of Post-Classical Dialectic: The KitÄb Ê¿Ayn al-Naẓar of Shams al-DÄ«n al-SamarqandÄ« (d. 722/1322)†[for the Journal of Islamic Philosophy]
  • “Dynamics of Dialectical Disputation in Islam†(Part I: Intra-Religious Contact; Part II: Inter-Religious Contact) [for Entangled Religions: Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Religious Contact and Transfer]

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Invited Talks

  • (2019) Talk: “Towards Cataloging the Muslim Dialecticians’ Arsenal against Fallacious Reasoning in the Religious Sciences: A Preliminary Inquiry with Example Contributions from Islamic Legal Theory and Dialectic,†Project Workshop: “Logic in Reverse. Fallacies in the Latin and the Islamic Traditions (RevLog),†Université de Lille, France, 21-22 Oct.
  • (2019) Talk: “Islamic Legal Theoretical and Dialectical Approaches to Fallacies of Correlation and Causation (7th-8th/13th-14th centuries),†Conference: “Islamic Legal Theory: Intellectual History and Uṣūl al-Fiqh,†convened by Law, Authority, and Learning in Imami Shi‘ite Islam (LAWALISI) and the Faculty of Theology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Republic of Turkey, 15-17 Oct.
  • (2018) Keynote: “On the Formal Evolution of Islamic Juridical Dialectic,†Workshop: Logic, Law, and Legal Reasoning; 6th World Congress and School on Universal Logic (UNILOG), Pôle Lardy, Campus Albert Londres, Vichy, France, 25 June
  • (2018) Seminar: “Do Grandfathers Disinherit Brothers? Al-ShÄfiÊ¿Ä« vs. the Ahl al-KalÄm: Proto-System Jadal in the Dialectical Forge,†Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, United Kingdom, 24 Jan.
  • (2017) Response to summary paper: “The Transcendence / Immanence-Distinction (TID) as a tertium comparationis in the Study of Religious Contacts,†Conference: The Transcendence/Immanence Distinction in the Study of Religious Contacts Between Asia and Europe, Käte Hamburger Kolleg, Dynamics in the History of Religions Between Asia and Europe, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, 08 Sept.
  • (2015) Talk: “²Ñ³Ü±ôÄå³ú²¹³¾²¹ in Action in the Early Ä€dÄb al-Baḥth,†Project Workshop: “Major Issues and Controversies of Arabic Logic and Philosophy of Language,†Seminar für Orientalistik und Islamwissenschaft, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, 12 Dec.
  • (2014) Talk: “Have You Considered (´¡-°ù²¹â€™a²â³Ù²¹)? Don’t You See (A-lÄ TarÄ)? Further on the Dialectical Formulae of Early Islam,†“Patterns of Argumentation in Late Antique and Early Islamic Interreligious Debates,†2nd workshop of the ERC project ‘Defining Belief and Identities in the Eastern Mediterranean: the Role of Interreligious Debate and Interaction (DEBIDEM)’, King’s College, London, United Kingdom, 21 Feb.

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Conferences & Workshops

  • (2019) Talk: “On the Logical Machinery of Post-Classical Dialectic: The KitÄb Ê¿Ayn al-Naẓar of Shams al-DÄ«n al-SamarqandÄ« (d. 722/1322),†Islamic Philosophy Conference, Harvard University, USA, 20 April
  • (2019) Text Presentation: “The Section on ¶Ù²¹·É²¹°ùÄå²Ô (causal concomitance), in BurhÄn al-DÄ«n al-NasafÄ« (d. 687/1288), al-Fuṣūl fÄ« Ê¿Ilm al-Jadal, and Shams al-DÄ«n al-SamarqandÄ« (d. 722/1322), Sharḥ Fuṣūl al-NasafÄ«.†Workshop: “QiyÄs in Uṣūl and Related Genres,†Law, Authority, and Learning in Imami Shi‘ite Islam (LAWALISI), Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, United Kingdom, 31 Jan.
  • (2018) Reading Participant: “Texts on Naskh in Late Classical Uṣūl al-Fiqh†(workshop), Law, Authority, and Learning in Imami Shi‘ite Islam (LAWALISI), Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, United Kingdom, 22 Jan.
  • (2017) Talk: “¶Ù²¹·É²¹°ùÄå²Ô: Concomitance and Causation in Post Classical Islamic Dialectic and Legal Theory,†Panel: “Islamicate World,†2nd World Congress on Logic and Religion, University of Warsaw, Poland, 20 June
  • (2017) Panel Chair: “Logic of Talmud and Other Legal Traditions,†2nd World Congress on Logic and Religion, University of Warsaw, Poland, 19 June
  • (2017) Talk: “Marginal MunÄẓara: Dialectical Pedagogy in the Scholia and Glosses of al-KÄ«lÄnī’s Sharḥ al-RisÄla fÄ« Ä€dÄb al-Baḥth,†Panel: “Between Texts and Networks: Visualizing fourteenth through sixteenth Century Islamicate Intellectual Landscapes,†Fourth Annual Conference of the British Association for Islamic Studies (BRAIS), University of Chester, United Kingdom, 12 April
  • (2016) Talk: “Observing God: ¶Ù²¹·É²¹°ùÄå²Ô and Empiricism in Post-Classical Islamic Juridical Dialectic,†Conference: Religion and the Senses, Käte Hamburger Kolleg, Dynamics in the History of Religions Between Asia and Europe, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, 08 Sept.
  • (2016) Talk: “TaḥqÄ«q al-Muḥaqqiq fÄ« Ä€dÄb al-Baḥth: Editing a Verifier-Dialectician,†Plenary Session: “IMPAcT: Islamic Intellectual History from Late Medieval to Early Modern,†Third Annual Conference of the British Association for Islamic Studies (BRAIS), University of London, United Kingdom, 11 April
  • (2015) Talk: “Models for Argument Analysis: Scripting al-Samarqandī’s RisÄla fÄ« Ä€dÄb al-Baḥth†(read in absentia by Judith Pfeiffer), Panel: “ʿIlm wa TaÊ¿allum: Madrasas, Dialectic and Mysticism in the 13th-16th Centuries,†Second Annual Conference of the British Association for Islamic Studies (BRAIS), University of London, United Kingdom, 13 April
  • (2012) Panel Chair: “The Qur’Än,†Second Annual Graduate Student Symposium of the Â鶹AV Institute of Islamic Studies Student Council, Â鶹AV, Montréal, Canada, 28 April
  • (2007) Talk: “Defining Casuistry in Islamic Law,†Panel: “Modern Encounters with the Pre-modern in Islamic Law,†41st Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), Montréal, Canada, 19 Nov.

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Visiting Fellow Talks

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Alexander von Humboldt Kolleg for Islamicate Intellectual History, Universität Bonn

  • (2017) “Student-Reading the RisÄla fÄ« Ä€dÄb al-Baḥth: Unpacking al-Samarqandī’s Problems through Commentary and Gloss,†27 July
  • (2017) “Dialecticians’ Contexts: New Material for the Scholarly Lives of Shams al-DÄ«n al-SamarqandÄ« (d. 722/1322) and Quá¹­b al-DÄ«n al-KÄ«lÄnÄ« (fl. ca. 830/1427),†28 Feb.
  • (2016) “From the Margins of the Ä€dÄb: a First Protocol for Gloss Collation,†06 Dec.
  • (2016) “Exploring Islamic Dialectical Disputation,†13 Oct.

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Käte Hamburger Kolleg, Dynamics in the History of Religions Between Asia and Europe, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

  • (2015) “Islamic Dialectics and Post-Avicennian Argument to the Senses,†16 Nov.

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ERC Project: Islamic Philosophy and Theology, University of Oxford (Series: Late Medieval and Early Modern Islamicate Intellectual History)

  • (2015) “A Muḥaqqiq of the Ä€dÄb al-Baḥth: Quá¹­b al-DÄ«n al-KÄ«lÄnī’s Sharḥ al-RisÄla al-Samarqandiyya as a Model of Verification-Commentary in the Early 9th/15th Century,†25 July
  • (2015) “Critical, Functional, and Accessible? Challenges in Formatting KÄ«lÄnī’s Commentary,†09 Feb.
  • (2014) “A Dialectic on Definitions: the Aristotelian Analyses of Quá¹­b al-DÄ«n al-KÄ«lÄnÄ« (fl. ca. 830/1427) in his Commentary on the RisÄla fÄ« Ä€dÄb al-Baḥth,†11 Dec.

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Islamic Legal Studies Program, Harvard Law School (2013 Lecture Series)

  • (2013) “Jadal and Uṣūl al-Fiqh: Vignettes from the Dialectical Forge,†16 April

CoursesÌý

  • (2010, 2011) Instructor: “Central Questions in Islamic Law†(Part I: Premodern)
  • (2010) Teaching Fellow: “Science and Civilization in Islam†(with Prof. Jamil Ragep)
  • (2006, 2007) Teaching Fellow: “Central Questions in Islamic Law†(with Prof. Wael Hallaq)
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