Ibn Sīnā on analysis: 1. Proof search. Or: Abstract state machines as a tool for history of logic

Abstract

The 11th century Arabic-Persian logician Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) in Sect. 9.6 of his book Qiyās gives what appears to be a proof search algorithm for syllogisms. We confirm that it is indeed a proof search algorithm, by extracting all the essential ingredients of an Abstract State Machine from Ibn Sīnā's text. The paper also contains a translation of the passage from Ibn Sīnā's Arabic, and some notes on the text and translation. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.