Walter Edward Young is a Senior Researcher (Islamic Argumentation Theory) in 鈥淩evLog Redux鈥�, the 2024 European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant project 鈥淟ogic in Reverse Redux. Illegitimate Argumentative Moves in the Arabic, Byzantine, Hebrew and Latin Medieval Traditions鈥�. Since 2020, Dr. Young has worked closely in developing this project with its founders Leone Gazziero (CNRS) and Shahid Rahman (Universit茅 de Lille), along with core associates Roberta Padlina (Universit茅 de Gen猫ve), Tony Street (University of Cambridge), and Charles Manekin (University of Maryland). Now, with the vital support of Robert Wisnovsky (涩里番, Institute of Islamic Studies), who will continue to lend his expertise in an advisory capacity, Dr. Young has brought the project (and thus the ERC) to his alma mater, 涩里番鈥檚 Institute of Islamic Studies. As an official partner institution in RevLog Redux, this will be the first time 涩里番 receives funding for joining an ERC consortium.
In pursuit of a distinct branch of the RevLog Redux research agenda (Arabic Tradition, Transmitted Sciences), Dr. Young, with Prof. Rahman鈥檚 Lille-based team, will direct and engage in (1) editing and translating a select corpus of texts on Islamic juristic dialectic (jadal) and disputation protocols (腻d腻b al-ba岣�th wa-l-mun腻岷揳ra); (2) mining that corpus: distilling and cataloging its argumentative moves with a rigorous set of tools and lenses for analysis; (3) identifying distinct Illegitimate Argumentative Moves (IAMs) as theorized by medieval Muslim dialecticians; and (4) tagging and in other ways processing and integrating relevant material into the project鈥檚 Semantic-Web-core digital humanities platform, AskSten (which, among many other things, will use that data in linked LLMs and knowledge graphs, empowering Machine Learning and Machine Reasoning to enhance AI). Within the broader RevLog Redux project, findings among the Arabic, Latin, Hebrew, and Byzantine branches will be brought into comparative analysis on a continual basis, and the whole wealth of the medieval traditions thus unearthed will be brought into direct interaction with contemporary argumentation theory. Open-access edition-translations, papers, monographs, and edited volumes are planned to bring texts and findings to the scholarly community and broader public, along with AskSten鈥檚 interactive applications (knowledge graphs, encyclopedia of IAMs, argument-analysis tools, etc.)
Dr. Young is a 涩里番 graduate, with both an MA (2006) and PhD (2012) from the Institute of Islamic Studies; he has held a number of research and teaching positions at 涩里番, as well as research fellowships at Harvard Law School, the University of Oxford, Ruhr-Universit盲t Bochum, and the Universit盲t Bonn. Most recently, he worked with Prof. Wisnovsky鈥檚 team on the John Templeton Foundation project 鈥淢u岣mmad 士Abduh鈥檚 Supercommentary on al-Daw腻n墨鈥檚 Commentary on al-莫j墨鈥檚 Creed: A New Source for the Renewal of Islamic Analytical Theology.鈥� He is the author of The Dialectical Forge (Springer, 2017) and some two dozen published and forthcoming articles and book chapters. He is a core member of a larger movement to research, revive, and practice the Islamic sciences of critical thinking鈥攅specially dialectical debate methods (jadal / mun腻岷揳ra / 腻d腻b al-ba岣h). His driving objective remains to bring these methods to light, to analyze them, to make them accessible, and鈥攁bove all鈥攖o train a new cadre of critical thinkers in their practice.
Publications
BOOKS
2017 Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning 9. Cham: Springer.
CRITICAL EDITIONS
2019 . TEI infrastructure by Frederik Elwert. Digital Humanities at the Center for Religious Studies (DH@CERES), Ruhr-Universit盲t Bochum.
JOURNAL ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS
2024 in the 惭耻办丑迟补峁谤 of Ibn al-岣つ錴ib (d. 646/1249), with Commentary from the 厂丑补谤岣� of al-莫j墨 (d. 756/1355) and the 岣つ錽hiya of al-Taft腻z腻n墨 (d. 793/1390).鈥� In Islamic Law in Context: A Primary Source Reader, eds. Omar Anchassi and Robert Gleave. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2023 [with Shahid Rahman] 鈥溾�� In Fallacies in the Arabic, Byzantine, Hebrew and Latin Traditions (Ad Argumenta, Quaestio Special Issues 4). Eds. Laurent Cesalli, Leone Gazziero, Charles Manekin, Shahid Rahman, Tony Street, and Michele Trizio. Turnhout: Brepols.
2022 鈥溾�� In Osmanl谋鈥檇a 陌lm-i Mant谋k ve M眉nazara. Eds. Mehmet 脰zturan, Yusuf Da艧demir, and Furkan Kayacan. 脺sk眉dar, 陌stanbul: 陌SAR Yay谋nlar谋.
2022 鈥�.鈥� Methodos 22 (2022). Eds. Shahid Rahman and Walter Young.
2022 [with Shahid Rahman] 鈥溾�� Methodos 22 (2022). Eds. Shahid Rahman and Walter Young.
2022 [with Shahid Rahman] 鈥� .鈥� Methodos 22 (2022). Eds. Shahid Rahman and Walter Young.
2022 Foreword. In Muhammad Iqbal, , pp. vii-x. Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning 25. Cham: Springer.
2022 [with Shahid Rahman and Farid Zidani] 鈥�.鈥� In Agency, Norms, Inquiry, and Artifacts: Essays in Honor of Risto Hilpinen, pp. 139-171. Eds. P. McNamara, A. Jones, and M. Brown. Cham, Switzerland: Springer (Synthese Library 454, Studies in Epistemology, Logic, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science).
2021 鈥溾�� In New Developments in Legal Reasoning and Logic: From Ancient Law to Modern Legal Systems, pp. 83-102. Eds. Shahid Rahman, Matthias Armgardt, Hans Christian Nordtveit Kvernenes. Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning 23. Dordrecht; New York; Cham: Springer.
2021 [with Shahid Rahman and Farid Zidani] 鈥�.鈥� In L贸gica, Conocimiento y Abducci贸n. Homenaje a 脕ngel Nepomuceno, 97-114. Eds. Cristina Bar茅s, Francisco J. Salguero, Fernando Soler. Cuadernos de L贸gica, Epistemolog铆a y Lenguaje 15. London: College Publications.
2020 Foreword. In Larry B. Miller, pp. vii-xii. Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning 21. Cham: Springer.聽
2019 鈥溾�� In Philosophy and Jurisprudence in the Islamic World, pp. 205-281. Ed. Peter Adamson. Philosophy in the Islamic World in Context 1. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter.
2018 鈥�.鈥� Oriens 46.1-2, Rationalist Disciplines and Postclassical Islamic Legal Theories, pp. 62-128.聽
2016 鈥溾�� Oriens 44.3-4, Major Issues and Controversies of Arabic Logic, pp. 332-385.
2016 Book Review. . Journal of the American Oriental Society 136.1, pp. 227-230.聽
ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRIES
2021 鈥溾�� In Encyclopaedia of Islam Three. Eds. Kate Fleet, Gudrun Kr盲mer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, and Everett Rowson. Leiden: Brill.
2014 鈥�.鈥� In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics. Oxford UP.
2013 鈥溾�� In Oxford Encyclopedias of the Islamic World: Digital Collection. Oxford UP.
POSTPRINTS (by year submitted)
2023 鈥淔our Moves to Rule Them All: Qiy腻s-dialectic Metatheories and the Ascendancy of Master-Category Objections in Post-Classical Islamicate Dialectics.鈥� For Logic, Soul, and World: Studies in Honor of Tony Street. Eds. Asad Q. Ahmed, Riccardo Strobino, and Mohammad Saleh Zarepour. Leiden: Brill.
2020 鈥淚slamic Legal Theoretical and Dialectical Approaches to Fallacies of Correlation and Causation (7th-8th/13th-14th centuries).鈥� For Islamic Legal Theory: Intellectual History and U峁Ｅ玪 al-Fiqh. Eds. R. Gleave and M. Bedir. Leiden: Brill.
2015 鈥淗ave You Considered (础-谤补鈥檃测迟补)? Don鈥檛 You See/Opine (A-l腻 Tar腻)? A Working Typology of Ra鈥櫮� Formulae in Early Islamic Juridical Disputation.鈥� For Patterns of Argumentation and Exchange of Ideas in Late Antiquity and Early Islam. Eds. Y. Papadogiannakis and B. Roggema. Publications of the Centre for Hellenic Studies, King鈥檚 College London. Taylor and Francis Group.
PREPRINTS (by year submitted)
2024 鈥淯峁Ｅ玪ist Anticipations of the Conditional Perfection Problem: Ab奴 l-Wal墨d al-B腻j墨鈥檚 Avoidance of Inverse Errors in the I岣腻m al-Fu峁Ｅ玪 f墨 A岣腻m al-U峁Ｅ玪,鈥� for Proceedings of the 12th Annual AMI Contemporary Fiqh墨 Issues Workshop: 鈥淟anguage and Meaning in Islamic Legal Theory鈥�, 3-4 July 2024, AMI Press.
2024 鈥淕elenbevi鈥檚 Ris腻lat al-膧d腻b f墨 膧d腻b al-Ba岣h wa-l-Mun腻岷揳ra: An annotated translation鈥�, for Ism腻士墨l Gelenbev墨: The Life, Works, and Thought of an 18th Century Ottoman Polymath. Ed. Yasser Qureshy. De Gruyter.
2024 [賵賱丕 賳毓賱賲 賮賷賴 賲禺丕賱賮丕 廿賱丕 丕賱禺賵丕乇噩" : 賳馗乇 噩丿賷丿 廿賱賶 賯囟賷丞 廿賳賰丕乇 丕賱乇噩賲] [= 鈥溾�楢nd we know of no one opposing this but the Kharijites鈥�: A New Look at Denying the Stoning Penalty.鈥� Slated for publication in [丿賵乇賷丞 賳賲丕亍] (Dawriyyat Nam腻示, Namaa Journal for Islamic Studies )
听摆2022 鈥淛uristic Dialectic in the Genres of 士Ilm al-Jadal and 士Ilm al-Khil腻f.鈥� For Handbook for Islamic Legal Genres: Form, Function and Historical Development. Eds. Necmettin K谋z谋lkaya and Hakk谋 Arslan. De Gruyter (Law & Literature).
PRE-SUBMISSION (with approximate percentage completed)
75% 鈥淢ull腻 岣naf墨 on al-莫j墨鈥檚 outline: An encounter with Later-Middle-Period Islamic Dialectics,鈥� for A Handbook of Arabic Logic. Eds. Tony Street and Mohammad Saleh Zarepour. Springer.
90% 鈥淓ngraving Mun腻岷揳ra on the Mind: Gelenbevi鈥檚 Illustrative Examples in the Ris腻lat al-膧d腻b,鈥� for Ism腻士墨l Gelenbev墨: The Life, Works, and Thought of an 18th Century Ottoman Polymath. Ed. Yasser Qureshy. De Gruyter.
90% 鈥淧relude to a History of 狈补辩岣� (Inconsistency & Untenable Entailment) in Islamicate Dialectics,鈥� for Journal of Philosophy and Sciences in Muslim Contexts, Gen. Ed. Fouad ben Ahmed
90% On the Protocols for Dialectical Inquiry (膧d腻b al-Ba岣h): A Critical Edition and Parallel Translation of the 厂丑补谤岣� al-Ris腻la al-Samarqandiyya by Qu峁璪 al-D墨n al-K墨l腻n墨 (fl. ca. 830/1427), Prefaced by a Critical Edition and Parallel Translation of its Grundtext: the Ris腻la f墨 膧d腻b al-Ba岣h by Shams al-D墨n al-Samarqand墨 (d.722/1322)
75% 鈥淒istilling New-Old Fallacy Types from Medieval Islamic Juristic Dialectic: From Objection & Response to Fallacy & Solution鈥�
25% Dialecticians in the Margins: Common Glosses on Qu峁璪 al-D墨n al-K墨l腻n墨鈥檚 厂丑补谤岣� al-Ris腻la al-Samarqandiyya
颁辞耻谤蝉别蝉听
Central Questions in Islamic Law (涩里番: 2010-11, 2020, 2024)
Islamic Law and Society (Concordia: 2023)
