(also called Major Logic).— The division of logic that studies the relationship between valid argumentation and the acquisition of knowledge. It can also include the study of the methods of the various sciences.  Classically, the treatises on material logic developed in the tradition inaugurated by Aristotle include: scientific or demonstrative logic (Posterior analytics); dialectical logic (Topics); and Sophistics or the rigorous study of fallacies (Sophistical Refutations).  Moreover, in the tradition of Aristotelian logic that was influenced by certain veins of Arabic Aristotelianism, rhetoric and “poetics” (or the logical rules for fashioning arguments based upon likenesses and metaphors) were included in the branches of logic.