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of the kind as their starting points-both in geometry and in arithmetic and the
other studies of that kind. In the second place, to say accurately what a
definition is, and how it should be given, belongs to another inquiry. At
present it concerns us only so far as is required for our present purpose, and
accordingly we need only make the bare statement that to reason to a thing’s
definition and essence is quite possible. For if a definition is an expression
signifying the essence of the thing and the predicates contained therein ought
also to be the only ones which are predicated of the thing in the category of
essence; and genera and differentiae are so predicated in that category: it is
obvious that if one were to get an admission that so and so are the only
attributes predicated in that category, the expression containing so and so
would of necessity be a definition; for it is impossible that anything else
should be a definition, seeing that there is not anything else predicated of the
thing in the category of essence.
That a definition may thus be reached by a process of reasoning is obvious.
The means whereby it should be established have been more precisely defined
elsewhere, but for the purposes of the inquiry now before us the same
commonplace rules serve. For we have to examine into the contraries and
other opposites of the thing, surveying the expressions used both as wholes
and in detail: for if the opposite definition defines that opposite term, the
definition given must of necessity be that of the term before us. Seeing,
however, that contraries may be conjoined in more than one way, we have to
select from those contraries the one whose contrary definition seems most
obvious. The expressions, then, have to be examined each as a whole in the
way we have said, and also in detail as follows. First of all, see that the genus
rendered is correctly rendered; for if the contrary thing be found in the
contrary genus to that stated in the definition, and the thing before you is not
in that same genus, then it would clearly be in the contrary genus: for
contraries must of necessity be either in the same genus or in contrary genera.
The differentiae, too, that are predicated of contraries we expect to be
contrary, e.g. those of white and black, for the one tends to pierce the vision,
while the other tends to compress it. So that if contrary differentiae to those in
the definition are predicated of the contrary term, then those rendered in the
definition would be predicated of the term before us. Seeing, then, that both
the genus and the differentiae have been rightly rendered, clearly the
expression given must be the right definition. It might be replied that there is
no necessity why contrary differentiae should be predicated of contraries,
unless the contraries be found within the same genus: of things whose genera
are themselves contraries it may very well be that the same differentia is used
of both, e.g. of justice and injustice; for the one is a virtue and the other a vice
of the soul: ‘of the soul’, therefore, is the differentia in both cases, seeing that
320
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Buch The Complete Aristotle"
The Complete Aristotle
- Titel
- The Complete Aristotle
- Autor
- Aristotle
- Datum
- ~322 B.C.
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- PD
- Abmessungen
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Seiten
- 2328
- Schlagwörter
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Kategorien
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- Part 1; Logic (Organon) 3
- Categories 4
- On Interpretation 34
- Prior Analytics, Book I 56
- Prior Analytics, Book II 113
- Posterior Analytics, Book I 149
- Posterior Analytics, Book II 193
- Topics, Book I 218
- Topics, Book II 221
- Topics, Book III 237
- Topics, Book IV 248
- Topics, Book V 266
- Topics, Book VI 291
- Topics, Book VII 317
- Topics, Book VIII 326
- On Sophistical Refutations 348
- Part 2; Universal Physics 396
- Physics, Book I 397
- Physics, Book II 415
- Physics, Book III 432
- Physics, Book IV 449
- Physics, Book V 481
- Physics, Book VI 496
- Physics, Book VII 519
- Physics, Book VIII 533
- On the Heavens, Book I 570
- On the Heavens, Book II 599
- On the Heavens, Book III 624
- On the Heavens, Book IV 640
- On Generation and Corruption, Book I 651
- On Generation and Corruption, Book II 685
- Meteorology, Book I 707
- Meteorology, Book II 733
- Meteorology, Book III 760
- Meteorology, Book IV 773
- Part 3; Human Physics 795
- On the Soul, Book I 796
- On the Soul, Book II 815
- On the Soul, Book III 840
- On Sense and the Sensible 861
- On Memory and Reminiscence 889
- On Sleep and Sleeplessness 899
- On Dreams 909
- On Prophesying by Dreams 918
- On Longevity and the Shortness of Life 923
- On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration 929
- Part 4; Animal Physics 952
- The History of Animals, Book I 953
- The History of Animals, Book II translated 977
- The History of Animals, Book III 1000
- The History of Animals, Book IV 1029
- The History of Animals, Book V 1056
- The History of Animals, Book VI 1094
- The History of Animals, Book VII 1135
- The History of Animals, Book VIII 1150
- The History of Animals, Book IX 1186
- On the Parts of Animals, Book I 1234
- On the Parts of Animals, Book II 1249
- On the Parts of Animals, Book III 1281
- On the Parts of Animals, Book IV 1311
- On the Motion of Animals 1351
- On the Gait of Animals 1363
- On the Generation of Animals, Book I 1381
- On the Generation of Animals, Book II 1412
- On the Generation of Animals, Book III 1444
- On the Generation of Animals, Book IV 1469
- On the Generation of Animals, Book V 1496
- Part 5; Metaphysics 1516
- Part 6; Ethics and Politics 1748
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book I 1749
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book II 1766
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book III 1779
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IV 1799
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book V 1817
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI 1836
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII 1851
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII 1872
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IX 1890
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book X 1907
- Politics, Book I 1925
- Politics, Book II 1943
- Politics, Book III 1970
- Politics, Book IV 1997
- Politics, Book V 2023
- Politics, Book VI 2053
- Politics, Book VII 2065
- Politics, Book VIII 2091
- The Athenian Constitution 2102
- Part 7; Aesthetic Writings 2156