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thing’s character there is less difficulty. Thus it follows that the degree of our
knowledge of a thing’s essential nature is determined by the sense in which
we are aware that it exists. Let us then take the following as our first instance
of being aware of an element in the essential nature. Let A be eclipse, C the
moon, B the earth’s acting as a screen. Now to ask whether the moon is
eclipsed or not is to ask whether or not B has occurred. But that is precisely
the same as asking whether A has a defining condition; and if this condition
actually exists, we assert that A also actually exists. Or again we may ask
which side of a contradiction the defining condition necessitates: does it make
the angles of a triangle equal or not equal to two right angles? When we have
found the answer, if the premisses are immediate, we know fact and reason
together; if they are not immediate, we know the fact without the reason, as in
the following example: let C be the moon, A eclipse, B the fact that the moon
fails to produce shadows though she is full and though no visible body
intervenes between us and her. Then if B, failure to produce shadows in spite
of the absence of an intervening body, is attributable A to C, and eclipse, is
attributable to B, it is clear that the moon is eclipsed, but the reason why is
not yet clear, and we know that eclipse exists, but we do not know what its
essential nature is. But when it is clear that A is attributable to C and we
proceed to ask the reason of this fact, we are inquiring what is the nature of B:
is it the earth’s acting as a screen, or the moon’s rotation or her extinction?
But B is the definition of the other term, viz. in these examples, of the major
term A; for eclipse is constituted by the earth acting as a screen. Thus, (1)
‘What is thunder?’ ‘The quenching of fire in cloud’, and (2) ‘Why does it
thunder?’ ‘Because fire is quenched in the cloud’, are equivalent. Let C be
cloud, A thunder, B the quenching of fire. Then B is attributable to C, cloud,
since fire is quenched in it; and A, noise, is attributable to B; and B is
assuredly the definition of the major term A. If there be a further mediating
cause of B, it will be one of the remaining partial definitions of A.
We have stated then how essential nature is discovered and becomes
known, and we see that, while there is no syllogism-i.e. no demonstrative
syllogism-of essential nature, yet it is through syllogism, viz. demonstrative
syllogism, that essential nature is exhibited. So we conclude that neither can
the essential nature of anything which has a cause distinct from itself be
known without demonstration, nor can it be demonstrated; and this is what we
contended in our preliminary discussions.
9
Now while some things have a cause distinct from themselves, others have
not. Hence it is evident that there are essential natures which are immediate,
202
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book The Complete Aristotle"
The Complete Aristotle
- Title
- The Complete Aristotle
- Author
- Aristotle
- Date
- ~322 B.C.
- Language
- English
- License
- PD
- Size
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Pages
- 2328
- Keywords
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Categories
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International
Table of contents
- 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