posterior analytics-第25章
按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
wrath; and Ajax to suicide。 We should next examine other cases;
Lysander; for example; or Socrates; and then if these have in common
indifference alike to good and ill fortune; I take these two results
and inquire what common element have equanimity amid the
vicissitudes of life and impatience of dishonour。 If they have none;
there will be two genera of pride。 Besides; every definition is always
universal and commensurate: the physician does not prescribe what is
healthy for a single eye; but for all eyes or for a determinate
species of eye。 It is also easier by this method to define the
single species than the universal; and that is why our procedure
should be from the several species to the universal genera…this for
the further reason too that equivocation is less readily detected in
genera than in infimae species。 Indeed; perspicuity is essential in
definitions; just as inferential movement is the minimum required in
demonstrations; and we shall attain perspicuity if we can collect
separately the definition of each species through the group of
singulars which we have established e。g。 the definition of
similarity not unqualified but restricted to colours and to figures;
the definition of acuteness; but only of sound…and so proceed to the
common universal with a careful avoidance of equivocation。 We may
add that if dialectical disputation must not employ metaphors; clearly
metaphors and metaphorical expressions are precluded in definition:
otherwise dialectic would involve metaphors。
14
In order to formulate the connexions we wish to prove we have to
select our analyses and divisions。 The method of selection consists in
laying down the common genus of all our subjects of investigation…if
e。g。 they are animals; we lay down what the properties are which
inhere in every animal。 These established; we next lay down the
properties essentially connected with the first of the remaining
classes…e。g。 if this first subgenus is bird; the essential
properties of every bird…and so on; always characterizing the
proximate subgenus。 This will clearly at once enable us to say in
virtue of what character the subgenera…man; e。g。 or horse…possess
their properties。 Let A be animal; B the properties of every animal; C
D E various species of animal。 Then it is clear in virtue of what
character B inheres in D…namely A…and that it inheres in C and E for
the same reason: and throughout the remaining subgenera always the
same rule applies。
We are now taking our examples from the traditional class…names; but
we must not confine ourselves to considering these。 We must collect
any other common character which we observe; and then consider with
what species it is connected and what。properties belong to it。 For
example; as the common properties of horned animals we collect the
possession of a third stomach and only one row of teeth。 Then since it
is clear in virtue of what character they possess these
attributes…namely their horned character…the next question is; to what
species does the possession of horns attach?
Yet a further method of selection is by analogy: for we cannot
find a single identical name to give to a squid's pounce; a fish's
spine; and an animal's bone; although these too possess common
properties as if there were a single osseous nature。
15
Some connexions that require proof are identical in that they
possess an identical 'middle' e。g。 a whole group might be proved
through 'reciprocal replacement'…and of these one class are
identical in genus; namely all those whose difference consists in
their concerning different subjects or in their mode of manifestation。
This latter class may be exemplified by the questions as to the causes
respectively of echo; of reflection; and of the rainbow: the
connexions to be proved which these questions embody are identical
generically; because all three are forms of repercussion; but
specifically they are different。
Other connexions that require proof only differ in that the 'middle'
of the one is subordinate to the 'middle' of the other。 For example:
Why does the Nile rise towards the end of the month? Because towards
its close the month is more stormy。 Why is the month more stormy
towards its close? Because the moon is waning。 Here the one cause is
subordinate to the other。
16
The question might be raised with regard to cause and effect whether
when the effect is present the cause also is present; whether; for
instance; if a plant sheds its leaves or the moon is eclipsed; there
is present also the cause of the eclipse or of the fall of the
leaves…the possession of broad leaves; let us say; in the latter case;
in the former the earth's interposition。 For; one might argue; if this
cause is not present; these phenomena will have some other cause: if
it is present; its effect will be at once implied by it…the eclipse by
the earth's interposition; the fall of the leaves by the possession of
broad leaves; but if so; they will be logically coincident and each
capable of proof through the other。 Let me illustrate: Let A be
deciduous character; B the possession of broad leaves; C vine。 Now
if A inheres in B (for every broad…leaved plant is deciduous); and B
in C (every vine possessing broad leaves); then A inheres in C
(every vine is deciduous); and the middle term B is the cause。 But
we can also demonstrate that the vine has broad leaves because it is
deciduous。 Thus; let D be broad…leaved; E deciduous; F vine。 Then E
inheres in F (since every vine is deciduous); and D in E (for every
deciduous plant has broad leaves): therefore every vine has broad
leaves; and the cause is its deciduous character。 If; however; they
cannot each be the cause of the other (for cause is prior to effect;
and the earth's interposition is the cause of the moon's eclipse and
not the eclipse of the interposition)…if; then; demonstration
through the cause is of the reasoned fact and demonstration not
through the cause is of the bare fact; one who knows it through the
eclipse knows the fact of the earth's interposition but not the
reasoned fact。 Moreover; that the eclipse is not the cause of the
interposition; but the interposition of the eclipse; is obvious
because the interposition is an element in the definition of
eclipse; which shows that the eclipse is known through the
interposition and not vice versa。
On the other hand; can a single effect have more than one cause? One
might argue as follows: if the same attribute is predicable of more
than one thing as its primary subject; let B be a primary subject in
which A inheres; and C another primary subject of A; and D and E
primary subjects of B and C respectively。 A will then inhere in D
and E; and B will be the cause of A's inherence in D; C of A's
inherence in E。 The presence of the cause thus necessitates that of
the effect; but the presence of the effect necessitates the presence
not of all that may cause it but only of a cause which yet need not be
the whole cause。 We may; however; suggest that if the connexion to
be proved is always universal and commensurate; not only will the
cause be a whole but also the effect will be universal and
commensurate。 For instance; deciduous character will belong
exclusively to a subject which is a whole; and; if this whole has
species; universally and commensurately to those species…i。e。 either
to all