Aristotle's Use of Examples in the Prior Analytics
Phronesis 47 (2):127-152 (2002)
| Abstract | This paper examines the relevance and importance of the large number of examples which Aristotle uses in his "Prior Analytics." In the first part of the paper three preliminary issues are raised: First, it investigates what counts as an example in Aristotle's syllogistic, and especially whether only examples expressed in concrete terms should be considered as examples or maybe also propositions and arguments with letters of the alphabet. The second issue concerns the kinds of examples Aristotle actually uses from everyday life as well as from various scientific and philosophical forms of discourse; among these, it seems that biological examples, rather than mathematical ones, have a predominant place. Finally, I discuss what Aristotle himself has to say about the use of examples, and in particular about the similarity between the use of an example and the use of induction. The second part of the paper focusses on the functions of Aristotle's logical examples. It is of course obvious that some of the examples in the Prior Analytics are used to illustrate, and thus to clarify, a definition, a logical rule, a type of argument. However, I think that Aristotle's logical examples have another function, which is philosophically more interesting, namely as integral parts of the procedure of proving something. To support this claim, I analyse three passages from the "Prior Analytics" in which examples are used either in order to prove that something is not the case, i.e. as counter-examples, or in order to prove positively that it is possible for something to be the case. At the end, I argue that for such uses of examples Aristotle uses the notion of 'ekthesis', which seems to have a wider sense than usually suggested; that is to say, it is used to refer to any proof by means of an example, and not only for the procedure which Aristotle uses to reduce imperfect to perfect syllogisms | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,711 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesJonathan Barnes (1990). The Prior Analytics Robin Smith (Ed., Tr.): Aristotle, Prior Analytics (Translated, with Introduction, Commentary, and Notes). Pp. Xxxi + 262. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1989. $27.50. [REVIEW] The Classical Review 40 (02):234-236.
Annamaria Schiaparelli (2003). Aristotle on the Fallacies of Combination and Division in Sophistici Elenchi 4. History and Philosophy of Logic 24 (2):111-129.
Paolo Crivelli & David Charles (2011). In Aristotles Prior Analytics. Phronesis 56 (3):193-203.
David Botting (2012). Fallacies of Accident. Argumentation 26 (2):267-289.
D. A. Rees (1950). Aristotle's Analytics W. D. Ross: Aristotle's Prior and Posterior Analytics. A Revised Text with Introduction and Commentary. Pp. X + 690. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1949. Cloth, 42s. Net. [REVIEW] The Classical Review 64 (3-4):114-116.
George Boger (1998). Completion, Reduction and Analysis: Three Proof-Theoretic Processes in Aristotle'sprior Analytics. History and Philosophy of Logic 19 (4):187-226.
Gisela Striker (2009). Aristotle's Prior Analytics Book I: Translated with an Introduction and Commentary. OUP Oxford.
David Hitchcock (2000). Fallacies and Formal Logic in Aristotle. History and Philosophy of Logic 21 (3):207-221.
Katerina Ierodiakonou (2002). Aristotle's Use of Examples in the Prior Analytics. Phronesis 47 (2):127-152.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads17 ( #71,199 of 551,007 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,425 of 551,007 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
