Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

phers are too fanguine, whilft their labours. are entitled to our gratitude, their mistaken zeal befpeaks our pardon,) that the other Nine would furnish Axioms with almost equal eafe, from which men might reafon fyllogiftically upon every poffible queftion, and which they might apply in proof and elucidation of every kind of knowledge.'

He, therefore, took the TEN CATEGORIES or Univerfal Forms from the Pythagorean School, where they had been held almost in adoration as the grand umpires of all knowledge, and prefixed them to his Organon, that they might fupply Axioms of kind as the laws and principles of all Probable or Dialectic, as well as of Demonstrative, Reafoning. And, to complete his great defign, at the end of his Analytics he added his book

every

f Ardua eft et gravis doctrina Categoriarum, magnique ufus et momenti, non ad Logicam tantum, fed et Metaphyficam, omnefque Philofophiæ partes, quæ de ente univerfim, vel de partibus entis differunt; funt enim Catagoriæ veluti quædam familiæ, claffes et ordines entis, feu compendia rerum omnium, certa ratione difpofitarum, unde differendi ampliffima materies petitur et ipfa fcientiarum objecta tanquam è locupletiffimo penu depromuntur. Du Valli Synop. in Ariftot. p. 58.

of

To these

of TOPICS, where he delivers the methods in which these general Propofitions are to be formed at pleasure from the Categories, enumerating and diftributing them into certain heads according the five Predicables, and affigning them as the general Principles of argumentation upon every subject. general Principles, fo eafily procured, he applied his Dialectic Syllogifm, which included in his idea every fpecies of reafoning, according to all the Moods and Figures in which, in his Analytics, he had with so much labour and ingenuity difplayed the Demonftrative.

[ocr errors]

Thus by a lofty and magnanimous flight of genius, in an early period of the world, and in the infancy of science, ARISTOTLE erected a fort of Univerfal Reasoning; and, as its governour, enacted the laws of Difputation," according to which all its various artillery was to be levelled and difcharged: And, by the fuperaddition of his book of SOPHISMS, he rounded the whole into a System of

See Ariftot. Top. lib. i. cap. 9, 10.

See Ibid. lib. viii.

LOGIC or rather Difputation, which stood for many ages the arbiter of all learning, and became the boaft and idol of the SCHOOLS of which ancient and illuftrious feminaries it ftill continues to rule the Discipline.

To attempt in fo early a period a methodical delineation of the vast region of human knowledge, actual and poffible; and to point out the limits of every diftrict, was, indeed magnanimous in a high degree, and deferves our admiration, while we lament that the human powers are unequal to fo bold a flight. Dr. Read App. to Ld. Kaim's's 3d vol. of Sketches p. 330.

In the conclufion of his book of Sophistical Elenchs in which he winds up the whole Organon, which taken together must be allowed, notwithstanding its defects, to form one of the greatest monuments of human reason produced by one man, Aristotle apologizes for the errors of fuch an undertaking which was entirely new and unattempted by any before himself and although the art of categorical fyllogifm is better fitted for fcholaftic litigation, than for 'real improvement in knowledge, it is a venerable piece ' of antiquity, and a great effort of human genius. We ad'mire the pyramids of Egypt, and the wall of China, 'though useless burdens upon the earth. We can bear 'the moft minute defcription of them, and travel hundreds of leagues to fee them. If any perfon fhould with facri'legious hands deftroy or deface them, his memory would 'be had in abhorrence. The predicaments and predicables, the rules of fyllogifm, and the topics, have a like ' title to our veneration as antiquities; they are uncom'mon efforts, not of human power, but of human genius; and they make a remarkable period in the progress of 'human reason.' Ibid. p. 420.

As

As in exploring the depths and receffes of the earth for those treasures which are hidden under its furface, and in producing them to the use of men; fo in discovering those truths which are hidden in fimilar obfcurity on every fide, and in conveying them to their information, much depends upon the Method and Direction which we pursue.

It was unfortunate for the Discipline of the Schools, whofe main object fhould be the invention and communication of Truth in general, and which should train up the mind in the right Method of Science, that the TOPICAL part of the organon of Aristotle, which affects to be of more importance and extent than the Analytical, as establishing the Principles of all the parts of learning excepting the demonstrative, as enacting the Laws of all probable reafoning,' and as

k

* Χρήσιμος πρὸς τὰ πρῶτα τῶν περὶ ἑκάσην ἐπισήμην ἀρχῶν.—τᾶτο δ ̓ ἴδιον ἢ μάλιςα οἰκεῖον τῆς διαλεκτικῆς ἐςιν. ἐξεταςικὴ γὰρ ἔσα, πρὸς τὰς ἁπασῶν τῶν μεθόδων ἀρχὰς idov xes. Top. lib. i. cap. 2.

1 See the 8th book of Topics.

guarding

guarding that reafoning from all poffible error," is weak in its foundation and confe

quently infirm in all its parts. Here we behold the great Peripatetic falling from the strength and dignity of a philosopher displayed in his Analytics, into all the weakness and credulity of a fophift. Instead of analyzing the several subjects of enquiry as they prefent themfelves before him, and inveftigating the fecret caufes of their truth, he rests without examination on the bare authority of others, and erects the Principles of his reasoning on their OPINIONS," or on what was only ANALOGOUS' to their opinions.

See the book on Sophiftical Elenchs.

Ο

* Διαλεκτικὸς δὲ συλλογισμὸς, ὁ ἐξ ΕΝΔΟΧΩΝ συλλογιζόμενος.—Ένδοξα δὲ, τὰ δοκᾶνα πᾶσιν, ἢ τοῖς πλείσοις, ἤ τοις σοφοῖς· καὶ τέτοις, ἢ τοῖς πᾶσιν, ἢ τοῖς πλείσους. ἢ τοῖς μάλιςα γνωρίμοις, καὶ ἐνδόξοις. Top. lib. i. cap. I. Ἔτι δὲ πρότασις μὲν διαλεκτική, ἐρώτησις ἔνδοξος ἢ πᾶσιν, ἢ τοῖς πλείσοις, ἢ τοῖς σοφοῖς· καὶ τούτοις, ἢ πασιν, ἢ τοῖς πλείσοις, ἢ τοῖς μάλιςα γνωρίμοις, μὴ παράδοξος θείη γὰρ ἄν τις τὸ δοκοῦν τοῖς σοφοῖς, ἐὰν μὴ ἐναντίον ταῖς τῶν πολλῶν δόξαις 7. Ibid. lib. i. cap. 10.

* Εἰσὶ δὲ προτάσεις διαλεκτικαί, καὶ τὰ τοῖς ἐνδίξεις ΩΜΟΙΑ. Ibid.

See the 14th chap. of the first book De Propofitionibus Sumendis.

[blocks in formation]
« FöregåendeFortsätt »