137 Topic. III. ii. p. 118, a. 16-26.
138 Ibid. iii. p. 118, a. 29.
139 Ibid. b. 20. The definition of this last condition is — that we should not care to possess the thing if no one knew that we possessed it: ὅρος δὲ τοῦ πρὸς δόξαν, τὸ μηδενὸς συνειδότος μὴ ἂν σπουδάσαι ὑπάρχειν.
140 Ibid. p. 118, a. 6-14. οὐ γὰρ εἰ βελτίω, ἀναγκαῖον καὶ αἱρετώτερα· τὸ γοῦν φιλοσοφεῖν βέλτιον τοῦ χρηματίζεσθαι, ἀλλ’ οὐχ αἱρετώτερον τῷ ἐνδεεῖ τῶν ἀναγκαίων. τὸ δ’ ἐκ περιουσίας ἐστίν, ὅταν ὑπαρχόντων τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἄλλα τινὰ προσκατασκευάζηταί τις τῶν καλῶν. σχεδὸν δ’ ἴσως αἱρετώτερον τὸ ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι, βέλτιον δὲ τὸ ἐκ περιουσίας.
Among many other loci, applicable to this same question of comparative excellence between two different subjects, one more will suffice here. You must distinguish the various ends in relation to which any given subject is declared to be eligible: the advantageous, the beautiful, the agreeable. That which conduces to all the three is more eligible than that which conduces to one or two of them only. If there be two subjects, both of them conducive to the same end among the three, you must examine which of them conduces to it most. Again, that which conduces to the better end (e.g., to virtue rather than to pleasure) is the more eligible. The like comparison may be applied to the Fugienda as well as to the Expetenda. That is most to be avoided which shuts us out most from the desirable acquisitions: e.g., sickness is more to be avoided than ungraceful form; for sickness shuts us out more completely both from virtue and from pleasure.141
141 Ibid. iii. p. 118, b. 27-36.
The same loci which are available for the question of comparison will also be available in the question of positive eligibility or positive ineligibility.142 Further, it holds for all cases of the kind that you should enunciate the argument in the most general terms that each case admits: in this way it will cover a greater number of particulars. Slight mutations of language will often here strengthen your case: that which is (good) by nature is more (good) than that which is (good) not by nature; that which makes the subject to which it is better than that which does not make the subject good.143
142 Ibid. iv. p. 119, a. 1.
143 Topic. III. v. p. 119, a. 12: ληπτέον δ’ ὅτι μάλιστα καθόλου τοὺς τόπους περὶ τοῦ μᾶλλον καὶ τοῦ μείζονος· ληφθέντες γὰρ οὕτως πρὸς πλείω χρήσιμοι ἂν εἴησαν.
The loci just enumerated are Universal, and applicable to the debate of theses propounded in universal terms; but they will also be applicable, if the thesis propounded be a Particular proposition.
If you prove the universal affirmative, you will at the same time prove the particular; if you prove the universal negative, you prove the particular negative also. The universal loci from Opposites, from Conjugates, from Inflections, will be alike applicable to particular propositions. Thus, if we look at the universal locus from Contraries, If all pleasure is good, then all pain is evil, — this will apply also to the particular, If some pleasure is good, then some pain is evil: in the particular as in the universal form the proposition is alike an Endox or conformable to common received opinion. The like may be said about the loci from Habitus and Privatio; also about those from Generation and Destruction;144 again, from More, Less, and Equally — this last, however, with some restriction, for the locus from Less will serve only for proving an affirmative. Thus, if some capacity is a less good than science, while yet some capacity is a good, then, à fortiori, some science is a good. But, if you take the same locus in the negative and say that the capacity is a good, you will not be warranted in saying, for that reason, that no science is a good.145 You may apply this same locus from Less to compare, not merely two subjects in different genera, but also two subjects of different degrees under the same genus. Thus, let the thesis be, Some science or cognition is a good. You will disprove this thesis, if you can show that prudence (φρόνησις) is not a good; for, if prudence, which in common opinion is most confidently held to be a good, be really not so, you may argue that, à fortiori no other science can be so. Again, let the thesis be propounded with the assumption that, if it can be proved true or false in any one case, it shall be accepted as true or false in all universally (for example, that, if the human soul is immortal, all other souls are immortal also; or if not that, then none of the others): evidently, the propounder of such a thesis extends the particular into an universal. If he propounds his thesis affirmatively, you must try to prove the negative in some particular case; for this, under the conditions supposed, will be equivalent to proving an universal negative. If, on the other hand, he puts his thesis negatively, you will try to prove some particular affirmative; which (always under the given conditions) will carry the universal affirmative also.146
144 Ibid. vi. p. 119, a. 32-b. 16. ὁμοίως γὰρ ἔνδοξον τὸ ἀξιῶσαι, εἰ πᾶσα ἡδονὴ ἀγαθόν, καὶ λύπην πᾶσαν εἶναι κακόν, τῷ εἴ τις ἡδονὴ ἀγαθόν, καὶ λύπην εἶναί τινα κακόν — ἐν ἅπασι γὰρ ὁμοίως τὸ ἔνδοξον.
145 Ibid. b. 17-30. δῆλον οὖν ὅτι κατασκευάζειν μόνον ἐκ τοῦ ἧττον ἔστιν.
146 Topic. III. vi. p. 119, b. 31-p. 120, a. 5.
Suppose the respondent to propound his thesis indefinitely, not carrying the indication either of universal or particular; e.g., Pleasure is good. This can be proved by showing either that all pleasure is good, or that some pleasure is good; while it can be refuted only through the universal negative — by showing that no pleasure is good.147 But, if the thesis be divested of its indefinite character and propounded either as universal or as particular, there will then be two distinct ways of refuting it. If it be farther specialized — e.g., One pleasure only is good — there will be three ways of refuting: you may show either that all pleasures are good; or that no pleasure is good; or that more pleasures than one are good. If the proposition be specialized farther still — e.g., Prudence alone among all the virtues is science, — there are four lines of argument open for refuting it: you may prove either that all virtue is science; or that no virtue is science; or that some other virtue (such as justice) is science; or that prudence is not science.148
147 Ibid. p. 120, a. 6-20: ἀδιορίστου μὲν οὖν ὄντος τοῦ προβλήματος μοναχῶς ἀνασκευάζειν ἐνδέχεται — ἀναιρεῖν μὲν μοναχῶς ἐνδέχεται, κατασκευάζειν δὲ διχῶς. &c.
148 Ibid. a. 15-31.
In dealing with a particular proposition as thesis, still other loci already indicated for dealing with universal propositions will be available. You will run through the particulars comprised in the subject, distributed into genera and species. When you have produced a number of particulars successively to establish the universal, affirmative or negative, you are warranted in calling on the respondent either to admit the universal, or to produce on his side some adverse particular.149 You will also (as was before recommended) distribute the predicate of the thesis into the various species which it comprehends. If no one of these species be truly affirmable of the subject, then neither can the genus be truly affirmable; so that you will have refuted the thesis, supposing it to be affirmative. If, on the contrary, any one of the species be truly affirmable of the subject, then the genus will also be truly affirmable; so that you will have refuted the thesis, supposing it to be negative. Thus, if the thesis propounded be, The soul is a number: you divide number into its two species, odd and even, and prove that the soul is neither odd nor even; wherefore, it is not a number.150
149 Ibid. a. 32-38: ἄν τε γὰρ παντὶ φαίνηται ὑπάρχον ἄν τε μηδενί, πολλὰ προενέγκαντι ἀξιωτέον καθόλου ὁμολογεῖν, ἢ φέρειν ἔνστασιν ἐπὶ τίνος οὐχ οὕτως.
150 Topic. III. vi. p. 120, a. 37-b. 6. It would appear from the examples here given by Aristotle — ὁ χρόνος οὐ κινεῖται, ὁ χρόνος οὔκ ἐστι κίνησις, ἡ ψυχὴ οὔκ ἐστιν ἀριθμός, that he considers these propositions as either indefinite or particular.
IV.
After this long catalogue of Loci belonging to debate on propositions of Accident, Aristotle proceeds to enumerate those applicable to propositions of Genus and of Proprium. Neither Genus nor Proprium is often made subject of debate as such; but both of them are constituent elements of the debate respecting Definition, which is of frequent occurrence.151 For that reason, both deserve to be studied.
151 Ibid. IV. i. p. 120, b. 12: μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα περὶ τῶν πρὸς τὸ γένος καὶ τὸ ἴδιον ἐπισκεπτέον· ἔστι δὲ ταῦτα στοιχεῖα τῶν πρὸς τοὺς ὅρους· περὶ αὐτῶν δὲ τούτων ὀλιγάκις αἱ σκέψεις γίνονται τοῖς διαλεγομένοις.
When the thesis propounded affirms that A is genus of B, you will run over all the cognates of B, and see whether there is any one among them respecting which A cannot be affirmed as genus. If there be, this is a good argument against the thesis; for the genus ought to be predicable of all. Next, whether what is really no more than an accident is affirmed as genus, which ought to belong to the essence of the subject. Perhaps (e.g.) white is affirmed in the thesis as being genus of snow; but white cannot be truly so affirmed; for it is not of the essence of snow, but is only a quality or accident.152 Examine whether the predicate A comes under the definition already given of an Accident, — that which may or may not be predicated of the subject; also, whether A and B both fall under the same one out of the ten Categories or Predicaments. If B the subject comes under Essentia, or Quale, or Ad Aliquid, the predicate ought also to belong to Essentia, or Quale, or Ad Aliquid: the species and the genus ought to come under the same Category.153 If this be not the case in a thesis of Genus, the thesis cannot be maintained.
152 Ibid. b. 23-29.
153 Ibid. p. 120, b. 36-p. 121, a. 9. καθόλου δ’ εἰπεῖν ὑπὸ τὴν αὐτὴν διαίρεσιν δεῖ τὸ γένος τῷ εἴδει εἶναι.
Aristotle here enunciates this as universally true, whereas if we turn to Categor. p. 11, a. 24, seq. we shall find him declaring it not to be universally true. Compare also Topic. IV. iv. p. 124, b. 15.
You are aware that the species always partakes of the genus, while the genus never partakes of the species; to partake meaning that the species includes the essence or definition of the genus, but the genus never includes the essence or definition of the species. You will examine, therefore, whether in the thesis propounded to you this condition is realized; if not, the thesis may be refuted. Suppose, e.g., that it enunciates some superior genus as including Ens or Unum. If this were true, the genus so assigned would still partake of Ens and Unum; for Ens and Unum maybe predicated of all existences whatever. Therefore what is enunciated in the thesis as a genus, cannot be a real genus.154
154 Topic. IV. i. p. 121, a. 10-19.
Perhaps you may find something respecting which the subject (species) may be truly affirmed, while the predicate (genus) cannot be truly affirmed. If so, the predicate is not a real genus. Thus, the thesis may enunciate Ens or Scibile as being the genus of Opinabile. But this last, the species or subject Opinabile, may be affirmed respecting Non-Ens also; while the predicates Ens or Scibile (given as the pretended genus of Opinabile) cannot be affirmed respecting Non-Ens. You can thus show that Ens or Scibile is not the real genus of Opinabile.155 The pretended species Opinabile (comprising as it does both Ens and Non-Ens) stretches farther than the pretended genus Ens or Scibile: whereas every real genus ought to stretch farther than any one or any portion of its constituent species.156 The thesis may thus be overthrown, if there be any one species which stretches even equally far or is co-extensive with the pretended genus.157
155 Ibid. a. 20-26.
156 Ibid. b. 1-14. στοιχεῖον δὲ πρὸς ἅπαντα τὰ τοιαῦτα, τὸ ἐπὶ πλέον τὸ γένος ἢ τὸ εἶδος καὶ τὴν διαφορὰν λέγεσθαι· ἐπ’ ἔλαττον γὰρ καὶ ἡ διαφορὰ τοῦ γένους λέγεται.
157 Ibid. b. 4.
It is a general truth that the same species cannot belong to two distinct genera, unless one of the two be subordinate to the other, or unless both of them be comprehended under some common higher genus. You will examine, therefore, whether there is any other genus, besides the predicate of the thesis, to which the subject of the thesis can be referred. If there be some other genus, not under either of the two conditions above indicated, the predicate enunciated by the thesis cannot be the real genus of the subject. Thus, if the thesis declares justice to be science (or to belong to the genus science), you may remark that there is another distinct genus (virtue) to which justice also belongs. In this particular case, however, it would be replied that science and virtue can both be referred to one and the same higher genus, viz., habit and disposition. Therefore the thesis, Justice is science, will not be truly open to objection on this ground.158
158 Topic. IV. ii. p. 121, b. 24, seq.
Again, if the predicate of the thesis be the true genus of the subject, all the higher genera in which the predicate is contained must also be predicated in Quid (as the predicate itself is) respecting the subject. This you must show by an induction of particular instances, no counter-instance being producible.159 If the thesis enunciated does not conform to this condition, you will have a good argument against it. You will also run over the sub-species that are comprehended in the subject of the thesis, considered as a genus; and you will examine whether the predicate of the thesis (together with all its superior genera) is predicable essentially or in Quid of all these sub-species. If you can find any one among these sub-species, of which it is not essentially predicable, the predicate of the thesis is not the true genus of the subject;160 the like also, if the definitions of those genera are not predicable of the subject or its sub-species.161
159 Ibid. p. 122, a. 5-19. ὅτι δὲ ἑνὸς ἐν τῷ τί ἐστι κατηγορουμένου πάντα τὰ λοιπά, ἄνπερ κατηγορῆται, ἐν τῷ τί ἐστι κατηγορηθήσεται, δι’ ἐπαγωγῆς ληπτέον.
160 Ibid. a. 21-b. 6.
161 Ibid. b. 7-11. εἰ οὖν διαφωνεῖ, δῆλον ὅτι οὐ γένος τὸ ἀποδοθέν.
Perhaps the thesis may enunciate as a genus what is really nothing more than a differentia. It may also enunciate the differentia either as a part of the genus or as a part of the species; or it may enunciate the genus either as a part of the differentia or as a part of the species. All these are attackable. The differentia is not a genus, nor does it respond to the question Quid est, but to the question Quale quid est. It is always either more extensive than the species, or co-extensive therewith.162 If none of the differentiæ belonging to a genus can be predicated of a species, neither can the genus itself be predicated thereof. Thus, neither odd nor even can be predicated of the soul; accordingly, neither can the genus (number) be predicated of the soul.163 If the species be prius naturâ, so that when it disappears the enunciated genus disappears along with it, this cannot be the real genus; nor, if the enunciated genus or differentia can be supposed to disappear and yet the species does not disappear along with them.164 If the species partakes of (includes in its essence) something contrary to the enunciated genus, this last cannot be the real genus; nor, if the species includes something which cannot possibly belong to what is in that genus. Thus, if the soul partakes of (or includes in its essence) life, and if no number can possibly live, the soul cannot be a species of number.165
162 Ibid. b. 12-p. 123, a. 10. οὐδὲ δοκεῖ μετέχειν ἡ διαφορὰ τοῦ γένους· πᾶν γὰρ τὸ μετέχον τοῦ γένους ἢ εἶδος ἢ ἄτομόν ἐστιν. ἀεὶ γὰρ ἡ διαφορὰ ἐπ’ ἴσης ἢ ἐπὶ πλεῖον τοῦ εἴδους λέγεται. — ἐπὶ πλέον τε γὰρ τὸ γένος τῆς διαφορᾶς δεῖ λέγεσθαι, καὶ μὴ μετέχειν τῆς διαφορᾶς.
As an example to illustrate the enclosing of the genus within the species (εἰ τὸ γένος εἰς τὸ εἶδος ἔθηκεν), Aristotle cites a definition given by Plato, who defined τὴν κατὰ τόπον κίνησιν, as φοράν. Now φορὰ is less extensive in its meaning than ἡ κατὰ τόπον κίνησις, which includes βάδισις and other terms of motion apart from or foreign to φορά. — Example of enunciating differentia as a genus is, if immortal be given as the genus to which a god belongs. Immortal is the differentia belonging to ζῷον, and constituting therewith the species god. — Example of enclosing the differentia in the genus is, if odd be given as the essence of number (ὅπερ ἀριθμόν). — Example of enclosing differentia in the species is, if immortal be put forward as the essence of a god (ὅπερ θεόν). — Example of enclosing the genus in the differentia is, number given as the essence of the odd. — Example of enunciating the genus as a differentia is, when change of place is given as the differentia of φορά.
163 Topic. IV. ii. p. 123, a. 11-14.
164 Ibid. a. 14-19.
165 Ibid. iii. a. 20-26.
Again, the generic term and the specific term ought to be univocal in signification. You must examine (according to the tests indicated in the First Book of the Topica) whether it be taken equivocally in the thesis. If it be so, you have a ground of attack, and also if it be taken metaphorically; for every genus ought to be enunciated in the proper sense of the term, and no metaphor can be allowed to pass as a genus.166 Note farther that every true genus has more than one distinct species. You will, therefore, examine whether any other species, besides the subject of the thesis, can be suggested as belonging to the predicate of the thesis. If none, that predicate cannot be the true genus of the subject.167
166 Ibid. a. 27-37. σκοπεῖν δὲ καὶ εἰ τὸ μεταφορᾷ λεγόμενον ὡς γένος ἀποδέδωκεν, οἷον τὴν σωφροσύνην συμφωνίαν· πᾶν γὰρ γένος κυρίως κατὰ τῶν εἰδῶν κατηγορεῖται, ἡ δὲ συμφωνία κατὰ τῆς σωφροσύνης οὐ κυρίως ἀλλὰ μεταφορᾷ· πᾶσα γὰρ συμφωνία ἐν φθόγγοις.
167 Topic. IV. iii. p. 123, a. 30.
Several loci are furnished by Contraries, either to the species or the genus. If there be something contrary to the species, but nothing contrary to the genus, then that which is contrary to the species ought to be included under the same genus as the species itself; but, if there be something contrary to the species, and also something contrary to the genus, then that which is contrary to the species ought to be included in that which is contrary to the genus. Each of these doctrines you will have to make good by induction of particular cases.168 If that which is contrary to the species be a genus itself (e.g., bonum) and not included in any superior genus, then the like will be true respecting the species itself: it will not be included in any genus; and the predicate of the thesis will not be a true genus. Bonum and malum are not included in any common superior genus; each is a genus per se.169 Or suppose that the subject (species) of the thesis, and the predicate (genus) of the thesis, have both of them contraries; but that in the one there is an intermediate between the two contraries, and in the other, not. This shows that the predicate cannot be the true genus of the species; for, wherever there is an intermediate between the two contraries of the species, there also is an intermediate between the two contraries of the genus; and vice versâ.170 If there be an intermediate between the two contraries of the species, and also an intermediate between the two contraries of the genus, you will examine whether both intermediates are of like nature, designated by analogous terms. If it be not so (if, e.g., the one intermediate is designated by a positive term, and the other only by a negative term), you will have ground for contending against the thesis, that the predicate enunciated therein is not the true genus of the subject. At any rate, this is a probable (ἔνδοξον) dialectical argument — to insist upon analogy between the two intermediates; though there are some particular cases in which the doctrine does not hold.171
168 Ibid. b. 1-8. φανερὸν δὲ τούτων ἕκαστον διὰ τῆς ἐπαγωγῆς.
169 Ibid. b. 8-12.
170 Topic. IV. iii. p. 123, b. 12, seq.
171 Ibid. b. 17-23: ἔνστασις τούτου ὅτι ὑγιείας καὶ νόσου οὐδὲν μεταξύ, κακοῦ δὲ καὶ ἀγαθοῦ· ἢ εἰ ἔστι μέν τι ἀμφοῖν ἀνὰ μέσον, καὶ τῶν εἰδῶν καὶ τῶν γενῶν, μὴ ὁμοίως δέ, ἀλλὰ τῶν μὲν κατ’ ἀπόφασιν, τῶν δ’ ὡς ὑποκείμενον. ἔνδοξον γὰρ τὸ ὁμοίως ἀμφοῖν, καθάπερ ἐπ’ ἀρετῆς καὶ κακίας, καὶ δικαιοσύνης καὶ ἀδικίας· ἀμφοῖν γὰρ κατὰ ἀπόφασιν τὰ ἀνὰ μέσον.
Again, suppose different conditions: that there is no contrary to the genus, but that there is a contrary to the species. You will examine whether not merely the contrary of the species, but also the intermediate between its two contraries, is included in the same genus; for, if the two contraries are included therein, the intermediate ought also to be included. This is a line of argument probable (i.e., conformable to general presumption, and recommendable in a dialectical debate), though there are not wanting examples adverse to it: thus, excess and defect are included in the same genus evil, but the moderate or measured (τὸ μέτριον) is not in the genus evil, but in the genus good.172 We must remark, moreover, that though it be a probable dialectical argument, that, wherever the genus has a contrary, the species will also have a contrary, yet there are cases adverse to this principle. Thus, sickness in general has for its contrary health in general; but particular species of sickness (such as fever, ophthalmia, gout, &c.) have no contrary.173
172 Ibid. b. 23-30.
173 Ibid. b. 30-37.
Such will be your way of procedure, if the thesis propounded be Affirmative, and if you have to make out a negative against it. But if, on the contrary, the thesis be Negative, so that you have to make out an affirmative against it, you have then three lines of procedure open. 1. The genus may have no contrary, while the species has a contrary: in that case, you may perhaps be able to show that the contrary of the species (subject) is included in the predicate of the thesis (genus); if so, then the species also will be included therein. 2. Or, if you can show that the intermediate between the species and its contrary is included in the predicate (genus), then that same genus will also include the species and its contrary; for, wherever the intermediate is, there also are the two extremes between which it is intermediate. 3. Lastly, if the genus has a contrary as well as the species, you may be able to show that the contrary of the species is included in the contrary of the genus; assuming which to be the case, then the species itself will be included in the genus.174 These are the three modes of procedure, if your task is to make out the negative.
174 Topic. IV. iii. p. 124, a. 1-9.
If the genus enunciated by the thesis be a true one, all the Derivatives and Collaterals of the predicate will be fit and suitable for those of the subject. Thus, if justice be a sort of science, justly will be scientifically, and the just man will be a scientific man. This locus is useful to be kept in mind, whether you have to make out an affirmative or a negative.175 You may reason in the same way about the Analoga of the predicate and the subject; about the productive and destructive causes of each; the manifestations present, past, and future, of each, &c.176
175 Ibid. a. 10-14.
176 Ibid. iv. p. 124, a. 15-34.
When the opposite of the species (subject) is Privative, the thesis will be open to attack in two ways. 1. If the privative opposite be contained in the predicate, the subject itself will not be contained therein; for it is a general truth that a subject and its privative opposite are never both of them contained in the same lowest genus: thus, if vision is sensible perception, blindness is not sensible perception. 2. If both the species and the genus have privative opposites, then if the privative opposite of the species be contained in the privative opposite of the genus, the species itself will also be contained in the genus; if not, not. Thus, if blindness be an inability of sensible perception, vision will be a sensible perception. This last locus will be available, whether you are making out an affirmative or a negative.177
177 Ibid. a. 35-b. 6.
If the predicate of the thesis be a true genus, you may convert the thesis simply, having substituted for the predicate the denial of its Contradictory; if not, not. Vice versâ, if the new proposition so formed be true, the predicate of the thesis will be a true genus; if not, not. Thus, if good be the true genus of pleasurable, nothing that is not good will be pleasurable. This locus also will serve both for making out an affirmative and for making out a negative.178