Combining Philosophers

Ideas for B Hale / C Wright, Churchland / Churchland and Aristotle

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54 ideas

14. Science / A. Basis of Science / 2. Demonstration
Aim to get definitions of the primitive components, thus establishing the kind, and work towards the attributes [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Divide a whole into its primitives, then try to get definitions of these. Thus you establish the kind, and then study the attributes through the primitive common items.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 96b16)
There must be definitions before demonstration is possible [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: There is no demonstration of anything of which there is no definition. Definitions are of what something is, i.e. of its essence, but all demonstrations clearly suppose and assume what a thing is.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 90b30)
     A reaction: Note that while essentialism rests on definitions, the job is not yet complete once the definitions are done. With good definitions, it should be easy to show how the pieces of the jigsaw fit together.
There cannot be a science of accidentals, but only of general truths [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: It is not even possible for there to be a science of the accidental, ...for any field of science is either 'always' or 'for the most part'.
     From: Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1065b30-)
     A reaction: His example of an accident (and thus outside of any science) is a cold spell in high summer. This leaves us trying to explain the unusually tame tiger. Copi comments (p.717), rightly I think, that modern science disagrees with Aristotle on this.
Demonstrations about particulars must be about everything of that type [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: There cannot be demonstrations that this particular triangle is equal to the sum of two right angles, except that every triangle is equal to the sum of two right angles, nor that this particular man is an animal, except that every man is an animal.
     From: Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1086b36)
     A reaction: Not quite the covering-law model, but well on the way. Why can't we demonstrate that this particular is different from the others? This tiger is docile; this butterfly stings. We just like generalisations because you know more with less effort.
All demonstration is concerned with existence, axioms and properties [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: All demonstrative science [apodeiktike episteme] is concerned with three things: what it posits to exist (the kind), the axioms (primitives basic to demonstration), and the attributes.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 76b12)
Demonstration starts from a definition of essence, so we can derive (or conjecture about) the properties [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: In demonstration a definition of the essence is required as starting point, so that definitions which do not enable us to discover the derived properties, or which fail to facilitate even a conjecture about them, must obviously be dialectical and futile.
     From: Aristotle (De Anima [c.329 BCE], 402b25)
     A reaction: Interesting to see 'dialectical' used as a term of abuse! Illuminating. For scientific essentialism, then, demonstration is filling out the whole story once the essence has been inferred. It is circular, because essence is inferred from accidents.
Demonstrations move from starting-points to deduced conclusions [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Demonstrations are both from a starting-point and have a sort of end, namely the deduction or the conclusion.
     From: Aristotle (De Anima [c.329 BCE], 407a25)
     A reaction: A starting point has to be a first principle [arché]. It has been observed that Aristotle explains demonstration very carefully, but rarely does it in his writings.
Demonstration is more than entailment, as the explanatory order must match the causal order [Aristotle, by Koslicki]
     Full Idea: Aristotle's demonstration encompasses more than deductive entailment, in that the explanatory order of priority represented in a successful demonstration must mirror precisely the causal order of priority in the phenomena in question.
     From: report of Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE]) by Kathrin Koslicki - Form, Matter and Substance 4.5
     A reaction: Interesting. I presume this is correct, but is not an aspect I had registered. In Metaphysics his essentialist explanations are causal, so it all hangs together.
Aristotle gets asymmetric consequence from demonstration, which reflects real causal priority [Aristotle, by Koslicki]
     Full Idea: In Aristotle's system, the relevant notion of asymmetric consequence that is operative in his model of scientific explanation is that of demonstration. ...It is a theoretical/linguistic reflection of an asymmetric real-world relation of causal priority.
     From: report of Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE]) by Kathrin Koslicki - Varieties of Ontological Dependence 7.3 n7
     A reaction: The asymmetry is required for explanation, and for grounding.
Aristotle doesn't actually apply his theory of demonstration to his practical science [Leroi on Aristotle]
     Full Idea: There is a conflict between the syllogistic theory of demonstration of the Posterior Analytics, with its austere programme of certainties, and how Aristotle actually does science.
     From: comment on Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE]) by Armand Marie LeRoi - The Lagoon: how Aristotle invented science 104
     A reaction: Leroi observes that there are no demonstrations anywhere in the biological writings. Biology probably lends itself least to such an approach.
Premises must be true, primitive and immediate, and prior to and explanatory of conclusions [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Demonstrative understanding must proceed from items which are true and primitive and immediate and more familiar and prior to and explanatory of the conclusions.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 71b22)
We can know by demonstration, which is a scientific deduction leading to understanding [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: We know things through demonstration, by which I mean a scientific deduction, and by 'scientific' I mean a deduction by possessing which we understand something.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 71b17)
     A reaction: This is a distinctively Aristotelian account of what science aims at, and which seems to have dropped out of modern accounts of science, which are still under the influence of logical positivism. Time to revive it.
Demonstrative understanding rests on necessary features of the thing in itself [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: If demonstrative understanding proceeds from necessary principles, and whatever holds of an object in itself is necessary, then it is clear that demonstrative deductions will proceed from certain items of this sort.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 74b05-)
     A reaction: This is the characterization of the essence of something in terms of what counts as a good explanation of that thing. Although explanation is a bit subjective, I like this approach, because you will dig down to the source of the powers of the thing.
Demonstrations must be necessary, and that depends on the middle term [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: If you understand something demonstratively, it must hold from necessity, so it is plain that your demonstration must proceed through a middle term which is necessary.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 75a13)
     A reaction: How can a middle 'term' be necessary, if it is not a proposition? Presumably Socrates is necessarily a man, and men are necessarily mortal, so it is the predication which is necessary.
Demonstrations are syllogisms which give explanations [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Demonstrations are probative deductions [sullogismos] which give the explanation [aitias] and the reason why.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 85b24)
     A reaction: This notion seems to have slipped out of modern philosophy of science, because (while scientists have just pressed on) philosophers of science have raised so many sceptical questions that they have, I would say, lost the plot.
Universal demonstrations are about thought; particular demonstrations lead to perceptions [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Universal demonstrations are objects of thought, particular demonstrations terminate in perception.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 86a30)
Demonstration is better with fewer presuppositions, and it is quicker if these are familiar [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: A demonstration is superior if it depends on fewer suppositions or propositions - for if these are familiar, knowledge will come more quickly, and this is preferable.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 86a35)
The principles of demonstrations are definitions [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: The principles of demonstrations are definitions.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 90b25)
     A reaction: This I take to be a key idea linking Aristotle's desire to understand the world, by using demonstrations to reach good explanations. Definitions turn out to rest on essences, so our understanding of the world rests on essences.
A demonstration is a deduction which proceeds from necessities [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: A demonstration is a deduction which proceeds from necessities.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 73a24)
     A reaction: Elsewhere he tells us that demonstration that brings understanding (Idea 12365), so this is an interesting gloss. He says that the middle term of the syllogism gives the understanding, but necessities reside in the whole propositions of the premisses.
14. Science / A. Basis of Science / 6. Falsification
A single counterexample is enough to prove that a truth is not necessary [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: If we have a single counter-instance, the argument is refuted as not necessary, even if more cases are otherwise or more often otherwise.
     From: Aristotle (The Art of Rhetoric [c.350 BCE], 1403a07)
     A reaction: This is Aristotle (pioneering hero) pointing out what we now tend to think of as Karl Popper's falsification, the certain way to demonstrate the falseness of a supposed law of nature, by finding one anomaly from it.
14. Science / B. Scientific Theories / 1. Scientific Theory
Plato says sciences are unified around Forms; Aristotle says they're unified around substance [Aristotle, by Moravcsik]
     Full Idea: Plato's unity of science principle states that all - legitimate - sciences are ultimately about the Forms. Aristotle's principle states that all sciences must be, ultimately, about substances, or aspects of substances.
     From: report of Aristotle (works [c.330 BCE], 1) by Julius Moravcsik - Aristotle on Adequate Explanations 1
14. Science / C. Induction / 1. Induction
Nobody fears a disease which nobody has yet caught [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Nobody is on his guard against a disease that nobody has yet caught.
     From: Aristotle (The Art of Rhetoric [c.350 BCE], 1372a27)
     A reaction: A beautifully simple indication of one problem with induction. In a dangerous situation, you can't wait around for a few experiences in order to learn the regularities and rules. Either you are doomed, or you must explain using related experiences.
Induction is the progress from particulars to universals [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Induction is the progress from particulars to universals; if the skilled pilot is the best pilot and the skilled charioteer the best charioteer, then, in general, the skilled man is the best man in any particular sphere.
     From: Aristotle (Topics [c.331 BCE], 105a15)
     A reaction: It is a bit unclear whether we are deriving universal concepts, or merely general truths. Need general truths be absolute or necessary truths? Presumably occasionally the best person is not the most skilled, as in playing a musical instrument.
14. Science / C. Induction / 2. Aims of Induction
We learn universals from many particulars [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: It is from many particulars that the universal becomes plain. Universals are valuable because they make the explanation plain.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 88a05)
14. Science / C. Induction / 3. Limits of Induction
We say 'so in cases of this kind', but how do you decide what is 'of this kind'? [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: When it is necessary to establish the universal, people use the expression 'So in all cases of this kind'; but it is one of the most difficult tasks to define which of the terms proposed are 'of this kind' and which are not.
     From: Aristotle (Topics [c.331 BCE], 157a25)
     A reaction: It is particularly hard if induction is expressed as the search for universals, since the kind presumably is the universal, so the universal must be known before the induction can apply, which really is the most frightful nuisance for truth-seekers.
14. Science / D. Explanation / 1. Explanation / a. Explanation
What is most universal is furthest away, and the particulars are nearest [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: What is most universal is furthest away, and the particulars are nearest.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 72a05)
     A reaction: This is the puzzle that bother Aristotle about explanation, that we can only grasp the universals, when we want to explain the particulars.
Universals are valuable because they make the explanations plain [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Universals are valuable because they make the explanations plain.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 88a06)
     A reaction: Everything in Aristotle comes back to human capacity to understand. There seems to be an ideal explanation consisting entirely of particulars, but humans are not equipped to grasp it. We think in a broad brush way.
Aristotelian explanations are facts, while modern explanations depend on human conceptions [Aristotle, by Politis]
     Full Idea: For Aristotle things which explain (the explanantia) are facts, which should not be associated with the modern view that says explanations are dependent on how we conceive and describe the world (where causes are independent of us).
     From: report of Aristotle (works [c.330 BCE]) by Vassilis Politis - Aristotle and the Metaphysics 2.1
     A reaction: There must be some room in modern thought for the Aristotelian view, if some sort of robust scientific realism is being maintained against the highly linguistic view of philosophy found in the twentieth century.
Are particulars explained more by universals, or by other particulars? [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Which of the middle terms is explanatory for the particulars - the one which is primitive in the direction of the universal, or the one which is primitive in the direction of the particular?
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 99b09)
     A reaction: I'm not clear about this, but it shows Aristotle wrestling with the issue of whether explanations are of particulars or universals, and whether they employ particulars as well as employing universals. The particular must be defined!
Universal principles are not primary beings, but particular principles are not universally knowable [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: If the principles are universal, they will not be primary beings [ousiai], ...but if the principles are not universal but of the nature of particulars, they will not be scientifically knowable. For scientific knowledge of any thing is universal.
     From: Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1003a08)
     A reaction: Part of the fifteenth aporia (puzzle) of this book. Plato goes for the universal (and hence knowable), but Aristotle makes the particular primary, and so is left with an epistemological problem, which the rest of 'Metaphysics' is meant to solve.
14. Science / D. Explanation / 1. Explanation / b. Aims of explanation
We know a thing if we grasp its first causes, principles and basic elements [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: We think we know a thing only when we have grasped its first causes and principles and have traced it back to its elements.
     From: Aristotle (Physics [c.337 BCE], 184a12)
     A reaction: A nice Aristotelian analysis. It is hard to see what else you need to know about a thunderstorm, once you know what causes it, the principles which guide its operation, and the elements of which it is composed. But doesn't Aristotle seek its purpose…?
Explanation is of the status of a thing, inferences to it, initiation of change, and purpose [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: There are four sorts of explanation: what it is to be something, that if certain items hold it is necessary for this to hold, what initiated the change, and the purpose.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 94a21)
     A reaction: This might be summed up as: 'we want to know the essence, the necessary conditions, the cause, and the purpose'. Can anyone improve on that as the aims of explanation? The second explanation (necessary preconditions) isn't in 'Physics' - Idea 8332.
Understanding moves from the less to the more intelligible [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Understanding moves from things less intelligible by nature to things more so.
     From: Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1029b02)
     A reaction: The interesting phrase is 'by nature'. Whether things are intelligible or not is a feature of the natural world, and not just a feature of the mind's capacities.
What we seek and understand are facts, reasons, existence, and identity [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: The things we seek are equal in number to those we understand: the fact, the reason why, if something is, and what something is.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 89b24)
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / a. Types of explanation
Aristotle's standard analysis of species and genus involves specifying things in terms of something more general [Aristotle, by Benardete,JA]
     Full Idea: The standard Aristotelian doctrine of species and genus in the theory of anything whatever involves specifying what the thing is in terms of something more general.
     From: report of Aristotle (works [c.330 BCE]) by José A. Benardete - Metaphysics: the logical approach Ch.10
Four Explanations: the essence and form; the matter; the source; and the end [Aristotle, by Politis]
     Full Idea: Aristotle gives us four explanations (or causes) of things: the essence (to ti estin, to ti en einai) and the form (he morphe, to eidos); the matter (hule); the source of change and generation (to kinoun); and the end (telos) at which change is directed.
     From: report of Aristotle (Physics [c.337 BCE]) by Vassilis Politis - Aristotle and the Metaphysics 2.4
     A reaction: Politis presents these as primarily the Four Explanations, rather than under the better-known label of the 'Four Causes'. It is interesting that essence and form are lumped in together, under what is normally labelled the 'formal cause'.
Aristotle's four 'causes' are four items which figure in basic explanations of nature [Aristotle, by Annas]
     Full Idea: The four so-called 'causes' are the different types of item which figure in what Aristotle thinks are the four fundamental types of explanation of nature.
     From: report of Aristotle (Physics [c.337 BCE]) by Julia Annas - Ancient Philosophy: very short introduction Ch.5
     A reaction: This interpretation now seems to be standard among modern scholars. The word 'aitia' translates as 'explanation', but it is important to remember that it also translates as 'cause'. Aristotelian explanations are essentially causal.
Science refers the question Why? to four causes/explanations: matter, form, source, purpose [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: If the natural scientist refers the question 'Why?' to this set of four causes [aition] - matter, form, source of change, purpose - he will be explaining things in the way a natural scientist should.
     From: Aristotle (Physics [c.337 BCE], 198a23)
     A reaction: This is even more conclusive than Idea 16968 in showing that we have the Four Modes of Explanation, not the so-called Four Causes.
There are as many causes/explanations as there are different types of why-question [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: There are causes [aition] and there are as many of them as we have been saying, since there are just as many different kinds of question covered by the question 'Why?'.
     From: Aristotle (Physics [c.337 BCE], 198a16)
     A reaction: He goes on to split the questions into 'what is it?' and 'what initiated the change?'. This, along with Idea 16969, is Exhibit A for saying Aristotle has the Four Explanations, not the Four Causes (which are so famous).
Aristotelian explanations mainly divide things into natural kinds [Aristotle, by Politis]
     Full Idea: The search for explanation as Aristotle conceives it is the search for the correct way to distinguish things into natural kinds, which may involve revising our initial conceptions.
     From: report of Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], kind) by Vassilis Politis - Aristotle and the Metaphysics 2.2
     A reaction: Nowadays we would make the huge addition of objects and processes which are invisible to the naked eye, which Aristotle probably never envisaged. He is interested in categories, but we are also interested in mechanisms.
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / e. Lawlike explanations
Chance is inexplicable, because we can only explain what happens always or usually [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Chance is inexplicable, because explanations can only be given for things that happen either always or usually, but the province of chance is things which do not happen always or usually.
     From: Aristotle (Physics [c.337 BCE], 197a19)
     A reaction: This seems wrong. We can explain perfectly well a chance meeting in the market place - it is just that the explanation is not of much use in making future predictions. But we may avoid the market place because of the danger of chance meetings.
Explanation and generality are inseparable [Aristotle, by Wedin]
     Full Idea: For Aristotle, explanation and generality are fellow-travellers.
     From: report of Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE]) by Michael V. Wedin - Aristotle's Theory of Substance X.11
     A reaction: This isn't 'lawlike' explanation, but it is interestingly close to it. It seems to be based on the fact that predicates are universals, so we can only state truths in general terms.
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / g. Causal explanations
The foundation or source is stronger than the thing it causes [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Something always holds better because of that because of which it holds - e.g. that because of which we love something is better loved.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 72a30)
To grasp something, trace it back to its natural origins [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: If we see how things grow naturally from the start, we would in this way, as in other cases, get the best theoretical grasp of them.
     From: Aristotle (Politics [c.332 BCE], 1252a24)
     A reaction: Observing the natural origins of a tulip doesn't help much (without microbiology), but he is discussing the nature of cities, and his suggestion seems good.
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / k. Explanations by essence
Aristotelian explanation by essence may need to draw on knowledge of other essences [Aristotle, by Koslicki]
     Full Idea: From Aristotle's biology we learn that a successful scientific explanation of the necessary (but non-essential) features of one type of phenomenon (e.g. camels) my require appeal to facts about the essences of other types of phenomena (stomachs).
     From: report of Aristotle (The History of Animals [c.344 BCE]) by Kathrin Koslicki - Essence, Necessity and Explanation 13.4
The nature of each thing is its mature state [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: What each thing is when its coming to be has been complete, this we say is the nature of each - for example, of a human, or of a horse, or of a household.
     From: Aristotle (Politics [c.332 BCE], 1252b32)
     A reaction: This works better for animate than for inanimate things. Aristotle is much clearer when we talk of the 'nature' of each thing, rather than its 'essence', because the latter has been blurred. I like 'essential nature'.
Aristotle regularly says that essential properties explain other significant properties [Aristotle, by Kung]
     Full Idea: The view that essential properties are those in virtue of which other significant properties of the subjects under investigation can be explained is encountered repeatedly in Aristotle's work.
     From: report of Aristotle (works [c.330 BCE]) by Joan Kung - Aristotle on Essence and Explanation IV
     A reaction: What does 'significant' mean here? I take it that the significant properties are the ones which explain the role, function and powers of the object.
To understand a triangle summing to two right angles, we need to know the essence of a line [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: In mathematics it is useful for the understanding of the property of the equality of the interior angles of a triangle to two right angles to know the essential nature of the straight and the curved or of the line and the plane.
     From: Aristotle (De Anima [c.329 BCE], 402b18)
     A reaction: Although Aristotle was cautious about this, he clearly endorses here the idea that essences play an explanatory role in geometry. The caution is in the word 'useful', rather than 'vital'. How else can we arrive at this result, though?
We know something when we fully know what it is, not just its quality, quantity or location [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: It is when we know what a man is or what fire is that we reckon that we know a particular item in the fullest sense, rather than when we merely know its quality, quantity or location.
     From: Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1028a36)
     A reaction: The word 'what' should usually be taken to indicate that Aristotle is talking about essence (as V. Politis confirms of this passage). This idea is a key one for the claim that Aristotelian essences are essentially (sic) explanatory.
Real enquiries seek causes, and causes are essences [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Real enquiries stand revealed as causal enquiries (and the cause is the what-it-was-to-be-that-thing [to ti en einai]).
     From: Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1041a28)
     A reaction: As good a quotation as any for showing that Aristotelian essences exist entirely by their role in explanation.
We know a thing when we grasp its essence [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: We have knowledge of each thing when we grasp the what-it-was-to-be [to ti en einai] that thing.
     From: Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1031b08)
     A reaction: This is a key remark in my understanding of the whole business of essentialism. It really concerns the way in which we are able to grasp reality, rather than how it is in itself. It is not mere convention, because the grasping responds to the reality.
The explanation is what gives matter its state, which is the form, which is the substance [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: The explanation [aition - cause] that is the object of enquiry is that by virtue of which the matter is in the state that it is in. And this cause [explanation] is the form, and the form the substance [ousia].
     From: Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1041b08)
     A reaction: A key sentence, I think, for understanding Aristotle's whole enterprise. The explanation is the essence; the essence is what explains.
Essential properties explain in conjunction with properties shared by the same kind [Aristotle, by Kung]
     Full Idea: Aristotle makes it clear that properties which belong essentially to anything have explanatory power vis-à-vis the other properties of things of that kind.
     From: report of Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], props) by Joan Kung - Aristotle on Essence and Explanation IV
     A reaction: This means that explanation will always occur at the level of generalisation, leading to what we call 'laws', but some events are only explicable at the level of the individual.
14. Science / D. Explanation / 3. Best Explanation / a. Best explanation
Universals give better explanations, because they are self-explanatory and primitive [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: Universals are more explanatory (for something which holds in itself is itself explanatory of itself; and universals are primitive; hence universals are explanatory) - so universal demonstrations are better.
     From: Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 85b25)