Single Idea 12279

[catalogued under 2. Reason / D. Definition / 5. Genus and Differentia]

Full Idea

No differentia indicates the essence [ti estin], but rather some quality, such as 'pedestrian' or 'biped'.

Gist of Idea

The differentia indicate the qualities, but not the essence

Source

Aristotle (Topics [c.331 BCE], 122b17)

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'Posterior Analytics and Topica', ed/tr. Tredennick,H/Forster,ES [Harvard 1960], p.435


A Reaction

We must disentangle this, since essence is what is definable, and definition seems to give us the essence, and yet it appears that definition only requires genus and differentia. Differentiae seem to be both generic and fine-grained. See Idea 12280!

Related Idea

Idea 12280 Genus gives the essence better than the differentiae do [Aristotle]