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Single Idea 9067

[from 'Posterior Analytics' by Aristotle, in 15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 7. Seeing Resemblance ]

Full Idea

When it occurs often in connection with the same item, ..memories which are many in number form a single experience.

Gist of Idea

Many memories of the same item form a single experience

Source

Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 100a05)

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'Posterior Analytics (2nd ed)', ed/tr. Barnes,Jonathan [OUP 1993], p.73


A Reaction

This is Aristotle at his most empirical. He is not describing an operation of the understanding, but a process of association. The process he alludes to is at the heart of the abstractionist view of concept-formation.