Full Idea
Something holds universally when it is proved of an arbitrary and primitive case.
Gist of Idea
Something holds universally when it is proved of an arbitrary and primitive case
Source
Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 73b33)
Book Reference
Aristotle: 'Posterior Analytics (2nd ed)', ed/tr. Barnes,Jonathan [OUP 1993], p.8
A Reaction
A key idea in mathematical logic, but it always puzzles me. If you snatch a random person in London, and they are extremely tall, does that prove that people of London are extremely tall? How do we know the arbitrary is representative?
Related Idea
Idea 15594 'Instantial' accounts of variables say we grasp arbitrary instances from their use in quantification [Fine,K]