Single Idea 20779

[catalogued under 14. Science / A. Basis of Science / 2. Demonstration]

Full Idea

Demonstration is an argument which by means of things more clearly grasped concludes to something that is less clearly grasped.

Gist of Idea

Demonstration derives what is less clear from what is clear

Source

report of Stoic school (fragments/reports [c.200 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 07.45

Book Reference

'The Stoics Reader', ed/tr. Inwood,B/Gerson,L.P. [Hackett 2008], p.11


A Reaction

In Aristotle demonstration seems to concern physical sciences, but this stoic account makes it sound like pure logic proof. This is why all logic tends to start from atomic sentences, because they are clearest.