Principles and Proofs

Aristotle's Theory of Demonstrative Science

Richard D. McKirahan Jr., Richard D. McKirahan, Jr.

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9780691603254
  9780691073637
• eBook ISBN:
  9781400887163
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Epistemology in Philosophy

By a thorough study of the Posterior Analytics and related Aristotelian texts, Richard McKirahan reconstructs Aristotle's theory of episteme--science. The Posterior Analytics contains the first extensive treatment of the nature and structure of science in the history of philosophy, and McKirahan's aim is to interpret it sympathetically, following the lead of the text, rather than imposing contemporary frameworks on it. In addition to treating the theory as a whole, the author uses textual and philological as well as philosophical material to interpret many important but difficult individual passages. A number of issues left obscure by the Aristotelian material are settled by reference to Euclid's geometrical practice in the Elements. To justify this use of Euclid, McKirahan makes a comparative analysis of fundamental features of Euclidian geometry with the corresponding elements of Aristotle's theory. Emerging from that discussion is a more precise and more complex picture of the relation between Aristotle's theory and Greek mathematics--a picture of mutual, rather than one-way, dependence.

Originally published in 1992.

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• I The Motivation for the Theory of Demonstration
• II The Approach to the Principles
• III The Kinds of Principles
• IV The Subject Genus
• V The Subordinate Sciences
• VI Axioms or Common Principles
• VII Definitions, I: The Per Se
• VIII Scientific Essences
• IX Definitions, II: Form and Content
• X Existence Claims
• XI Aristotle's Principles and Greek Mathematics
• XII Aristotle's Demonstrations and Euclid's Elements
• XIII The Varieties of Demonstration, I: Universal Subject-Attribute Demonstrations
• XIV The Varieties of Demonstration, II: Application Arguments
• XV The Varieties of Demonstration, III: Demonstrations of Existence
• XVI Demonstration of Essence: Another Form of Scientific Proof?
• XVII Scientific Explanation
• XVIII Our Knowledge of the Principles
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index Locorum
• General Index