Aristotle’s Posterior Analysis is part of the Organon and focuses on syllogistic logic. It explores the subject matter of logic and the foundation of logic, including demonstration, definition, and scientific knowledge. Aristotle argues that first principles must be known for a demonstration to be effective and that people learn them through induction. Definition is the statement of what a thing is, and scientific knowledge includes intuition as a source of universal truth.
The Posterior Analysis is one of the six texts that make up the Organon of the Greek philosopher Aristotle. The Organon details Aristotle’s philosophies on logic, with the Later Analytic using syllogisms to formulate Aristotle’s arguments. Specifically, the work focuses on what Aristotle calls demonstration, definition and finally scientific knowledge.
Aristotle sought to continue in the later Analytic his exploration of syllogistic truth, begun in the earlier Analytic, also part of the Organon. Instead of discussing syllogistic logic in its formal features, as he did in Prior Analytics, Aristotle explores the subject matter of syllogistic logic, or the foundation of logic. It is necessary to examine both form and matter of logic, Aristotle argues, since logic may not have defects in its form while defects exist in matter.
Demonstration in posterior analysis involves a teacher showing students a logical principle through the use of examples or experiments. Aristotle argues that any demonstration must be conducted with already known principles or truths, which he calls first principles, since the use of theoretical principles renders the demonstration useless. The teacher must be able to demonstrate the truth of a principle, or the truth of the principle must be evident. Evidence, however, cannot be shown through circular knowledge, Aristotle argues, or by using the premise of an argument to support its conclusion.
Expounding on the concept of first principles in the later Analytic, Aristotle explains how people come to understand or grasp first principles in the world. Instead of people born with a knowledge or understanding of first principles, Aristotle explains that people learn from first principles through the process of induction. Induction occurs when a person’s senses transfer first principles into the person’s mind so that he or she inherently understands them.
The definition in the posterior analytic text is a statement of what a thing is, which cannot be demonstrated by a teacher to his students. Aristotle also teaches that definition is not only the meaning but also the nature of a specific thing. Knowing the nature of a thing through definition, Aristotle teaches, helps a student understand why that specific thing exists, or what encompasses its cause.
Scientific knowledge takes on a slightly different meaning in later analysis than in modern texts. Aristotle teaches in his text that scientific knowledge is the universal truth about a thing, together with intuition. Indeed, Aristotle argues that intuition is the source of scientific knowledge in the world. Going beyond his logic, Aristotle then reasons that scientific knowledge is the source of facts that men can draw on for logical reasoning.
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