Aristotle on knowledge and learning : the posterior analytics / David Bronstein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bronstein, David, author.

Series:

Oxford Aristotle studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Aristotle. Posterior analytics.

Knowledge, Theory of.

Physical Description:

xii, 272 pages ; 24 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2016.

Summary:

The posterior analytics', on Bronstein's reading, is a sustained examination of scientific knowledge: what it is and how it is acquired. Aristotle first discusses two principal forms of scientific knowledge (episteme and nous). He then provides a compelling account, in reverse order, of the types of learning one needs to undertake in order to acquire them.'The posterior analytics' thus emerges as an elegantly organized work in which Aristotle describes the mind's ascent from sense-perception of particulars to scientific knowledge of first principles. Bronstein also highlights Plato's influence on Aristotle's text.0For each type of learning Aristotle discusses, Bronstein uncovers an instance of Meno's Paradox (a puzzle from Plato's Meno according to which inquiry and learning are impossible) and a solution to it. In addition, he argues, against current orthodoxy, that Aristotle is committed to the Socratic Picture of inquiry, according to which one should seek what a thing's essence is before seeking its demonstrable attributes and their causes.

Contents:

1 Meno's Paradox and the Prior Knowledge Requirement 11

1 Meno's Three Questions 11

2 Socrates's Dilemma 13

3 Meno's and Socrates's Prior Cognition Requirements 14

4 Aristotle on Learning: the Prior Knowledge Requirement 15

5 Aristotle on Knowledge 16

6 Prior Knowledge of What? 21

7 Prior Cognition and Prior Knowledge in Plato and Aristotle 22

8 Simultaneous Learning in APo 1.1 23

9 Meno's Paradox in APo 1.1 25

Conclusion 27

Part I Learning by Demonstration

2 Learning by Demonstration 31

1 The Prevailing View 32

2 Textual Evidence 33

3 Scientific Knowledge and Demonstration: APo 1.2 35

4 What is Learning by Demonstration? 39

Conclusion 42

3 Belonging 'In Itself' and Aristotle's Theory of Demonstration 43

1 Belonging 'In Itself' (Kath' Hauto): APo 1.4 43

2 In Itself₂: Demonstrable Attributes 46

3 In Itself Accidents: Demonstrable Attributes 47

4 Two Models of Demonstration 48

4 Scientific Knowledge and Demonstration 51

1 Non-Demonstrative Scientific Knowledge (Nous) 51

2 Scientific Knowledge and Explanation 57

3 Episteme, Nous, and Logos 58

4 The Objects of Scientific Knowledge 58

5 Scientific vs. Non-Scientific Knowledge 60

6 The Requirements for Principles of Demonstration 61

7 The Prior Knowledge Requirement for Learning by Demonstration 63

8 Learning by Demonstration, Revisited 64

Conclusion 66

Part II Learning by Definition

5 Learning by Definition: Introduction 69

1 Some Preliminaries 70

2 Learning by Demonstration and by Definition 72

6 Inquiry in APo 2.1 74

1 The Four Questions of Inquiry 74

2 Inquiry and Scientific Knowledge 76

3 Knowledge in APo 2 77

4 From Non-Scientific to Scientific Knowledge 78

5 The Objects of Inquiry 80

6 The Stages of Inquiry 83

7 Meno's Paradox 84

7 Inquiry in APo 2.2 89

1 Searching for the Middle Term 89

2 Attribute Questions 91

3 The Causal and Definitional Constraints 92

4 Meno's Paradox 93

5 The Causal Constraint for Attributes 95

6 The Definitional Constraint: Introducing Causally Complex Essences 96

7 Attributes and Subjects 99

8 The A Term 101

9 A Missing A Term? 102

10 Definition and Explanation 103

11 Subject-Focused Inquiry 104

12 Essence and Middle Term 106 Conclusion 107

8 The Socratic Picture of the Order of Inquiry 108

1 The Intuitionist Picture 108

2 The Explanationist Picture 112

3 The Socratic Picture 114

4 Three Methodological Passages 120

5 Better Known By Nature and To Us: Explanation, Conviction, and Nous 127

6 An Objection 129

9 Cause, Essence, and Definition 131

1 Causes that are the Same vs. Causes that are Different 132

2 Cause and Essence 134

3 The Two Types of Cause in APo 2.9 135

4 How Essences are Discovered 137

5 APo 2.10: Definition 138

6 Nominal Accounts in APo 2.10 141

Conclusion 143

10 Discovering Causally Complex Essences: APo 2.8 144

1 The Puzzles of APo 2.3-7 144

2 The Argument of APo 2.8, 93a3-15 147

3 The Essence-Revealing Demonstration 150

4 Inquiry, Discovery, and Prior Knowledge 153

5 Knowing Part of the Essence 156

6 Knowing Part of x's Essence without Knowing that x Exists 157

7 First Route to Knowledge: Stages 3 to 4 159

8 First Solution to Meno's Paradox 162

9 Inquiring without an A Term 163

10 Discovering the Essence-Revealing Demonstration: Stages 4 to 5 164

11 The Two Models of Demonstration in APo 2.8 166

12 Second Route to Knowledge, Second Solution to Meno's Paradox 166

Conclusion 169

11 Subject-Kinds and their Existence 170

1 Primary vs. Subordinate Subject-Kinds 171

2 Subject-Kinds vs. Demonstrable Attributes 173

3 Subordinate Subject-Kinds vs. Demonstrable Attributes 175

4 Demonstrating Attributes: Teaching by Demonstration, Part 1 177

5 Teaching vs. Inquiring 182

6 Demonstrating Subordinate Subject-Kinds: Teaching by Demonstration, Part 2 183

7 Discovering the Existence of Subordinate Subject-Kinds 185

8 Discovering the Existence of Primary Subject-Kinds 187

12 Discovering Causally Simple Essences: APo 2.13 189

1 Division, Definition, and Explanation 190

2 Discovering the Essences of Subject-Kinds 196

3 Genus, Differentia, and Division: An Overview 197

4 Objections to Division: APo 2.5 and 6 199

5 The D Attribute Rule 199

6 Division Introduced 204

7 Exhaustive Division 206

8 Correctly Dividing a Genus 207

9 Preliminary Conclusions 210

10 Inquiry, Division, and Meno's Paradox 211

11 Defining by Division: Conclusions 218

12 Discovering the Essences of Primary Subject-Kinds 219

Part III Learning by Induction

13 The Origin and Aim of APo 2.19 225

1 Opening Moves and Overview 225

2 Motivation 228

3 The Origin and Aim of APo 2.19 229

4 Meno's Paradox 231

5 Perception and Logos 235

6 Perception to Nous 236

7 Experience, Induction, and Inquiry 237

8 The Rout Simile 240

9 Perception and Induction: Preliminaries 241

10 Perception and Induction: Details 244

Conclusion 247.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [249]-256) and indexes.

ISBN:

9780198724902

019872490X

OCLC:

946010368