The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-28-1996

Abstract

Prior Analytics describes a natural deduction system as part of an underlying logic. It is a proof-theoretic treatise concerned principally to establish and to perfect a deduction system for science. Aristotle knew that deductions about matters pertaining to a given subject matter are content specific and that they employ a topic neutral deduction system; such a system makes evident that given sentences logically follow from other given sentences. One process of deduction is accomplished through taking pairs of given categorical sentences to generate immediate inferences according to prescribed rules, which categorical inferences are then added to the given sentences and then again taken in pairs, to wit, syllogistically, until a final conclusion is obtained (see esp. A25). This process is treated in Prior Analytics in an exactly analogous fashion as chaining immediate inferences by using rules of propositional logic.

Notes

George Boger presented “Prior Analytics and Aristotle’s Commitment to Logos” to the Society at its meeting with the Eastern Division in Atlanta East in 1996. A version of the paper was published in the ICGP proceedings: 1996 “Prior Analytics and Aristotle’s commitment to logos”. In K. I. Boudouris (ed). The Philosophy of Logos, vol. 1. Athens, Greece: International Center for Greek Philosophy and Culture, 51-67. The author writes: I have gone beyond the findings there to refine them as they are now published in J. Woods and D. M. Gabbay & A. Kanamori, eds. 2004. Handbook of the History of Logic Elsevier “Aristotle’s Underlying Logic” 1-101.

George Boger is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Canisius College. Many of his essays are available online at Academia.edu and ResearchGate

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