[lit-ideas] Re: Help with Aristotle quote
- From: Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 05 Mar 2013 01:06:01 -0800
Phil Enns wrote
I have a memory of reading, somewhere in Aristotle, a comment along the
lines of the definition of a thing being both what it is and what it is
not. But, I cannot find where he says this in such a concise manner. I
have found a number of places where he talks about definitions and what
a thing is, but not the additional element of what-a-thing-is-not. Any
help from others on this list would be appreciated.
This is the section on definitions and essence from the entry on
Aristotle's logic, in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
7.1 Definitions and Essences
'For Aristotle, a definition is “an account which signifies what it is
to be for something” (logos ho to ti ên einai sêmainei). The phrase
“what it is to be” and its variants are crucial: giving a definition is
saying, of some existent thing, what it is, not simply specifying the
meaning of a word (Aristotle does recognize definitions of the latter
sort, but he has little interest in them).
'The notion of “what it is to be” for a thing is so pervasive in
Aristotle that it becomes formulaic: what a definition expresses is “the
what-it-is-to-be” (to ti ên einai). Roman translators, vexed by this odd
Greek phrase, devised a word for it, essentia, from which our “essence”
descends. So, an Aristotelian definition is an account of the essence of
something.'
Robert Paul,
possibly answering the wrong question
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