[lit-ideas] "en arkhei aitesthai" (Anal. Pr. 673 ad b)
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 01:06:41 EDT
In a message dated 6/8/2010 1:25:39, rpaul@xxxxxxxx writes:
To 'beg the
question' was coined as a rather over-literal translation of the Latin
phrase 'petitio principii'. The Latin version was itself a translation
of Greek text 'en archei aiteisthai' taken from Aristotle's Prior
Analytics. The phrase was known in English by at least 1581, at which
date it was recorded by William Clarke:
"Ffiij, I say this is still to begge the question."
The logical constructs that Aristotle was describing were statements
which assume the truth that one is attempting to prove. Those might be
questions which have an assertion smuggled into them, like 'Why has
England fewer trees per acre than any other country in Europe?'. Or,
more commonly, the fallacious reasoning that we now usually call a
'circular argument'. For example, 'He must be speaking the truth because
he never lies'. The 'truth' being assumed in advance isn't always so
blatant."
It would be good to revise the range of examples discussed by Aristotle in
that rather boring book of his, the Prior Analytics --.
And then blame HIM (Cicero?) who used 'petitio principii'.
"aitesthai" is indeed, Greek for 'beg' -- also used for 'want':
"I want a beer" -- Usually, the context determines what use is meant. If
the utterer does not display money, it means 'beg'. If he does, it means,
"want" or 'want to buy'.
'en arkhei' is a prepositional phrase with 'en', and the feminine noun,
arkhe, which also means "Government" (as in 'an-archy' -- lack of government
or authority). Strictly, in Greek, it means 'start' (rather than finish --
and there is only ONE principle -- NOT 'principle point'.
In Latin, for lack of prepositional clauses, the genitive is used,
'principii', and the nominalisation becomes a feminine form ("petitio") which
is
merely the infinitive in the middle voice of Greek.
The Greeks distinguished between the 'active' (voice), the passive (voice)
and what they called a "MIDDLE" voice, explained thus by Diodorus Chronos:
"The middle voice is between the active and the passive" but surely he was
begging for it.
J. L. Speranza
Bordighera, etc.
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