[lit-ideas] Re: "en arkhei aitesthai" (Anal. Pr. 673 ad b)
- From: "Walter C. Okshevsky" <wokshevs@xxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 11:10:19 -0230
Interestingly, in Russian there is no concept of "begging the question." Is it
that we're begging the question all the time and so don't recognize it, as the
fish does not thematize water (or anything else for that matter). Or perhaps we
simply never beg the question by virtue of our cultural heritage and biological
constitution?
Begging your leave, Valodsya
Quoting Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx:
>
>
> 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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