The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Introductory Note.
• Book I.
• Chap. I.: Whether a Demonstrative Science Exists
• Chap. II.: What Knowing Is, What Demonstration Is, and of What It Consists
• Chap. III.: A Refutation of the Error Into Which Some Have Fallen Concerning Science and Demonstration
• Chap. IV.: The Meaning of ‘distributive,’ ‘essential,’ ‘universal’
• Chap. V.: From What Causes Mistakes Arise With Regard to the Discovery of the Universal. How They May Be Avoided
• Chap. VI.: Demonstration Is Founded On Necessary and Essential Principles
• Chap. VII.: The Premises and the Conclusion of a Demonstration Must Belong to the Same Genus
• Chap. VIII.: Demonstration Is Concerned Only With What Is Eternal
• Chap. IX.: Demonstration Is Founded Not On General, But On Special and Indemonstrable Principles; Nor Is It Easy to Know Whether One Really Possesses Knowledge Drawn From These Principles
• Chap. X.: The Definition and Division of Principles
• Chap. XI.: On Certain Principles Which Are Common to All Sciences
• Chap. XII.: On Questions, And, In Passing, On the Way In Which Sciences Are Extended
• Chap. XIII.: The Difference Between the Demonstration and Science of a Thing’s Nature and Those of Its Cause
• Chap. XIV.: The Figure Proper to Demonstrate Syllogism
• Chap. XV.: On Immediate Negative Propositions
• Chap. XVI.: On Ignorance Resulting From a Defective Arrangement of Terms In Mediate Propositions
• Chap. XVII.: On Ignorance Resulting From a Defective Arrangement of Terms In Immediate Propositions
• Chap. XVIII.: On Ignorance As Resulting From Defective Sense Perception
• Chap. XIX.: Whether the Principles of Demonstration Are Finite Or Infinite
• Chap. XX.: Middle Terms Are Not Infinite
• Chap. XXI.: In Negations Some Final and Ultimate Point Is Reached Where the Series Must Cease
• Chap. XXII.: In Affirmations Some Final and Ultimate Point Is Reached Where the Series Must Cease
• Chap. XXIII.: Certain Corollaries
• Chap. XXIV.: Whether Universal Or Particular Demonstration Is Superior
• Chap. XXV.: That Affirmative Is Superior to Negative Demonstration
• Chap. XXVI.: Direct Demonstration Is Superior to Reduction Per Impossible
• Chap. XXVII.: What Science Is More Certain and Prior, and What Less Certain and Inferior
• Chap. XXVIII.: What Constitutes One Or Many Sciences
• Chap. XXIX.: Concerning Many Demonstrations of the Same Thing
• Chap. XXX.: On Fortuitous Occurrences
• Chap. XXXI.: Sense Perception Cannot Give Demonstrative Science
• Chap. XXXII.: On the Difference of Principles Corresponding to the Difference of Syllogisms
• Chap. XXXIII.: The Distinction Between Science and Opinion
• Chap. XXXIV.: On Sagacity
• Book II.
• Chap. I.: On the Number and Arrangements of Questions
• Chap. II.: Every Question Is Concerned With the Discovery of a Middle Term
• Chap. III.: The Distinction Between Definition and Demonstration
• Chap. IV.: The Essence of a Thing Cannot Be Attained By Syllogism
• Chap. V.: Knowledge of the Essence Cannot Be Attained By Division
• Chap. VI.: The Essence Cannot Be Proved By the Definition of the Thing Itself Or By That of Its Opposite
• Chap. VII.: Whether the Essence Can In Any Way Be Proved
• Chap. VIII.: How the Essence Can Be Proved
• Chap. IX.: What Essences Can and What Cannot Be Proved
• Chap. X.: The Nature and Forms of Definition
• Chap. XI.: The Kinds of Causes Used In Demonstration
• Chap. XII.: On the Causes of Events Which Exist, Are In Process, Have Happened, Or Will Happen
• Chap. XIII.: On the Search For a Definition
• Chap. XIV.: On the Discovery of Questions For Demonstration
• Chap. XV.: How Far the Same Middle Term Is Employed For Demonstrating Different Questions
• Chap. XVI.: On Inferring the Cause From the Effect
• Chap. XVII.: Whether There Can Be Several Causes of the Same Thing
• Chap. XVIII.: Which Is the Prior Cause, That Which Is Nearer the Particular, Or the More Universal?
• Chap. XIX.: On the Attainment of Primary Principles
• Appendix. Prior Analytics. Book II.
• Chap. XXIII.: On Induction
• XXIV.: On Example

CHAP. VIII.

Demonstration is concerned only with what is eternal

It is clear that if the premises from which the syllogism proceeds are universal, the conclusion of such a demonstration and of demonstration in general must be eternal. There is then no knowledge properly speaking of perishable things, but only accidentally, because the knowledge of perishable things is not universal but under restrictions of time and manner. When this is the case, the minor premise at least must be other than universal and must be perishable:—perishable because then the conclusion will contain a similar element, other than universal because then the predication will apply to some and not others of the subjects in question; so that no universal conclusion can be drawn but only one referring to this or that definite time. The same holds good with regard to definitions, seeing that definition is either the starting point of a demonstration, or itself a demonstration which differs from definition only in the way in which it is expressed or, lastly, in form a conclusion of a demonstration.

Demonstrations and sciences concerning things which occur only frequently (e.g. lunar eclipses) are clearly of everlasting application in so far as they are demonstrations, while in so far as they are not of everlasting application they are particular. As in the case of eclipses so is it with other subjects of the kind.