Aristotle on knowledge and learning : the posterior analytics /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Bronstein, David, author.
Edition:First edition.
Imprint:Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2016.
Description:xii, 272 pages ; 24 cm.
Language:English
Series:Oxford Aristotle studies
Oxford Aristotle studies.
Subject:
Format: Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/10745779
Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:9780198724902
019872490X
Notes:Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Summary:The posterior analytics', on Bronstein's reading, is a sustained examination of scientific knowledge: what it is and how it is acquired. Aristotle first discusses two principal forms of scientific knowledge (episteme and nous). He then provides a compelling account, in reverse order, of the types of learning one needs to undertake in order to acquire them.'The posterior analytics' thus emerges as an elegantly organized work in which Aristotle describes the mind's ascent from sense-perception of particulars to scientific knowledge of first principles. Bronstein also highlights Plato's influence on Aristotle's text.0For each type of learning Aristotle discusses, Bronstein uncovers an instance of Meno's Paradox (a puzzle from Plato's Meno according to which inquiry and learning are impossible) and a solution to it. In addition, he argues, against current orthodoxy, that Aristotle is committed to the Socratic Picture of inquiry, according to which one should seek what a thing's essence is before seeking its demonstrable attributes and their causes.
Table of Contents:
  • Acknowledgements
  • Abbreviations of Titles of Aristotle's Works
  • Introduction
  • General Introduction
  • 1. Meno's Paradox
  • 2. The Order of Inquiry
  • 3. Nous
  • 1. Meno's Paradox and the Prior Knowledge Requirement
  • 1. Meno's Three Questions
  • 2. Socrates's Dilemma
  • 3. Meno's and Socrates's Prior Cognition Requirements
  • 4. Aristotle on Learning: the Prior Knowledge Requirement
  • 5. Aristotle on Knowledge
  • 6. Prior Knowledge of What?
  • 7. Prior Cognition and Prior Knowledge in Plato and Aristotle
  • 8. Simultaneous Learning in APo 1.1
  • 9. Meno's Paradox in APo 1.1
  • Conclusion
  • Part I. Learning by Demonstration
  • 2. Learning by Demonstration
  • 1. The Prevailing View
  • 2. Textual Evidence
  • 3. Scientific Knowledge and Demonstration: APo 1.2
  • 4. What is Learning by Demonstration?
  • Conclusion
  • 3. Belonging 'In Itself' and Aristotle's Theory of Demonstration
  • 1. Belonging 'In Itself' (Kath' Hauto): APo 1.4
  • 2. In Itself 2 : Demonstrable Attributes
  • 3. In Itself Accidents: Demonstrable Attributes
  • 4. Two Models of Demonstration
  • 4. Scientific Knowledge and Demonstration
  • 1. Non-Demonstrative Scientific Knowledge (Nous)
  • 2. Scientific Knowledge and Explanation
  • 3. Episteme, Nous, and Logos
  • 4. The Objects of Scientific Knowledge
  • 5. Scientific vs. Non-Scientific Knowledge
  • 6. The Requirements for Principles of Demonstration
  • 7. The Prior Knowledge Requirement for Learning by Demonstration
  • 8. Learning by Demonstration, Revisited
  • Conclusion
  • Part II. Learning by Definition
  • 5. Learning by Definition: Introduction
  • 1. Some Preliminaries
  • 2. Learning by Demonstration and by Definition
  • 6. Inquiry in APo 2.1
  • 1. The Four Questions of Inquiry
  • 2. Inquiry and Scientific Knowledge
  • 3. Knowledge in APo 2
  • 4. From Non-Scientific to Scientific Knowledge
  • 5. The Objects of Inquiry
  • 6. The Stages of Inquiry
  • 7. Meno's Paradox
  • 7. Inquiry in APo 2.2
  • 1. Searching for the Middle Term
  • 2. Attribute Questions
  • 3. The Causal and Definitional Constraints
  • 4. Meno's Paradox
  • 5. The Causal Constraint for Attributes
  • 6. The Definitional Constraint: Introducing Causally Complex Essences
  • 7. Attributes and Subjects
  • 8. The A Term
  • 9. A Missing A Term?
  • 10. Definition and Explanation
  • 11. Subject-Focused Inquiry
  • 12. Essence and Middle Term 106 Conclusion
  • 8. The Socratic Picture of the Order of Inquiry
  • 1. The Intuitionist Picture
  • 2. The Explanationist Picture
  • 3. The Socratic Picture
  • 4. Three Methodological Passages
  • 5. Better Known By Nature and To Us: Explanation, Conviction, and Nous
  • 6. An Objection
  • 9. Cause, Essence, and Definition
  • 1. Causes that are the Same vs. Causes that are Different
  • 2. Cause and Essence
  • 3. The Two Types of Cause in APo 2.9
  • 4. How Essences are Discovered
  • 5. APo 2.10: Definition
  • 6. Nominal Accounts in APo 2.10
  • Conclusion
  • 10. Discovering Causally Complex Essences: APo 2.8
  • 1. The Puzzles of APo 2.3-7
  • 2. The Argument of APo 2.8, 93a3-15
  • 3. The Essence-Revealing Demonstration
  • 4. Inquiry, Discovery, and Prior Knowledge
  • 5. Knowing Part of the Essence
  • 6. Knowing Part of x's Essence without Knowing that x Exists
  • 7. First Route to Knowledge: Stages 3 to 4
  • 8. First Solution to Meno's Paradox
  • 9. Inquiring without an A Term
  • 10. Discovering the Essence-Revealing Demonstration: Stages 4 to 5
  • 11. The Two Models of Demonstration in APo 2.8
  • 12. Second Route to Knowledge, Second Solution to Meno's Paradox
  • Conclusion
  • 11. Subject-Kinds and their Existence
  • 1. Primary vs. Subordinate Subject-Kinds
  • 2. Subject-Kinds vs. Demonstrable Attributes
  • 3. Subordinate Subject-Kinds vs. Demonstrable Attributes
  • 4. Demonstrating Attributes: Teaching by Demonstration, Part 1
  • 5. Teaching vs. Inquiring
  • 6. Demonstrating Subordinate Subject-Kinds: Teaching by Demonstration, Part 2
  • 7. Discovering the Existence of Subordinate Subject-Kinds
  • 8. Discovering the Existence of Primary Subject-Kinds
  • 12. Discovering Causally Simple Essences: APo 2.13
  • 1. Division, Definition, and Explanation
  • 2. Discovering the Essences of Subject-Kinds
  • 3. Genus, Differentia, and Division: An Overview
  • 4. Objections to Division: APo 2.5 and 6
  • 5. The D Attribute Rule
  • 6. Division Introduced
  • 7. Exhaustive Division
  • 8. Correctly Dividing a Genus
  • 9. Preliminary Conclusions
  • 10. Inquiry, Division, and Meno's Paradox
  • 11. Defining by Division: Conclusions
  • 12. Discovering the Essences of Primary Subject-Kinds
  • Part III. Learning by Induction
  • 13. The Origin and Aim of APo 2.19
  • 1. Opening Moves and Overview
  • 2. Motivation
  • 3. The Origin and Aim of APo 2.19
  • 4. Meno's Paradox
  • 5. Perception and Logos
  • 6. Perception to Nous
  • 7. Experience, Induction, and Inquiry
  • 8. The Rout Simile
  • 9. Perception and Induction: Preliminaries
  • 10. Perception and Induction: Details
  • Conclusion
  • Conclusion
  • Bibliography
  • Index Locorum
  • Index Nominum
  • General Index