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The ''Organon'' ( grc, Ὄργανον, meaning "instrument, tool, organ") is the standard collection of
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
's six works on
logical
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...
analysis and
dialectic
Dialectic ( grc-gre, διαλεκτική, ''dialektikḗ''; related to dialogue; german: Dialektik), also known as the dialectical method, is a discourse between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing ...
. The name ''Organon'' was given by Aristotle's followers, the
Peripatetics.
The six works are as follows:
Constitution of the texts
The order of the works is not chronological (which is now hard to determine) but was deliberately chosen by
Theophrastus
Theophrastus (; grc-gre, Θεόφραστος ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, ''Ancient Botany'', Routledge ...
to constitute a well-structured system. Indeed, parts of them seem to be a scheme of a lecture on logic. The arrangement of the works was made by
Andronicus of Rhodes around 40 BC.
Aristotle's ''Metaphysics'' has some points of overlap with the works making up the ''Organon'' but is not traditionally considered part of it; additionally, there are works on logic attributed, with varying degrees of plausibility, to Aristotle that were not known to the Peripatetics.
# The ''
Categories
Category, plural categories, may refer to:
Philosophy and general uses
*Categorization, categories in cognitive science, information science and generally
*Category of being
* ''Categories'' (Aristotle)
*Category (Kant)
* Categories (Peirce)
* ...
'' (Latin: ) introduces Aristotle's 10-fold classification of that which exists:
substance, quantity, quality, relation, place, time, situation, condition, action, and passion.
# ''
On Interpretation
''De Interpretatione'' or ''On Interpretation'' ( Greek: Περὶ Ἑρμηνείας, ''Peri Hermeneias'') is the second text from Aristotle's '' Organon'' and is among the earliest surviving philosophical works in the Western tradition to dea ...
'' (Latin: ) introduces Aristotle's conception of
proposition
In logic and linguistics, a proposition is the meaning of a declarative sentence. In philosophy, " meaning" is understood to be a non-linguistic entity which is shared by all sentences with the same meaning. Equivalently, a proposition is the no ...
and
judgement
Judgement (or US spelling judgment) is also known as ''adjudication'', which means the evaluation of evidence to make a decision. Judgement is also the ability to make considered decisions. The term has at least five distinct uses. Aristotle s ...
, and the various relations between affirmative, negative, universal, and particular propositions. Aristotle discusses the
square of opposition or square of
Apuleius
Apuleius (; also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis; c. 124 – after 170) was a Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He lived in the Roman province of Numidia, in the Berber city of Madauros, modern-day ...
in Chapter 7 and its appendix, Chapter 8. Chapter 9 deals with the
problem of future contingents
Future contingent propositions (or simply, future contingents) are statements about states of affairs in the future that are '' contingent:'' neither necessarily true nor necessarily false.
The problem of future contingents seems to have been fi ...
.
# The ''
Prior Analytics'' (Latin: ) introduces his
syllogistic method (see
term logic
In philosophy, term logic, also known as traditional logic, syllogistic logic or Aristotelian logic, is a loose name for an approach to formal logic that began with Aristotle and was developed further in ancient history mostly by his followers, ...
), argues for its correctness, and discusses inductive inference.
# The ''
Posterior Analytics'' (Latin: ) deals with
definition
A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Definitions can be classified into two large categories: intensional definitions (which try to give the sense of a term), and extensional definitio ...
,
demonstration,
inductive reasoning
Inductive reasoning is a method of reasoning in which a general principle is derived from a body of observations. It consists of making broad generalizations based on specific observations. Inductive reasoning is distinct from ''deductive'' re ...
, and
scientific knowledge
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
.
# The ''
Topics'' (Latin: ) treats issues in constructing valid arguments, and inference that is probable, rather than certain. It is in this treatise that Aristotle mentions the
Predicables
Predicable (Lat. praedicabilis, that which may be stated or affirmed, sometimes called ''quinque voces'' or ''five words'') is, in scholastic logic, a term applied to a classification of the possible relations in which a predicate may stand to its ...
, later discussed by
Porphyry and the scholastic logicians.
# The ''
On Sophistical Refutations
''Sophistical Refutations'' ( el, Σοφιστικοὶ Ἔλεγχοι, Sophistikoi Elenchoi; la, De Sophisticis Elenchis) is a text in Aristotle's ''Organon'' in which he identified thirteen fallacies.Sometimes listed as twelve. According to A ...
'' (Latin: ) gives a treatment of
logical fallacies In philosophy, a formal fallacy, deductive fallacy, logical fallacy or non sequitur (; Latin for " tdoes not follow") is a pattern of reasoning rendered invalid by a flaw in its logical structure that can neatly be expressed in a standard logic syst ...
, and provides a key link to Aristotle's
tractate
A tractate is a written work dealing formally and systematically with a subject; the word derives from the Latin ''tractatus'', meaning treatise.
One example of its use is in citing a section of the Talmud, when the term '' masekhet'' () is used ...
on rhetoric.
Whereas the ''Organon'' of the Latin
Scholastic tradition comprises only the above six works, its independent reception in the Arabic medieval world saw appended to this list of works Aristotle's ''
Rhetoric
Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...
'' and ''
Poetics
Poetics is the theory of structure, form, and discourse within literature, and, in particular, within poetry.
History
The term ''poetics'' derives from the Ancient Greek ποιητικός ''poietikos'' "pertaining to poetry"; also "creative" an ...
''.
Influence
The ''Organon'' was used in the school founded by Aristotle at the
Lyceum
The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the t ...
, and some parts of the works seem to be a scheme of a lecture on logic. So much so that after Aristotle's death, his publishers (
Andronicus of Rhodes in 50 BC, for example) collected these works.
Following the collapse of the
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period fr ...
in the fifth century, much of Aristotle's work was lost in the Latin West. The ''Categories'' and ''On Interpretation'' are the only significant logical works that were available in the early
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
. These had been translated into
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
by
Boethius
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480 – 524 AD), was a Roman senator, consul, ''magister officiorum'', historian, and philosopher of the Early Middle Ages. He was a central figure in the tr ...
, along with Porphyry's
Isagoge
The ''Isagoge'' ( el, Εἰσαγωγή, ''Eisagōgḗ''; ) or "Introduction" to Aristotle's "Categories", written by Porphyry in Greek and translated into Latin by Boethius, was the standard textbook on logic for at least a millennium after his ...
, which was also translated into Arabic by
Ibn al-Muqaffa'
Abū Muhammad ʿAbd Allāh Rūzbih ibn Dādūya ( ar, ابو محمد عبدالله روزبه ابن دادويه), born Rōzbih pūr-i Dādōē ( fa, روزبه پور دادویه), more commonly known as Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ ( ar, ابن الم ...
via a Syriac intermediary. The other logical works were not available in Western Christendom until
translated into Latin in the 12th century. However, the original Greek texts had been preserved in the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
-speaking lands of the
Eastern Roman Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
(aka
Byzantium
Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' cont ...
). In the mid-twelfth century,
James of Venice James of Venice was a Catholic cleric and significant translator of Aristotle of the twelfth century. He has been called "the first systematic translator of Aristotle since Boethius." Not much is otherwise known about him.
He was active in particu ...
translated into Latin the ''Posterior Analytics'' from Greek manuscripts found in Constantinople.
The books of Aristotle were available in the early Arab Empire, and after 750 AD Muslims had most of them, including the ''Organon'', translated into Arabic, normally via earlier Syriac translations. They were studied by
Islamic
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...
and
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
scholars, including Rabbi
Moses Maimonides
Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...
(1135–1204) and the Muslim Judge
Ibn Rushd
Ibn Rushd ( ar, ; full name in ; 14 April 112611 December 1198), often Latinized as Averroes ( ), was an
Andalusian polymath and jurist who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astronomy, physics, psychology, ...
, known in the West as Averroes (1126–1198); both were originally from
Córdoba, Spain
Córdoba (; ),, Arabic: قُرطبة DIN 31635, DIN: . or Cordova () in English, is a city in Andalusia, Spain, and the capital of the Province of Córdoba (Spain), province of Córdoba. It is the third most populated Municipalities in Spain, mun ...
, although the former left Iberia and by 1168 lived in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
.
All the major scholastic philosophers wrote commentaries on the ''Organon''.
Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known ...
,
Ockham and
Scotus
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...
wrote commentaries on ''On Interpretation''. Ockham and Scotus wrote commentaries on the ''Categories'' and ''Sophistical Refutations''.
Grosseteste
Robert Grosseteste, ', ', or ') or the gallicised Robert Grosstête ( ; la, Robertus Grossetesta or '). Also known as Robert of Lincoln ( la, Robertus Lincolniensis, ', &c.) or Rupert of Lincoln ( la, Rubertus Lincolniensis, &c.). ( ; la, Robe ...
wrote an influential commentary on the ''Posterior Analytics''.
In the
Enlightenment there was a revival of interest in logic as the basis of
rational enquiry, and a number of texts, most successfully the
Port-Royal Logic
''Port-Royal Logic'', or ''Logique de Port-Royal'', is the common name of ''La logique, ou l'art de penser'', an important textbook on logic first published anonymously in 1662 by Antoine Arnauld and Pierre Nicole, two prominent members of the Jan ...
, polished
Aristotelian term logic for
pedagogy
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...
. During this period, while the logic certainly was based on that of Aristotle, Aristotle's writings themselves were less often the basis of study. There was a tendency in this period to regard the
logical system
A formal system is an abstract structure used for inferring theorems from axioms according to a set of rules. These rules, which are used for carrying out the inference of theorems from axioms, are the logical calculus of the formal system.
A form ...
s of the day to be complete, which in turn no doubt stifled innovation in this area. However,
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
published his ''
Novum Organum
The ''Novum Organum'', fully ''Novum Organum, sive Indicia Vera de Interpretatione Naturae'' ("New organon, or true directions concerning the interpretation of nature") or ''Instaurationis Magnae, Pars II'' ("Part II of The Great Instauration ...
'' ("The New ''Organon''") as a scathing attack in
1620.
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...
thought that there was nothing else to invent after the work of Aristotle, and the famous logic historian
Karl von Prantl claimed that any logician who said anything new about logic was "confused, stupid or perverse." These examples illustrate the force of influence which Aristotle's works on logic had. Indeed, he had already become known by the Scholastics (medieval Christian scholars) as "The Philosopher", due to the influence he had upon medieval theology and philosophy. His influence continued into the Early Modern period and Organon was the basis of school philosophy even in the beginning of the 18th century.
Since the logical innovations of the 19th century, particularly the formulation of modern
predicate logic
First-order logic—also known as predicate logic, quantificational logic, and first-order predicate calculus—is a collection of formal systems used in mathematics, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science. First-order logic uses quantifie ...
, Aristotelian logic had for a time fallen out of favor among many
analytic philosophers
Analytic philosophy is a branch and tradition of philosophy using analysis, popular in the Western world and particularly the Anglosphere, which began around the turn of the 20th century in the contemporary era in the United Kingdom, United Sta ...
.
However, the logic historian
John Corcoran and others have shown that the works of
George Boole
George Boole (; 2 November 1815 – 8 December 1864) was a largely self-taught English mathematician, philosopher, and logician, most of whose short career was spent as the first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork in Ire ...
and
Gottlob Frege
Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege (; ; 8 November 1848 – 26 July 1925) was a German philosopher, logician, and mathematician. He was a mathematics professor at the University of Jena, and is understood by many to be the father of analytic phil ...
—which laid the groundwork for modern mathematical logic—each represent a continuation and extension to Aristotle's logic and in no way contradict or displace it.
Boole fully accepted and endorsed Aristotle's logic, and Frege included Aristotle's
square of opposition at the end of his groundbreaking ''
Begriffsschrift
''Begriffsschrift'' (German for, roughly, "concept-script") is a book on logic by Gottlob Frege, published in 1879, and the formal system set out in that book.
''Begriffsschrift'' is usually translated as ''concept writing'' or ''concept notatio ...
'' to show the harmony of his theory with the Aristotelian tradition.
Jean-Yves Béziau
Jean-Yves Béziau (; born January 15, 1965, in Orléans, France) is a professor and researcher of the Brazilian Research Council (CNPq) at the University of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro.
Career
Béziau works in the field of logic—in particular, ...
“Is modern logic non-Aristotelian?”, in Vladimir Markin, Dmitry Zaitsev (eds.), ''The Logical Legacy of Nikolai Vasiliev and Modern Logic'', Cham, Springer, 2017, pp. 19-42.
See also
* ''
Ignoratio elenchi
An irrelevant conclusion, also known as ''ignoratio elenchi'' () or missing the point, is the informal fallacy of presenting an argument that may or may not be logically valid and sound, but (whose conclusion) fails to address the issue in ques ...
''
Notes
References
; Primary sources
* .
* .
* .
* .
* .
* .
; Studies
* Bocheński, I. M., 1951. ''Ancient Formal Logic''. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
*
Jan Łukasiewicz
Jan Łukasiewicz (; 21 December 1878 – 13 February 1956) was a Polish logician and philosopher who is best known for Polish notation and Łukasiewicz logic His work centred on philosophical logic, mathematical logic and history of logic. He ...
, 1951. ''Aristotle's Syllogistic, from the Standpoint of Modern Formal Logic''. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
* Lea, Jonathan 1980. ''Aristotle and Logical Theory'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Monteil, Jean-François ''La transmission d’Aristote par les Arabes à la chrétienté occidentale: une trouvaille relative au De Interpretatione'', Revista Española de Filosofia Medieval 11: 181-195
* Monteil, Jean-François ''Isidor Pollak et les deux traductions arabes différentes du De interpretatione d’Aristote'', Revue d’Études Anciennes 107: 29-46 (2005).
* Monteil, Jean-François ''Une exception allemande: la traduction du De Interpretatione par le Professeur Gohlke: la note 10 sur les indéterminées d’Aristote'', Revues de Études Anciennes 103: 409-427 (2001).
* Parry and Hacker, 1991. ''Aristotelian Logic''. Albany: State University of New York Press.
* Rose, Lynn E., 1968. ''Aristotle's Syllogistic''. Springfield, Ill.: Clarence C. Thomas.
* Whitaker, C.W.A. 1996. ''Aristotle's De interpretatione. Contradiction and Dialectic'', Oxford: Clarendon Press.
* Veatch, Henry B., 1969. ''Two Logics: The Conflict between Classical and Neo-Analytic Philosophy.'' Evanston: Northwestern University Press.
External links
* .
* .
Aristotle: Logicentry by
Louis Groarke
Louis Groarke (born 1953) is a Canadian philosopher, author, and a professor in the Philosophy Department at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. His work is characterized by his specialization in Western philosophy, especia ...
in the
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''IEP'') is a scholarly online encyclopedia, dealing with philosophy, philosophical topics, and philosophers. The IEP combines open access publication with peer reviewed publication of original pape ...
.
* Turner, W., 1903.
History of Philosophy. Ginn and Co, Boston. All references in this article are t
''Aristotle Organon And Other Works'' e-bookat archive.org.
Interactive Syllogistic Machine for Aristotle's Logic a web-based syllogistic machine for exploring fallacies, figures, terms, and modes of syllogisms.
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