On Interpretation
By Aristotle
3.5/5
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About this ebook
Aristotle
Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist whose works have profoundly influenced philosophical discourse and scientific investigation from the later Greek period through to modern times. A student of Plato, Aristotle’s writings cover such disparate topics as physics, zoology, logic, aesthetics, and politics, and as one of the earliest proponents of empiricism, Aristotle advanced the belief that people’s knowledge is based on their perceptions. In addition to his own research and writings, Aristotle served as tutor to Alexander the Great, and established a library at the Lyceum. Although it is believed that only a small fraction of his original writings have survived, works such as The Art of Rhetoric, Nicomachean Ethics, Poetics, and Metaphysics have preserved Aristotle’s legacy and influence through the ages.
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Reviews for On Interpretation
12 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This short work is part of a larger group of writings concerning logic. This work sets out definitions of noun, verb, sentence, and proposition. The distinctions between simple/complex, contrary/contradictory, and individual/universal propositions are given. Then, the author sets up the relationships between all of these. While this book has great historical interest, and perhaps some interest to someone who loves to read philosophy, it serves little other use to a modern reader. Aristotle was unaware of fine points of grammar, because of limitations in written Greek. Aristotle's Greek had no spaces between words, and the letters were all capitals. Because of this, his ideas about what makes a "word" are problematic for a modern reader. Also, since Attic Greek grammar is much different than English grammar, translations of his discussion of grammar are approximate at best. Someone relying on this for a theory of logic would build his house on sand. While this was ground-breaking linguistic and logical theory of the ancient world, it is woefully out of date. It is also a slow read. (even though it is very brief.)
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aristotle defines a noun, verb, simple proposition, affirmation vs. denial (and the rest by conjunction, i.e. joining of propositions). Logically, every affirmation has a denial (these are either full contraries of universals or contradictories). He references the sophists and hints that they tend to use weak versions of denials to make their unclear points.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A short treatise by Aristotle considering the nature of interpretation itself. I found it was a good brain-building piece.
Book preview
On Interpretation - Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle
On Interpretation
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Contents
ON INTERPRETATION
ON INTERPRETATION
Part 1
First we must define the terms ‘noun’ and ‘verb’, then the terms ‘denial’ and ‘affirmation’, then ‘proposition’ and ‘sentence.’
Spoken words are the symbols of mental experience and written words are the symbols of spoken words. Just as all men have not the same writing, so all men have not the same speech sounds, but the mental experiences, which these directly symbolize, are the same for all, as also are those things of which our experiences are the images. This matter has, however, been discussed in my treatise about the soul, for it belongs to an investigation distinct from that which lies before us.
As there are in the mind thoughts which do not involve truth or falsity, and also those which must be either true or false, so it is in speech. For truth and falsity imply combination and separation. Nouns and verbs, provided nothing is added, are like thoughts without combination or separation; ‘man’ and ‘white’, as isolated terms, are not yet either true or false. In proof of this, consider the word ‘goat-stag.’ It has significance, but there is no truth or falsity about it, unless ‘is’ or ‘is not’ is added, either in the present or in some other tense.
Part 2
By a noun we mean a sound significant by convention, which has no reference to time, and of which no part is significant apart from the rest. In the noun ‘Fairsteed,’ the part ‘steed’ has no significance in and by itself, as in the phrase ‘fair steed.’ Yet there is a difference between simple and composite nouns; for in the former the part is in no way significant, in the latter it contributes to the meaning of the whole, although it has not an independent meaning. Thus in the word ‘pirate-boat’ the word ‘boat’ has no meaning except as part of the whole word.
The limitation ‘by convention’ was introduced because nothing is by nature a noun or name-it is only so when it becomes a symbol; inarticulate sounds, such as those which brutes produce, are significant, yet none of these constitutes a noun.
The expression ‘not-man’ is not a noun. There is indeed no recognized term by which we may denote such an expression, for it is not a sentence or a denial. Let it then be called an indefinite noun.
The