Principia cognoscimus
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Jump to navigationJump to searchPrincipia cognoscimus in quantum terminos cognoscimus – we know the principles insofar as we know the terms. This is an idea appealed to by Scotus and Ockham and others in discussing our knowledge of first principles and self-evident propositions[1].
It is an interpretation of a passage from Aristotle's Posterior Analytics, 72b18. The orginal Greek is shown below, next to the Latin translation by James of Venice, and Mure's English translation.
| Greek [2] | James's translation[3] | English [4] |
|---|---|---|
| Ἡμεῖς δέ φαμεν οὔτε πᾶσαν ἐπιστήμην ἀποδεικτικὴν εἶναι, ἀλλὰ τὴν τῶν ἀμέσων ἀναπόδεικτον | 72b18 Nos autem dicimus neque omnem scientiam demonstrativam esse sed immediatorum indemonstrabilem. | Our own doctrine is that not all knowledge is demonstrative: on the contrary, knowledge of the immediate premisses is independent of demonstration. |
| (καὶ τοῦθ᾽ ὅτι ἀναγκαῖον, φανερόν· εἰ γὰρ ἀνάγκη μὲν ἐπίστασθαι τὰ πρότερα καὶ ἐξ ὧν ἡ ἀπόδειξις, ἵσταται δέ ποτε τὰ ἄμεσα, ταῦτ᾽ ἀναπόδεικτα ἀνάγκη εἶναι) | Et hoc quod necessarium sit, manifestum est; si enim necesse est quidem scire priora et ex quibus est demonstratio, stant autem aliquando immediata, haec priora indemonstrabilia necesse est esse. | (The necessity of this is obvious; for since we must know the prior premisses from which the demonstration is drawn, and since the regress must end in immediate truths, those truths must be indemonstrable.) |
| ταῦτά τ᾽ οὖν οὕτω λέγομεν, καὶ οὐ μόνον ἐπιστήμην ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀρχὴν ἐπιστήμης εἶναί τινά φαμεν, ἧι τοὺς ὅρους γνωρίζομεν | Et haec igitur sic dicimus, et non solum scientiam, sed et principium scientiae esse quoddam dicimus, in quantum terminos cognoscimus. | Such, then, is our doctrine, and in addition we maintain that besides scientific knowledge there is its originative source which enables us to recognize the definitions[5]. |
Notes
- ↑ E.g. Ord. I, D2 Q2, Lectura Prologus Pars 1 Qu n.10; Ockham, Prologue Q2 A1, Prologus Q1. See also Scotus, Questions on the Metaphysics IV.1 n.16, and on the Categories, Q4 n.12 (not in Logic Museum).
- ↑ From the online edition at Biblioteca Augustana
- ↑ Aristoteles Latinus, Analytica Posteriora, Translatio Iacobi, 10.
- ↑ translated from Greek by G.R.G. Mure
- ↑ Mure translates ὅρους as 'definitions', saying in his footnote to 72b, that Zabarella takes it to meaning 'definitions'='middle terms', which in demonstratio potissima are elements in the definition of the subjects.
