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THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY of AMERICA Demonstrative Knowledge and Epistemic Continuity in Aristotle's Posterior Analytics a DISSE

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THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY of AMERICA Demonstrative Knowledge and Epistemic Continuity in Aristotle's Posterior Analytics a DISSE THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA Demonstrative Knowledge and Epistemic Continuity In Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Philosophy Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy © Copyright All Rights Reserved By Jeong Hwan Kim Washington, D.C. 2013 Demonstrative Knowledge and Epistemic Continuity In Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics Jeong Hwan Kim, Ph.D. Director: Jean De Groot, Ph.D. This dissertation challenges the axiomatic deductive interpretation of demonstrative knowledge (hê apodeitikê epistêmê) in Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics, which was dominant in the last century. According to the interpretation, the treatise is thought to hold to an ideal structure of scientific knowledge consisting in a system of axiomatic deductive knowledge: this system has a finite set of basic and necessary propositions as axioms or principles and takes syllogism as its formal language. The net effect of this interpretation is to cast Aristotle’s philosophy of science in hypothetico-deductive terms and thus to eclipse Aristotle’s theory of demonstration in the overall interpretation of his philosophical and scientific method. This dissertation offers a deflationary account of the axiomatic interpretation by rediscovering the role of the principles (archê) of demonstrative sciences within the epistemic process of demonstrative investigation. The dissertation provides a unified vision of demonstrative knowledge in the two books of the Posterior Analytics taken together. According to the alternative model offered in the dissertation, the nucleus of demonstrative knowledge consists in the epistemic processes of mediating between knowledge of facts and knowledge of causes. Unlike the deduction from axioms, demonstrative knowledge on this view is not a one- directional procedure from principles to theorems as conclusions. Rather, it consists of both understanding concrete facts from causes and understanding causes from the concrete without vicious circularity. Within Aristotle’s framework for science, the contexts of epistêmê and nous are not sharply separated from each other, a point of contrast to the axiomatic interpretation. For Aristotle, searching for causes and explaining from them are sometimes concurrent, and not always linear, processes. Chapters 1 and 2 treat two principles of demonstrative science, hypothesis and definition. The Chapters loosen the rigid understanding of principles of Aristotelian science as they are interpreted by the axiomatic-deductive model, and then recover the role of principles within the movement of demonstrative reasoning. Chapter 3 explores the dynamism of demonstrative knowledge, which is a continual epistemic process that brings the reasoner closer to the essences of entities in the empirical world, even though some fallibility may remain within the process. Chapter 4 seeks the epistemic ground of demonstrative knowledge itself: in the first and last chapters of the treatise, Aristotle presents that human cognitions from perception to nous are continuously conjoined in their signifying essences, a view that contrasts with Plato’s epistemic discontinuity. This dissertation by Jeong Hwan Kim fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in philosophy approved by Jean De Groot, Ph.D., as Director, and by Timothy Noone, Ph.D., and Richard Hassing, Ph.D., as Readers. ________________________________________ Jean De Groot, Ph.D., Director ________________________________________ Timothy Noone, Ph.D., Reader ________________________________________ Richard Hassing, Ph.D., Reader ii To my parents with deepest gratitude iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ………………………………………………………………………vi INTRODUCTIN…………………………………………………………………………………..1 CHAPTER I. HYPOTHESIS AS A PRINCIPLE: The Problem of Existential Interpretation and A Solution ……………………...13 §1.1. Hypothesis as Existence Statement and the Issue of Being ………………………………16 §1.2. Hypothesis as Postulate and the Problem of Philosophical Approximation ……………...32 §1.3. Hypothesis as Instantiation of Universals ………………………………………………...50 §1.4. Hypothesis as Establishing Facts …………………………………………………………64 CHAPTER II. DEFINITION AS A PRINCIPLE: A Criticism of the Axiomatic Deductive Reading ………………………………85 §2.1. Definition as Ultimate Premise in the Axiomatic Deductive reading …………………….88 §2.2. Knowledge Simpliciter and Conditions of Principles in an Alternative Reading ……….104 §2.3. Definition, Per Se Predication, and the ‘What it is’ Locution …………………………..130 CHAPTER III. DEMONSTRATIVE KNOWLEDGE: The Dynamism of Demonstrative Inquiry …………………………………….172 §4.1. Starting points of Demonstrative Inquiry and the Issue of Nominal Definition ………...174 §4.2. Types of Definition, Stages of Inquiry, and Essences …………………………………..192 §4.3. Imperfect Demonstration and Fallibility of Demonstrative Inquiry …………………….212 iv CHAPTER VI. EPISTEMIC CONTINUITY: The Ground for Demonstrative Knowledge ………………………………….223 §4.1. Pre-existing Knowledge of Demonstration ……………………………………………..227 §4.2. Simultaneous Knowledge and the Problem of Induction ……………………………….237 §4.3. The Meno Paradox and Aristotle’s Response to it ………………………………………257 §4.4. Epistemic Continuity of Human Cognition: Perception, Experience, and Noūs ………..269 CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………………………………..294 BIBLIOGRAHY ………………………………………………………………………………297 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This is the end of a very long journey in my life. Compared to other journeys that I made earlier, it has been tougher and sometimes very painful, testing my perseverance. Nevertheless, I made it through eventually with joy, now acknowledging that my perseverance is not the only source of its success. I express my sincere gratitude to two Deans of the School of Philosophy at CUA, the current Dean, Dr. McCarthy and late Fr. Pritzl, O.P. (1952-2011). Without their generous consideration and encouragement on my study, the journey would have stopped at some point. I am incredibly indebted to Dr. De Groot, my Professor and Director. My first class here at the School of Philosophy was her course on Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics. And I shall not forget the joyful moment when she finally approved my dissertation on the same Posterior Analytics. In between, there were her teachings in the courses, innumerous comments and corrections on my hazy thoughts and awkward writings. I appreciate the readers of my committee, Dr. Noone and Dr. Hassing for their meticulous and critical review on my dissertation. Dr. Park Dong Hwan was a Professor at Yonsei University who initially inspired me on the significance of logic. Dr. Lee Jaekyung is my dear friend who discussed with me philosophical as well as mundane issues for a long period of time on international calls. I thank deeply them. I am so sorry that my grandmother cannot any longer welcome me at the finish line of my journey. The beloved families of my two brothers are strong supporters to me. My wife, Yong Joo, has been the only partner of me throughout the actual journey. The love and support by her are immense. Above all, first, last, and always, it has been the immeasurable love, prayer and support of my parents that have made this entire journey possible. I dedicate wholeheartedly this dissertation to them, faithful elders of the church. vi Introduction Posterior Analytics: Status Quaestionis The subject of the Posterior Analytics (PoAn) is epistêmê, which was rendered in the medieval period as scientia. The historical value of the treatise lies in the fact that it presents the first elaborated theory of scientific knowledge itself in the history of Western philosophy. Moreover, for almost two millenia until the Renaissance era, the treatise maintained the venerable status of not only presenting what scientia is but also guiding how scientific knowledge is to be pursued. During that long period of time, it received numerous commentaries and various interpretations with reference to the emergent sciences and philosophies at any particular times.1 With the advent of the modern era, however, “All that has changed,” as Barnes puts it. He says: 2 The modern prosecutors generously allow the Prior Analytics a little merit for cultivating, with some formality, one small patch of logic; but they do not spare the Posterior Analytics: its first book, they allege, presents in the theory of ‘demonstration’ a barren and pernicious essay in scientific methodology; its second book, on definition, offers a farrago of doctrines about ‘essences’ and ‘real’ definitions which should embarrass even the most liberally disposed reader. Truly, no scientists in the modern era would have looked up the treatise seeking guidance for their scientific undertakings. For modern sciences based on empiricism had already departed 1 Among the numerous commentaries, we note two outstanding ones in the Renaissance period: J. Zabarella, In duos Aristotelis libros Posteriorum Analyticorum Commentaria (Cologne: Lazarus Zetzner, 1597): Galileo, Galilei, Galileo’s Logical Treatises: A Translation, with Notes and Commentary, of His Appropriated Questions on Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics, by W. Wallace. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol. 138 (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1992). For the ancient and medieval commentaries, refer the bibliographies of the followings: M. Tuominen, The Ancient Commentators on Plato and Aristotle (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009); J. Longeway, Demonstration and Scientific Knowledge in William of
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