Further (d), besides all the
reasonings we have mentioned there are the mis-reasonings that start
from the premisses peculiar to the special sciences, as happens (for
example) in the case of geometry and her sister sciences. For this
form of reasoning appears to differ from the reasonings mentioned
above; the man who draws a false figure reasons from things that are
neither true and primary, nor yet generally accepted. For he does
not fall within the definition; he does not assume opinions that are
received either by every one or by the majority or by
philosophers-that is to say, by all, or by most, or by the most
illustrious of them-but he conducts his reasoning upon assumptions
which, though appropriate to the science in question, are not true;
for he effects his mis-reasoning either by describing the
semicircles wrongly or by drawing certain lines in a way in which they
could not be drawn.
The foregoing must stand for an outline survey of the species of
reasoning. In general, in regard both to all that we have already
discussed and to those which we shall discuss later, we may remark
that that amount of distinction between them may serve, because it
is not our purpose to give the exact definition of any of them; we
merely want to describe them in outline; we consider it quite enough
from the point of view of the line of inquiry before us to be able
to recognize each of them in some sort of way.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25