Look
at them species by species, and not in their infinite multitude: for
then the inquiry will proceed more directly and in fewer steps. You
should look and begin with the most primary groups, and then proceed
in order down to those that are not further divisible: e.g. if a man
has said that the knowledge of opposites is the same, you should
look and see whether it be so of relative opposites and of
contraries and of terms signifying the privation or presence of
certain states, and of contradictory terms. Then, if no clear result
be reached so far in these cases, you should again divide these
until you come to those that are not further divisible, and see (e.g.)
whether it be so of just deeds and unjust, or of the double and the
half, or of blindness and sight, or of being and not-being: for if
in any case it be shown that the knowledge of them is not the same
we shall have demolished the problem. Likewise, also, if the predicate
belongs in no case. This rule is convertible for both destructive
and constructive purposes: for if, when we have suggested a
division, the predicate appears to hold in all or in a large number of
cases, we may then claim that the other should actually assert it
universally, or else bring a negative instance to show in what case it
is not so: for if he does neither of these things, a refusal to assert
it will make him look absurd.
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