Aristotle was an important Greek philosopher from the Socratic period and one of the most important founding figures in Western Philosophy. He was the first to create a comprehensive system of philosophy, which included Logic, Ethics, Aesthetics, Politics, Metaphysics, Logic and Science. Aristotle was very concerned with science and the natural world. Some of his major works were the syllogism, the categories, the 4 causes and his work in the field of natural science. The purpose of the essay will explain the purpose of logic, the roles of the categories, the syllogism, and the 4 causes and relate them all to his works in the field of science. Aristotle defined logic as “new and necessary reasoning”, new because it allows us to learn what
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He uses the syllogism as a method to a scientific explanation or to answer why questions (i.e. why something occurs?). The syllogism is a logical inference still used in deductive reasoning. It is clearly valid as the requirements that if the premises of the argument are true, then the conclusion must be true. The most commonly used example of a syllogism today is “Socrates is a man, all men are mortal, socrates is mortal”. This follows the simple argument form is A is to B and B is to C, so A must be to C. The socrates syllogism may answer the question “Why must socrates die?”. The three types of syllogism are dialectical Syllogism (the premises are already broadly understood as is the conclusion), Eristic syllogism (flawed in either information of logic), and Demonstrative syllogism (utilizes true and foundational premises to draw a previously unknown conclusion). Demonstrative syllogism has the most validity in inference and argument …show more content…
Aristotle used the categories to describe all the possible kinds of thing which can be the subject or the predicate of a proposition. The first and most important of the categories is substance, which describes a thing in its true nature. Different types of substance would be particulars such as form, matter, actuality or potentiality or in the the kind, species, or type of thing. The following nine categories are considered the predicate of things. The predicts are qualities, properties and attributes of the substance. Aristotle uses the categories as a logic to describe what exists in the world. Aristotle uses the categories to give specific properties to secondary substances (i.e. man, horse, mammal) and attributing the properties to primary substances (i.e. a man, an oak tree, a
He uses the syllogism as a method to a scientific explanation or to answer why questions (i.e. why something occurs?). The syllogism is a logical inference still used in deductive reasoning. It is clearly valid as the requirements that if the premises of the argument are true, then the conclusion must be true. The most commonly used example of a syllogism today is “Socrates is a man, all men are mortal, socrates is mortal”. This follows the simple argument form is A is to B and B is to C, so A must be to C. The socrates syllogism may answer the question “Why must socrates die?”. The three types of syllogism are dialectical Syllogism (the premises are already broadly understood as is the conclusion), Eristic syllogism (flawed in either information of logic), and Demonstrative syllogism (utilizes true and foundational premises to draw a previously unknown conclusion). Demonstrative syllogism has the most validity in inference and argument …show more content…
Aristotle used the categories to describe all the possible kinds of thing which can be the subject or the predicate of a proposition. The first and most important of the categories is substance, which describes a thing in its true nature. Different types of substance would be particulars such as form, matter, actuality or potentiality or in the the kind, species, or type of thing. The following nine categories are considered the predicate of things. The predicts are qualities, properties and attributes of the substance. Aristotle uses the categories as a logic to describe what exists in the world. Aristotle uses the categories to give specific properties to secondary substances (i.e. man, horse, mammal) and attributing the properties to primary substances (i.e. a man, an oak tree, a