Miscellanies 8.4.14
Summary: Demonstration confirms one thing from others that the learner already knows, starting from what is evident to sense and thought; the second kind of problem asks what a thing is when its effects are known, such as where the soul's ruling part resides.
Greek text · Stählin 2
Κοινὴ δʼ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τοῖς εὑρίσκεσθαι λεγομένοις τέτακται ἡ ἀπόδειξις, ἥτις ἐστὶ λόγος ἐξ ἑτέρων ἕτερόν τι πιστούμενος. ἐξ ὧν δὲ χρὴ πιστοῦσθαι τὸ ζητούμενον, ὁμολογεῖσθαί τε καὶ γινώσκεσθαι δεῖ τῷ μανθάνοντι. ἀρχὴ δὲ τούτων ἁπάντων ἐστὶ τὸ πρὸς αἴσθησίν τε καὶ νόησιν ἐναργές. ἡ μὲν οὖν πρώτη ἀπόδειξις ἐκ τούτων [ἁπάντων] σύγκειται, ἡ δʼ ἐκ τῶν ἤδη φθασάντων ἀποδεδεῖχθαι διὰ τῆσδε πάλιν ἕτερόν τι περαίνουσα πιστὴ μὲν οὐδὲν ἧττόν ἐστι τῆς προτέρας, οὐ μὴν καὶ πρώτη ὀνομάζεσθαι δύναται, διότι μηδʼ ἐκ πρώτων περαίνεται προτάσεων. τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον εἶδος τῆς τῶν ζητουμένων διαφορᾶς τριῶν ὄντων ἐδείχθη, λέγω δὲ τὸ (τῆς οὐσίας γινωσκομένης) ἀγνοεῖσθαί τι τῶν ἔργων ἢ παθῶν αὐτῆς, δευτέρα δʼ ἦν διαφορὰ προβλημάτων ἐφʼ οὗ τὰ μὲν ἔργα καὶ πάθη γινώσκομεν ἅπαντες, ἀγνοοῦμεν δὲ τὴν οὐσίαν, οἷον ἐν τίνι τοῦ σώματος μορίῳ τὸ ἡγεμονικόν ἐστι τῆς ψυχῆς.
English · Claude translation
Demonstration is appointed as common to all things said to be found: it is an account that confirms one thing from others. The things from which what is sought is to be confirmed must be agreed upon and known by the learner; and the starting point of all these is what is evident to sense and thought. The first demonstration, then, is composed of these; while one that, from things already demonstrated, concludes something further by means of the first is no less credible than the former, but cannot be called first, because it is not concluded from first propositions. Of the three kinds of difference among the things sought, then, the first has been shown: I mean that, while the substance is known, some of its works or affections are unknown. The second kind of problem was that in which we all know the works and affections but are ignorant of the substance, for example, in what part of the body the ruling faculty of the soul is.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- “The ruling faculty” renders τὸ ἡγεμονικόν, the Stoic term for the governing part of the soul, whose location in the body (heart or head) was disputed.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong breathing on ὧν): ἐξ ὦν δὲ → ἐξ ὧν δὲ.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 8.4.14 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/8/4/14/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 8.4.14 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/8/4/14/).
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