Miscellanies 8.6.18
Summary: To define a thing one takes its genus and divides it step by step by its differences until only the thing remains, as man is defined as a mortal, land-dwelling, walking, rational animal.
Greek text · Stählin 2
Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐπίστασθαι ἔστιν ὅταν ἴδωμεν τὴν αἰτίαν, αἰτίαι δὲ τέσσαρες, ἡ ὕλη, τὸ κινοῦν, τὸ εἶδος, τὸ τέλος, τετραχῶς ἔσται ὁ διορισμός. ληπτέον οὖν πρῶτον τὸ γένος, ἐν ᾧ ἐστι τῶν ἐπάνω τὰ ἐγγύτατα, μετὰ τοῦτο τὴν προσεχῆ διαφοράν. ἡ δὲ συνέχεια τῶν διαφορῶν τεμνομένη καὶ ἀποδιαιρουμένη τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι ἐκπληροῖ. οὐκ ἀνάγκη δὲ πάσας λέγειν ἑκάστου τὰς διαφοράς, ἀλλὰ τὰς εἰδοποιούσας. ἡ γεωμετρικὴ ἀνάλυσις καὶ σύνθεσις τῇ διαλεκτικῇ διαιρέσει καὶ ὁρισμῷ ἔοικεν, καὶ ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς διαιρέσεως ἐπὶ τὰ ἁπλούστερα καὶ ἀρχικώτερα ἀνατρέχομεν. τὸ γοῦν γένος τοῦ ζητουμένου πράγματος διαιροῦμεν εἰς τὰ ἐνυπάρχοντα αὐτῷ εἴδη, οἷον ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὸ ζῷον γένος ὂν εἰς τὰ ἐμφαινόμενα εἴδη διαιροῦμεν. τὸ θνητὸν καὶ ἀθάνατον, καὶ οὕτως ἀεὶ τὰ σύνθετα δοκοῦντα εἶναι γένη εἰς τὰ ἁπλούστερα εἴδη τέμνοντες ἐπὶ τὸ [μὴ] ζητούμενον καὶ μηκέτι τομὴν ἐπιδεχόμενον παραγινόμεθα. τὸ γὰρ ζῷον εἰς τὸ θνητὸν καὶ ἀθάνατον διελόντες, εἶτα μέντοι τὸ θνητὸν εἰς τὸ χερσαῖον καὶ ἔνυδρον, καὶ πάλιν τὸ χερσαῖον εἰς τὸ πτηνὸν καὶ πεζόν. καὶ οὕτως τὸ προσεχὲς τῷ ζητουμένῳ εἶδος, ὃ καὶ περιλαμβάνει τὸ ζητούμενον, διαιροῦντες ἀφιξόμεθα τέμνοντες ἐπὶ τὸ ἁπλούστατον εἶδος. ὅπερ ἄλλο μὲν οὐδέν, μόνον δὲ τὸ ζητούμενον περιλαμβάνει. πάλιν γὰρ τὸ πεζὸν εἰς λογικὸν καὶ ἄλογον διαιρούμεθα. κἄπειτα τὰ προσεχῆ τῶν ἐκ τῆς διαιρέσεως λαμβανομένων εἰδῶν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐκλεγόμενοι καὶ ἐπισυνθέντες εἰς ἕνα λόγον τὸν ὅρον τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἀποδίδομεν, ὅς ἐστι ζῷον θνητόν, χερσαῖον, πεζόν. λογικόν.
English · Claude translation
Since we have scientific knowledge when we see the cause, and there are four causes (the matter, the mover, the form, the end), definition will be fourfold. First, then, one must take the genus, in which are the nearest of the higher terms, and after this the proximate differentia. The continuous series of differentiae, cut and divided off, fills out the essence. It is not necessary to state all the differentiae of each thing, but only those that make the species. Geometrical analysis and synthesis resemble dialectical division and definition; and from division we run back to what is simpler and more fundamental. We divide the genus of the thing sought into the species contained in it; for example, in the case of man, we divide “animal,” which is the genus, into the species that appear in it, mortal and immortal; and so, always cutting the genera that seem compound into simpler species, we arrive at what is sought and no longer admits division. For having divided animal into mortal and immortal, and then the mortal into land-dwelling and water-dwelling, and again the land-dwelling into winged and walking, and so dividing the species proximate to what is sought, which also contains what is sought, we shall come by cutting to the simplest species, which contains nothing else but only what is sought. For again we divide the walking into rational and irrational. And then, selecting the species taken from the division that are proximate to man, and putting them together into one account, we give the definition of man, which is: a mortal, land-dwelling, walking, rational animal.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The four causes are Aristotle's (Physics 2.3); the claim that we know scientifically when we know the cause is from Posterior Analytics 1.2. Terms: γένος “genus”, εἶδος “species” (and “form” among the causes), διαφορά “differentia”. Stählin brackets a negative (“not”) before “sought” as spurious.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 8.6.18 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/8/6/18/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 8.6.18 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/8/6/18/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text