Suda On Line
Search
|
Search results for alpha,979 in Adler number:
Headword:
Ἀκριβής
Adler number: alpha,979
Translated headword: accurate, precise
Vetting Status: high
Translation: [sc. Something] "accurate" seems to indicate also what is necessary. And suppose we wish to establish [the statement] that every assumption of a serious person [is] accurate. For "accurate" seems to be [the assumption] which occurs through necessary [causes],[1] ones in which every assumption of a serious person participates; for assumptions occur to the serious person even concerning contingent matters. By changing the [term] "accurate" into "clear" or into "true," we shall more easily show what is proposed: for every assumption of the serious person is both clear and articulated, and true. Likewise too, concerning someone proposing a proper assumption concerning something, as about pleasure, the one calling the assumption "accurate" does not yet speak intelligibly; but if he should change "accurate" to "clear," he would make what he says intelligible. It is possible to show that the serious person is inquisitive [philopragmon] by changing "inquisitive" into "curious," for to examine and inquire of celestial matters and the things constituted by nature[2] is to be curious; and the serious person [is] like that. [Thus we show that] the assumption of the serious person [is] not clear by changing "clear" to "accurate;" for if the "accurate" [should be] necessary, not every assumption of the serious person would be accurate, and so not clear either.[3]
Greek Original:Ἀκριβής: δοκεῖ ἀκριβὲς καὶ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον σημαίνειν. καὶ εἰ κατασκευάσαι βουλόμεθα, ὅτι πᾶσα ὑπόληψις τοῦ σπουδαίου ἀκριβής. ἀκριβὴς γὰρ δοκεῖ εἶναι ἡ δι' ἀναγκαίων γενομένη, καὶ ὧν πᾶσα σπουδαίου ὑπόληψις ἔχει: γίνονται γὰρ ὑπολήψεις τῷ σπουδαίῳ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἐνδεχομένων. μεταλαμβάνοντες τὸ ἀκριβὲς εἰς τὸ σαφὲς ἢ εἰς τὸ ἀληθὲς, εὐκολώτερον τὸ προκείμενον δείξομεν: πᾶσα γὰρ ἡ τοῦ σπουδαίου ὑπόληψις σαφής τε καὶ διηρθρωμένη, καὶ ἀληθής. ὁμοίως καὶ πρὸς τὸν οἰκείαν τινα ὑπόληψιν περί τινος ἐκτιθέμενον, οἷον περὶ ἡδονῆς, ὁποίαν αὐτῷ εἶναι δοκεῖ, ὁ μὲν λέγων ἀκριβῆ αὐτοῦ τὴν ὑπόληψιν εἶναι οὐδέπω γνωρίμως λέγει: εἰ δὲ τὸ ἀκριβὲς εἰς τὸ σαφὲς μεταλάβοι, γνώριμον ἂν ὃ λέγει ποιήσειεν. ἔστι δὲ τὸν μὲν σπουδαῖον φιλοπράγμονα δεῖξαι, μεταλαβόντα τὴν φιλοπραγμοσύνην εἰς πολυπραγμοσύνην: τὸ γὰρ καὶ περὶ τῶν οὐρανίων τε καὶ φύσει συνεστώτων ἐτάζειν τε καὶ ζητεῖν πολυπραγμονεῖν ἐστι: τοιοῦτος δὲ ὁ σπουδαῖος. τὴν δὲ τοῦ σπουδαίου ὑπόληψιν οὐ σαφῆ, μεταλαμβάνοντας τὸ σαφὲς εἰς τὸ ἀκριβές: εἰ γὰρ τὸ μὲν ἀκριβὲς ἀναγκαῖον, οὐ πᾶσα δὲ ὑπόληψις τοῦ σπουδαίου ἀκριβὴς εἴη, ὥστε οὐδὲ σαφής.
Notes:
See also
alpha 980, and cf.
alpha 981,
alpha 982.
[1] The author is probably thinking of
Aristotle's model of science in
Posterior Analytics 71b10ff. [so Boeri]
[2] See
Aristotle,
Physics 192b13. [so Boeri]
[3] This (re)translation was substantially aided by consultation with Marcelo Boeri. The Greek text is quoted partially and inexactly from Alexander of
Aphrodisias' Commentary on
Aristotle's
Topica 111a8-13 [157.1-17], where the philosopher explains that a change of terms can make an argument more intelligible, whether we support a proposition or oppose it. The Suda's quotation varies in text from the standard modern edition by Wallies (below) and overlooks a serious lacuna in the last sentence. The difference between "inquisitive" (
φιλοπράγμων ) and "curious" (
πολυπράγμων ) in Greek is not as apparent to the modern reader as the difference between the terms used here in English. Both Greek terms are generally pejorative, but the one I have rendered "curious" is somewhat more common than the one for "inquisitive". For a translation of
Aristotle's
Topica, see web address 1.
Reference:
Alexandri Aphrodisiensis in Aristotelis Topicorum Libros Octo Commentaria, ed. Maximilian Wallies. Berlin: Georg Reimer, 1891, 156-157
Associated internet address:
Web address 1
Keywords: definition; philosophy; rhetoric
Translated by: Oliver Phillips on 18 November 2001@20:48:50.
Vetted by:
No. of records found: 1
Page 1
End of search