Aristotelian Explanations. Halonen, I. & Hintikka, J. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A, 31(1):125–136, 2000.
abstract   bibtex   
In this paper it will be shown that Aristotle's ideas can be illuminated on the one hand by systematic logical considertations and on the other hand by the insight that Aristotle's logic was in certain crucial aspects quite unlike that hopeless cunundrum referred to by twentieth-century philosophers as 'Aristotlian logic'. Aristotle did not consider the Frege-Russell distinction between the ''is''es of identity, existence and predication as an ambiguity. On each occasion, any of these component senses of 'einai' might or might not be present. The existential sense (existential force) was in a Barbara-type syllogism conveyed from the major term to the minor term by the middle term. For this reason the middle term was the proximate cause of the minor one: it is what lent the minor one its existence. Likewise Aristotle had to assume existential force only for the widest (generic) term of each science.
@article{halonen_aristotelian_2000,
	title = {Aristotelian {Explanations}},
	volume = {31},
	shorttitle = {Aristotelian {Explanations}},
	abstract = {In this paper it will be shown that Aristotle's ideas can be illuminated on the one hand by systematic logical considertations and on the other hand by the insight that Aristotle's logic was in certain crucial aspects quite unlike that hopeless cunundrum referred to by twentieth-century philosophers as 'Aristotlian logic'. 
Aristotle did not consider the Frege-Russell distinction between the ''is''es of identity, existence and predication as an ambiguity. On each occasion, any of these component senses of 'einai' might or might not be present. The existential sense (existential force) was in a Barbara-type syllogism conveyed from the major term to the minor term by the middle term. For this reason the middle term was the proximate cause of the minor one: it is what lent the minor one its existence. Likewise Aristotle had to assume existential force only for the widest (generic) term of each science.},
	number = {1},
	journal = {Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A},
	author = {Halonen, Ilpo and Hintikka, Jaakko},
	year = {2000},
	keywords = {ARISTOTLE, DEFINITION, EXPLANATION, FREGE, HEMPEL, LOGIC, PREDICATION, REALISM, RUSSEL, SYLLOGISM},
	pages = {125--136}
}

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