J. A. Weisheipl Commentary on the Posterior Analytics of Aristotle.pdf
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Commentary on the Posterior Analytics ofAristotle Weisheipl 2
INTRODUCTION
I Importance ofMethodology
Since the time ofFrancis Bacon ( 1561-1626) and Rene Descartes ( 1596-1650)
considerable attention has been given to methodology by both philosophers and physical
scientists (since the 17th Century these have been distinct groups). All at least agree thatmethodology is concerned with the correct procedure o discovering truth, but not all agree as to
what this method should be. Forsome the correct method is methodical doubt and justification
by clear and distinct ideas (eg. R Descartes); for others it is the experimental method (e.g.,
Robert Boyle, Robert Hooker); for others it is the exhaustive classification of individual
observations (e.g., Francis Bacon, John Stuart Mill); for still others it is the mathematical method
of the physical sciences (e.g., Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton and most modem physicists).
Everyone wants to discover truth. Man has a natural desire to know the truth, not just the
facts, but the reasons for their reality. All philosophical investigation begins in curiosity about
the unknown. When we see certain nanifest effects, the causes ofwhich are hidden from us, we
are provoked to wonder; and for this reason wonder was responsible for the beginning of
philosophy. (St.Thomas, In I Metaph., lect.3, n.55; cf. Theaetetus 155 D, Clement Alex. strom.VIII, chap. 11, n.60).
Illi, qui primo philosophati sunt, et qui nunc philosophantur, incipient
philosophari propter admirationem alicuius causae; aliter tamen a
principio et modo, quia a principii admirabantur dubitabilia pauciora,
quae magis erant in promptu, ut eorum causae cognoscerentur, sed postea
ex cognitionem manifestorum ad inquisitionem occultorum paulatim
procedentes incoeperunt dubitare de maioribus et occultioribus. ibid.,
n.54; cf. St. Albert, I De Praedicab. tr. I cap. I (Borgnet I, 2a-b ); In
Post. Anal.tr.I I, cap. I, I Ip. 22a-b; J A.Weisheipl,0.P. Philosophical
Wellsprings, Reality l (1950), 8-23)
The truth, therefore, which man desires to know is not merely factual truth, i.e., not just acollection of true data, but the explanations ofreality. To know the explanation of a thing is to
know its causes; this is scientific knowledge.
The scientific method is the correct procedure to be used by human beings in the
discovery and knowledge of scientific truth. Clearly such a method is highly desirable as an
instrument ofphilosophy; and the study of such a method, methodology is important for the
acquisition of science and wisdom.
II The Difficulty ofMethodology
The basic assumption found in modem methodological literature is the conviction that a
method that has proved successful in one field of investigation is necessarily applicable to every
other field. The mathematical method that has proved successful in mathematical physics isthought to be applicable and proper to the social sciences (moral philosophy); the historical
method that is successful for the determination of historical facts is thought to be the method
proper to philosophy and theology. This basic assumption cannot be admitted.
1 There is a method proper to each field of investigation, for the proper method of a
science depends upon its formal subject and its proper principles.
2 There is a universal method of the speculative sciences in the sense that:
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