From Puzzles to Principles? Essays on Aristotle's Dialectic

by Sim, May; Bäck, Allan; Bolton, Robert; G. Evans, J D.; Ferejohn, Michael; Garver, Eugene; Goodman, Lenn E.; Halper, Edward; Husain, Martha; Matthews, Gareth; Smith, Robin

• ISBN13: 9780739100288
• ISBN10: 0739100289
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-10-13
• Publisher: Lexington Books

Summary

Scholars of classical philosophy have long disputed whether Aristotle was a dialectical thinker. Most agree that Aristotle contrasts dialectical reasoning with demonstrative reasoning, where the former reasons from generally accepted opinions and the latter reasons from the true and primary. Starting with a grasp on truth, demonstration never relinquishes it. Starting with opinion, how could dialectical reasoning ever reach truth, much less the truth about first principles? Is dialectic then an exercise that reiterates the prejudices of one's times and at best allows one to persuade others by appealing to these prejudices, or is it the royal road to first principles and philosophical wisdom?

In From Puzzles to Principles? May Sim gathers experts to argue both these positions and offer a variety of interpretive possibilities. The contributors' thoughtful reflections on the nature and limits of dialectic should play a crucial role in Aristotelian scholarship.

Author Biography

May Sim is professor of philosophy at Oklahoma State University.

Table of Contents

Introduction	ix
May Sim
Chapter One For Dialectic Puts Questions about Matters which Philosophy Knows	1	(14)
Martha Husain, Brock University
Chapter Two The Diodorean Modalities and the Master Argument	15	(24)
Lenn E. Goodman, Vanderbilt University
Chapter Three Dialectic and Method in Aristotle	39	(18)
Robin Smith, Texas A&M University
Chapter Four The Epistemological Basis of Aristotelian Dialectic	57	(50)
Robert Bolton, Rutgers University
Chapter Five Choosing the Good in Aristotle's Topics	107	(18)
Eugene Garver, St. John's University
Chapter Six The Normalization of Perplexity in Aristotle	125	(12)
Gareth B. Matthews, University of Massachusetts
Chapter Seven Dialectic, Contradiction, and Paraconsistency in Aristotle	137	(14)
J. D. G. Evans, The Queen's University of Belfast
Chapter Eight Perception and Dialectic in Aristotle's De Anima	151	(12)
Michael Ferejohn, Duke University
Chapter Nine Aristotle's Discovery of First Principles	163	(20)
Allan Back, Kutztown University
Chapter Ten Dialectical Communities: From the One to the Many and Back	183	(32)
May Sim, Oklahoma State University
Chapter Eleven Poetry, History, and Dialectic	215	(14)
Edward Halper, University of Georgia
Selected Bibliography	229	(8)
Index	237	(12)
About the Contributors	249