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Aristotle: Posterior Analytics. Topica. (Loeb Classical Library No. 391) (v. 2)

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A great translation of one of the most important works in the history of philosophy. All titles in the Loeb Classical Library are highly recomended for their accuracy and for their technical quality. Definitely a must have.

Some people think that all knowledge is demonstrative. Other people, like Aristotle, think that "not all knowledge is demonstrative" (72 b 18). Thus, the question is whether the old knowledge that is "true, primary, immediate, better known than and prior to the conclusion" (71 b 21) is the product of a demonstration?

Aritotle writes, "Our own doctrine is that not all knowledge is demonstrative" (72 b 19). Plus, a person who says that all knowledge is demontrated "are faced with a difficulty" (72 b 33) that is "clearly frivolous" (73 a 17). Assenting to the universal, affirmative proposition that 'All knowledge is processed' is silly and frivolous, because of two reasons. First, every demonstration needs crude knowledge and no processed knowledge is crude knowledge. Therefore, no demonstration needs processed knowledge. Aristotle writes, "The necessity of this is obvious; for since we must know the prior premisses from which the demonstration is drawn, and since the regress must end in immediate truths, those truths must be indemonstrable" (72 b 20).

Second, accepting that all knowledge is processed is silly, since Aristotle writes, "Their theory reduces to the mere statement that if a thing exists, then it does exist" (72 b 33). The sad fact is, the person who agrees that 'all knowledge is processed' is the same person who must agree that 'a thing is because it is.' In summary, it is false to say that all knowledge is demonstrative and true to say that some knowledge is not demonstrative, such as "true, primary" knowledge.