Aristotle’s philosophy of logic

18/03/2025 5 min Episodio 65
Aristotle’s philosophy of logic

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Episode Synopsis

When Aristotle was born in 384 BC, logic was in its infancy and indistinguishable from rhetoric; the ancient Greeks viewed rhetoric as useful because it could help them secure a business deal or win a case in court. The purpose of rhetoric was to win; logic (even twisted logic) was just part of its arsenal. John Vespasian explains that Aristotle came up with a fresh approach to logic. His books “Categories,” “Prior Analytics” and “Posterior Analytics” give us his insights in this regard. “Categories” was written around 350 BC. Aristotle was just thirty-four years old at that time. The book enumerates crucial categories for analysing reality. The Aristotelian categories refer to substances, qualities and quantities, and to the relations between objects. They don’t add much to terms used by prior philosophers such as Plato (428-347 BC), Anaxagoras (500-428 BC) or Democritus (460-370 BC), but for the first time, they provide a systematic overview. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/aristotles-philosophy-of-logic/