Note 66 — Chapter VIII · ANALYTICA POSTERIORA II.

Analyt. Post. II. xix. p. 100, a. 3-10: ἐκ μὲν οὖν αἰσθήσεως γίνεται μνήμη, ὥσπερ λέγομεν, ἐκ δὲ μνήμης πολλάκις τοῦ αὐτοῦ γινομένης ἐμπειρία· αἱ γὰρ πολλαὶ μνῆμαι τῷ ἀριθμῷ ἐμπειρία μία ἐστίν. ἐκ δ’ ἐμπειρίας, ἢ ἐκ παντὸς ἠρεμήσαντος τοῦ καθόλου ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ, τοῦ ἑνὸς παρὰ τὰ πολλά, ὃ ἂν ἐν ἅπασιν ἓν ἐνῇ ἐκείνοις τὸ αὐτό, τέχνης ἀρχὴ καὶ ἐπιστήμης· ἐὰν μὲν περὶ γένεσιν, τέχνης, ἐὰν δὲ περὶ τὸ ὄν, ἐπιστήμης.

A theory very analogous to this (respecting the gradual generation of scientific universal notions in the mind out of the particulars of sense) is stated in the Phædon of Plato, ch. xlv. p. 96, B., where Sokrates reckons up the unsuccessful tentatives which he had made in philosophy: καὶ πότερον τὸ αἷμά ἐστιν ᾧ φρονοῦμεν, ἢ ὁ ἀὴρ, ἢ τὸ πῦρ, ἢ τούτων μὲν οὐδέν, ὁ δὲ ἐγκέφαλός ἐστιν ὁ τὰς αἰσθήσεις παρέχων τοῦ ἀκούειν καὶ ὁπᾶν καὶ ὀσφραίνεσθαι, ἐκ τούτων δὲ γίγνοιτο μνήμη καὶ δόξα, ἐκ δὲ μνήμης καὶ δόξης, λαβούσης τὸ ἠρεμεῖν, κατὰ ταῦτα γίγνεσθαι ἐπιστήμην.

Boethius says, Comm. in Ciceronis Topica, p. 805:— “Plato ideas quasdam esse ponebat, id est, species incorporeas, substantiasque constantes et per se ab aliis naturæ ratione separatas, ut hoc ipsum homo, quibus participantes cæteræ res homines vel animalia fierent. At vero Aristoteles nullas putat extra esse substantias; sed intellectam similitudinem plurimorum inter se differentium substantialem, genus putat esse vel speciem. Nam cum homo et equus differunt rationabilitate et irrationabilitate, horum intellecta similitudo efficit genus. Ergo communitas quædam et plurimorum inter se differentium similitudo notio est; cujus notionis aliud genus est, aliud forma. Sed quoniam similium intelligentia est omnis notio, in rebus vero similibus necessaria est differentiarum discretio, idcirco indiget notio quadam enodatione ac divisione; velut ipse intellectus animalis sibi ipsi non sufficit,” &c.

The phrase intellecta similitudo plurimorum embodies both Induction and Intellection in one. A like doctrine appears in the obscure passages of Aristotle, De Animâ, III. viii. p. 429, b. 10; also p. 432, a. 3: ὁ νοῦς, εἶδος εἰδῶν, καὶ ἡ αἴσθησις, εἶδος αἰσθητῶν. ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐδὲ πρᾶγμα οὐθέν ἐστι παρὰ τὰ μεγέθη, ὡς δοκεῖ, τὰ αἰσθητὰ κεχωρισμένον, ἐν τοῖς εἴδεσι τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς τὰ νοητά ἐστιν.