Note 47 — Chapter VIII · PLATONIC COMPOSITIONS GENERALLY.
Reading edition
Aristot. Metaphys. Γ. 1004, b. 25. ἔστι δὲ ἡ διαλεκτικὴ πειραστικὴ, περὶ ὧν ἡ φιλοσοφία γνωριστική. Compare also Rhet. i. 2, p. 1356, a. 33, i. 4, p. 1359, b. 12, where he treats Dialectic (as well as Rhetoric) not as methods of acquiring instruction on any definite matter, but as inventive and argumentative aptitudes — powers of providing premisses and arguments — δυνάμεις τινὲς τοῦ πορίσαι λόγους. If (he says) you try to convert Dialectic from a method of discussion into a method of cognition, you will insensibly eliminate its true nature and character:—ὅσῳ δ’ ἄν τις ἢ τὴν διαλεκτικὴν ἢ ταύτην, μὴ καθάπερ ἂν δυνάμεις ἀλλ’ ἐπιστήμας πειρᾶται κατασκευάζειν, λήσεται τὴν φύσιν αὐτῶν ἀφανίσας, τῷ μεταβαίνειν ἐπισκευάζων εἰς ἐπιστήμας ὑποκειμένων τινῶν πραγμάτων, ἀλλὰ μὴ μόνον λόγων.
The Platonic Dialogues of Search are δυνάμεις τοῦ πορίσαι λόγους. Compare the Proœmium of Cicero to his Paradoxa.