Aitiai as middle terms

Journal of Ancient Philosophy 16 (2):126-148 (2022)
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Abstract

Aristotle’s aitiai are middle terms in Aristotelian syllogisms. I argue that stating the aitia of a thing therefore amounts to re-describing this same thing in an alternative and illuminating way. This, in turn, means that a thing and its aitiai really are one and the same thing under different descriptions. The purpose of this paper is to show that this view is implied by Aristotle’s account of explanation, and that it makes more sense than one might expect.

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Boris Hennig
Ryerson University

Citations of this work

Avicenna's Agent Intellect as a Completing Cause.Boris Hennig - 2024 - History of Philosophy Quarterly 41 (1):45-72.

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Causality and Coextensiveness in Aristotle's Posterior Analytics 1.13.Lucas Angioni - 2018 - Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 54:159-185.

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