History of Philosophy Commons^™

Division And Explanation In Aristotle's Parts Of Animals, Allan Gotthelf

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The nature and proper methods of logical division, διαίρεσις, are important concerns in at least four of Plato’s later dialogues, and reflections on the process may even have led Plato to a revised conception of the very nature of a Form. The place of division in Aristotle’s Topics - both in the organization of some of its materials and as the method for seeking definitions which many of the topoi are designed to regulate - suggests the importance διαίρεσις must have had in the Academy, as does the Epicrates fragment and Aristotle’s criticism of alternative views of the nature or …