第 3 节
作者:冬儿      更新:2022-04-27 10:15      字数:9322
  proofs from signs are based on consequences。 For when rhetoricians
  wish to show that a man is an adulterer; they take hold of some
  consequence of an adulterous life; viz。 that the man is smartly
  dressed; or that he is observed to wander about at night。 There are;
  however; many people of whom these things are true; while the charge
  in question is untrue。 It happens like this also in real reasoning;
  e。g。 Melissus' argument; that the universe is eternal; assumes that
  the universe has not come to be (for from what is not nothing could
  possibly come to be) and that what has come to be has done so from a
  first beginning。 If; therefore; the universe has not come to be; it
  has no first beginning; and is therefore eternal。 But this does not
  necessarily follow: for even if what has come to be always has a first
  beginning; it does not also follow that what has a first beginning has
  come to be; any more than it follows that if a man in a fever be
  hot; a man who is hot must be in a fever。
  The refutation which depends upon treating as cause what is not a
  cause; occurs whenever what is not a cause is inserted in the
  argument; as though the refutation depended upon it。 This kind of
  thing happens in arguments that reason ad impossible: for in these
  we are bound to demolish one of the premisses。 If; then; the false
  cause be reckoned in among the questions that are necessary to
  establish the resulting impossibility; it will often be thought that
  the refutation depends upon it; e。g。 in the proof that the 'soul'
  and 'life' are not the same: for if coming…to…be be contrary to
  perishing; then a particular form of perishing will have a
  particular form of coming…to…be as its contrary: now death is a
  particular form of perishing and is contrary to life: life; therefore;
  is a coming to…be; and to live is to come…to…be。 But this is
  impossible: accordingly; the 'soul' and 'life' are not the same。 Now
  this is not proved: for the impossibility results all the same; even
  if one does not say that life is the same as the soul; but merely says
  that life is contrary to death; which is a form of perishing; and that
  perishing has 'coming…to…be' as its contrary。 Arguments of that
  kind; then; though not inconclusive absolutely; are inconclusive in
  relation to the proposed conclusion。 Also even the questioners
  themselves often fail quite as much to see a point of that kind。
  Such; then; are the arguments that depend upon the consequent and
  upon false cause。 Those that depend upon the making of two questions
  into one occur whenever the plurality is undetected and a single
  answer is returned as if to a single question。 Now; in some cases;
  it is easy to see that there is more than one; and that an answer is
  not to be given; e。g。 'Does the earth consist of sea; or the sky?' But
  in some cases it is less easy; and then people treat the question as
  one; and either confess their defeat by failing to answer the
  question; or are exposed to an apparent refutation。 Thus 'Is A and
  is B a man?' 'Yes。' 'Then if any one hits A and B; he will strike a
  man' (singular);'not men' (plural)。 Or again; where part is good and
  part bad; 'is the whole good or bad?' For whichever he says; it is
  possible that he might be thought to expose himself to an apparent
  refutation or to make an apparently false statement: for to say that
  something is good which is not good; or not good which is good; is
  to make a false statement。 Sometimes; however; additional premisses
  may actually give rise to a genuine refutation; e。g。 suppose a man
  were to grant that the descriptions 'white' and 'naked' and 'blind'
  apply to one thing and to a number of things in a like sense。 For if
  'blind' describes a thing that cannot see though nature designed it to
  see; it will also describe things that cannot see though nature
  designed them to do so。 Whenever; then; one thing can see while
  another cannot; they will either both be able to see or else both be
  blind; which is impossible。
  6
  The right way; then; is either to divide apparent proofs and
  refutations as above; or else to refer them all to ignorance of what
  'refutation' is; and make that our starting…point: for it is
  possible to analyse all the aforesaid modes of fallacy into breaches
  of the definition of a refutation。 In the first place; we may see if
  they are inconclusive: for the conclusion ought to result from the
  premisses laid down; so as to compel us necessarily to state it and
  not merely to seem to compel us。 Next we should also take the
  definition bit by bit; and try the fallacy thereby。 For of the
  fallacies that consist in language; some depend upon a double meaning;
  e。g。 ambiguity of words and of phrases; and the fallacy of like verbal
  forms (for we habitually speak of everything as though it were a
  particular substance)…while fallacies of combination and division
  and accent arise because the phrase in question or the term as altered
  is not the same as was intended。 Even this; however; should be the
  same; just as the thing signified should be as well; if a refutation
  or proof is to be effected; e。g。 if the point concerns a doublet; then
  you should draw the conclusion of a 'doublet'; not of a 'cloak'。 For
  the former conclusion also would be true; but it has not been
  proved; we need a further question to show that 'doublet' means the
  same thing; in order to satisfy any one who asks why you think your
  point proved。
  Fallacies that depend on Accident are clear cases of ignoratio
  elenchi when once 'proof' has been defined。 For the same definition
  ought to hold good of 'refutation' too; except that a mention of
  'the contradictory' is here added: for a refutation is a proof of
  the contradictory。 If; then; there is no proof as regards an
  accident of anything; there is no refutation。 For supposing; when A
  and B are; C must necessarily be; and C is white; there is no
  necessity for it to be white on account of the syllogism。 So; if the
  triangle has its angles equal to two right…angles; and it happens to
  be a figure; or the simplest element or starting point; it is not
  because it is a figure or a starting point or simplest element that it
  has this character。 For the demonstration proves the point about it
  not qua figure or qua simplest element; but qua triangle。 Likewise
  also in other cases。 If; then; refutation is a proof; an argument
  which argued per accidens could not be a refutation。 It is; however;
  just in this that the experts and men of science generally suffer
  refutation at the hand of the unscientific: for the latter meet the
  scientists with reasonings constituted per accidens; and the
  scientists for lack of the power to draw distinctions either say 'Yes'
  to their questions; or else people suppose them to have said 'Yes';
  although they have not。
  Those that depend upon whether something is said in a certain
  respect only or said absolutely; are clear cases of ignoratio
  elenchi because the affirmation and the denial are not concerned
  with the same point。 For of 'white in a certain respect' the
  negation is 'not white in a certain respect'; while of 'white
  absolutely' it is 'not white; absolutely'。 If; then; a man treats
  the admission that a thing is 'white in a certain respect' as though
  it were said to be white absolutely; he does not effect a
  refutation; but merely appears to do so owing to ignorance of what
  refutation is。
  The clearest cases of all; however; are those that were previously
  described' as depending upon the definition of a 'refutation': and
  this is also why they were called by that name。 For the appearance
  of a refutation is produced because of the omission in the definition;
  and if we divide fallacies in the above manner; we ought to set
  'Defective definition' as a common mark upon them all。
  Those that depend upon the assumption of the original point and upon
  stating as the cause what is not the cause; are clearly shown to be
  cases of ignoratio elenchi through the definition thereof。 For the
  conclusion ought to come about 'because these things are so'; and this
  does not happen where the premisses are not causes of it: and again it
  should come about without taking into account the original point;
  and this is not the case with those arguments which depend upon
  begging the original point。
  Those that depend upon the assumption of the original point and upon
  stating as the cause what is not the cause; are clearly shown to be
  cases of ignoratio elenchi through the definition thereof。 For the
  conclusion ought to come about 'because these things are so'; and this
  does not happen where the premisses are not causes of it: and again it
  should come about without t