Questions on the Metaphysics of Aristotle

Question Ten

QUESTION TEN Text of Aristotle: “And these things, the most universal, are on the whole the hardest for men to know; for they are farthest from the senses.” (Metaphysics I, 982a 23-24) Is it more difficult for us to know more universal things? [Arguments Pro and Con] 1 [1] That it is not: According to Bk. I of the Physics1 the method of proceeding from the more knowable things is innate in us. What he had in mind—and it is evident from the text—is that the more universal things are better known to us, whereas singulars are less well known. 2 Also, what are confused and indistinct are better known to us, according to the same source.2 3 And in the same place3 the whole is better known to us than the parts; now the universal is the whole. 4 Also, those things come more quickly to mind whose singulars are perceived more quickly by the senses; but singulars of what is more universal are sensed more quickly by the senses; therefore, those universals are first understood. Proof of the minor from Avicenna4 and Bk. I of the Physics:5 “Infants first call all men fathers,” etc. 5 Likewise, according to Bk. I of the Physics:6 “The same things are not knowable relatively to us and knowable without qualification .” But the less universal things are better known [without qualification] by nature; therefore, they are less well known to us. That the less universal things are better known without 1 Aristotle, Physics I, ch. 1, 184a 16-18. 2 Ibid., ch. 1, 184a 18. 3 Ibid., ch. 1, 184a 24-25. 4 Avicenna, Sufficientia, I, c. 1, fol. 13va-vb. 5 Aristotle, Physics I, ch. 1, 184b 12-14. 6 Aristotle, Physics I, ch. 1, 184b 18. 158 THE METAPHYSICS OF JOHN DUNS SCOTUS qualification by nature, I prove. Whatever is more perfect and more a being is what is better known by nature. The less universal adds to the more universal some perfection. 6 Also, according to Avicenna:7 the most common things are impressed by the first impression; therefore, they are first known, and other things are known in their respective order. 7 Also, if the more universal were not more readily known, then the science about them would be less certain; but this is contrary to one of wisdom’s characteristics.8 8 [To the contrary]: To the contrary is the text of the Philosopher,9 [viz., that more universal things are more difficult to know]. 9 Likewise, composite things are better known to us than simples, as is clear from Bk. I of the Physics.10 The whole, which is composite , is better known to us than its parts. But the less universal is composed of what is more universal; therefore, etc. 10 Also, according to Bk. VI of the Topics:11 we know the thing defined less well than we know the defining terms. But the defining terms are more universal than the defined. 11 Also, the definition is made up of what is prior in an unqualified sense, according to Bk. VI of the Topics.12 But such things are less known to us; therefore, the prior are less known to us. 7 Avicenna, Metaphysica I, ch. 6, fol. 72rb. 8 With respect to Aristotle’s remark: “The most certain of the sciences are those which deal with first principles” (Metaphysics I, ch. 1 982a 25-26,; see Thomas Aquinas, Metaphysica I, lect. 2, ed. Parma XX, 253b:”Ostendit tertium eidem inesse, tali ratione. Quanto aliquae scientiae sunt priores naturaliter, tanto sunt certiores.” 9 Aristotle, Metaphysics I, ch. 2, 982a 23-25: “And these things, the most universal, are on the whole the hardest for men to know; for they are farthest from the senses.” 10 Aristotle, Physics I, ch. 1, 184a 24-184b 15: “Now what is plain and obvious at first is rather confused masses, the elements and principles of which become known to us later by analysis. Thus we must advance from generalities to particulars; for it is a whole that is best known to sense-perception and a generality is a kind of whole, comprehending many things within it. Much the same thing happens in the relation of the name to the formula. A name, e.g. ‘round,’ means vaguely a sort of whole: its definition analyzes this into its particular senses. Similarly a child begins by calling all men ‘father,’ and all women ‘mother,’ but...