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Headword: *)akribh/s
Adler number: alpha,979
Translated headword: accurate, precise
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
[sc. Something] "accurate" seems to indicate also what is necessary. And suppose we wish to establish [the statement] that every assumption of a serious person [is] accurate. For "accurate" seems to be [the assumption] which occurs through necessary [causes],[1] ones in which every assumption of a serious person participates; for assumptions occur to the serious person even concerning contingent matters. By changing the [term] "accurate" into "clear" or into "true," we shall more easily show what is proposed: for every assumption of the serious person is both clear and articulated, and true. Likewise too, concerning someone proposing a proper assumption concerning something, as about pleasure, the one calling the assumption "accurate" does not yet speak intelligibly; but if he should change "accurate" to "clear," he would make what he says intelligible. It is possible to show that the serious person is inquisitive [philopragmon] by changing "inquisitive" into "curious," for to examine and inquire of celestial matters and the things constituted by nature[2] is to be curious; and the serious person [is] like that. [Thus we show that] the assumption of the serious person [is] not clear by changing "clear" to "accurate;" for if the "accurate" [should be] necessary, not every assumption of the serious person would be accurate, and so not clear either.[3]
Greek Original:
*)akribh/s: dokei= a)kribe\s kai\ to\ a)nagkai=on shmai/nein. kai\ ei) kataskeua/sai boulo/meqa, o(/ti pa=sa u(po/lhyis tou= spoudai/ou a)kribh/s. a)kribh\s ga\r dokei= ei)=nai h( di' a)nagkai/wn genome/nh, kai\ w(=n pa=sa spoudai/ou u(po/lhyis e)/xei: gi/nontai ga\r u(polh/yeis tw=| spoudai/w| kai\ peri\ tw=n e)ndexome/nwn. metalamba/nontes to\ a)kribe\s ei)s to\ safe\s h)\ ei)s to\ a)lhqe\s, eu)kolw/teron to\ prokei/menon dei/comen: pa=sa ga\r h( tou= spoudai/ou u(po/lhyis safh/s te kai\ dihrqrwme/nh, kai\ a)lhqh/s. o(moi/ws kai\ pro\s to\n oi)kei/an tina u(po/lhyin peri/ tinos e)ktiqe/menon, oi(=on peri\ h(donh=s, o(poi/an au)tw=| ei)=nai dokei=, o( me\n le/gwn a)kribh= au)tou= th\n u(po/lhyin ei)=nai ou)de/pw gnwri/mws le/gei: ei) de\ to\ a)kribe\s ei)s to\ safe\s metala/boi, gnw/rimon a)\n o(\ le/gei poih/seien. e)/sti de\ to\n me\n spoudai=on filopra/gmona dei=cai, metalabo/nta th\n filopragmosu/nhn ei)s polupragmosu/nhn: to\ ga\r kai\ peri\ tw=n ou)rani/wn te kai\ fu/sei sunestw/twn e)ta/zein te kai\ zhtei=n polupragmonei=n e)sti: toiou=tos de\ o( spoudai=os. th\n de\ tou= spoudai/ou u(po/lhyin ou) safh=, metalamba/nontas to\ safe\s ei)s to\ a)kribe/s: ei) ga\r to\ me\n a)kribe\s a)nagkai=on, ou) pa=sa de\ u(po/lhyis tou= spoudai/ou a)kribh\s ei)/h, w(/ste ou)de\ safh/s.
Notes:
See also alpha 980, and cf. alpha 981, alpha 982.
[1] The author is probably thinking of Aristotle's model of science in Posterior Analytics 71b10ff. [so Boeri]
[2] See Aristotle, Physics 192b13. [so Boeri]
[3] This (re)translation was substantially aided by consultation with Marcelo Boeri. The Greek text is quoted partially and inexactly from Alexander of Aphrodisias' Commentary on Aristotle's Topica 111a8-13 [157.1-17], where the philosopher explains that a change of terms can make an argument more intelligible, whether we support a proposition or oppose it. The Suda's quotation varies in text from the standard modern edition by Wallies (below) and overlooks a serious lacuna in the last sentence. The difference between "inquisitive" (filopra/gmwn) and "curious" (polupra/gmwn) in Greek is not as apparent to the modern reader as the difference between the terms used here in English. Both Greek terms are generally pejorative, but the one I have rendered "curious" is somewhat more common than the one for "inquisitive". For a translation of Aristotle's Topica, see web address 1.
Reference:
Alexandri Aphrodisiensis in Aristotelis Topicorum Libros Octo Commentaria, ed. Maximilian Wallies. Berlin: Georg Reimer, 1891, 156-157
Associated internet address:
Web address 1
Keywords: definition; philosophy; rhetoric
Translated by: Oliver Phillips ✝ on 18 November 2001@20:48:50.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (cosmetics) on 5 June 2002@04:33:59.
David Whitehead (tweaks and cosmetics) on 31 January 2012@06:20:13.
David Whitehead (x-refs) on 31 January 2012@06:21:58.
Catharine Roth (augmented note) on 28 April 2012@22:11:42.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 14 May 2015@23:46:37.

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