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Theophrastus · Fragments §59.1

Wholly Hypothetical Syllogisms and Their Three Figures

Passage 54 of 196 · Greek

Summary

The text introduces Theophrastus' view that wholly hypothetical syllogisms are reduced to three figures, and explains the definitions of the second and the third figures.

§59.1Fr. 59 Ἀνάγονται μέντοι καὶ οἱ διʼ ὅλων ὑποθετικοὶ εἰς τὰ τρία τὰ προειρημένα σχήματα ἄλλῳ τρόπῳ, ὡς καὶ Θ. δέδειχεν ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν Προτέρων Ἀναλυτικῶν. . .
However, wholly hypothetical syllogisms are also reduced to the three aforementioned figures in another way, as Theophrastus too has shown in the first book of the Prior Analytics...
Θ. μέντοι ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν Ἀναλυτικῶν δεύτερον σχῆμα λέγει ἐν τοῖς διʼ ὅλων εἶναι ὑποθετικοῖς, ἐν ᾧ ἀρχόμεναι ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ αἱ προτάσεις λήγουσιν, εἰς ἕτερα, τρίτον δὲ ἐν ᾧ ἀπὸ διαφόρων ἀρχόα μεναι λήγουσιν εἰς ταὐτόν.
Theophrastus, however, in the first book of the Analytics, says that there is a second figure among wholly hypothetical syllogisms, in which the premises, starting from the same thing, end in different things, and a third in which, starting from different things, they end in the same thing.

Notes

  1. Fr. 59οἱ διʼ ὅλων ὑποθετικοὶ — The adjective ὑποθετικός is used in the masculine plural without the noun συλλογισμός (syllogism). The phrase διʼ ὅλων means 'wholly' or 'throughout', referring to a syllogism constructed entirely of hypothetical propositions.
  2. Fr. 59ἀρχόα μεναι — A typographical error or scribal corruption for ἀρχόμεναι (present middle-passive participle, feminine plural nominative), matching the subsequent occurrence. It modifies the subject αἱ προτάσεις (the premises).
  3. Fr. 59δεύτερον σχῆμα λέγει ... εἶναι — An accusative and infinitive construction in indirect speech. The infinitive clause with δεύτερον σχῆμα as the subject accusative and εἶναι as the infinitive functions as the object of the main verb λέγει.

Cite this passage

Theophrastus, Fragments §59.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0093.tlg010x09.humanitext-grc1:59.1

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