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42
ChapterII
causativeprinciplealso(i.e.,thebeautiful)asbeinginsomesense
acause.11
Aristotledidnotwriteanyspecifcbookonmathematicsand,asit
seems,hewasnotwellacquaintedandfluentinmathematicalmethods
andprocedures.12Whatismoreimportanthere,whenintroducingthe
divisionofthesciences,withregardtotheirpropersubjectinthePosterior
AnalyticsAristotleunambiguouslyandauthoritativelystatedthatinthe
courseofdemonstrationitisforbiddentouseargumentsderivedfrom
thescopeofonesciencetoproveconclusionsinanother.Hesays:
Itfollowsthatwecannotindemonstratingpassfromonegenus
toanother.Wecannot,forinstance,provegeometricaltruthsby
arithmetic.(ł)Arithmeticaldemonstrationandtheothersciences
likewisepossess,eachofthem,theirowngenera;sothatifthe
demonstrationistopassfromonespheretoanother,thegenus
mustbeeitherabsolutelyortosomeextentthesame.Ifthisis
notso,transferenceisclearlyimpossible,becausetheextremeand
themiddletermsmustbedrawnfromthesamegenus(…).Nor
canthetheoremofanyonesciencebedemonstratedbymeansof
anotherscience.13
11Ibidem,1078a32-b5,Bk.M(XIII),pp.893-894.
12DiogenesLaertiusmentioned,amongAristotle’sworks,infact,theshorttrea-
tiseOnmathematics,butthisisnowlost(see:DiogenesLaertius,uLivesofthe
Philosophers”,V,asquotedin:J.Barnes,Lifeandworks,[in:]uTheCambridge
CompaniontoAristotle”,J.Barnes(ed.),Cambridge1995,p.8.Withregardto
twoothershorttreatises,MechanicsandOnIndivisibleLines,thatincludeadvanced
mathematicalargumentationsitisestablishedbeyondanydoubtthatthesewere
notwrittenbyAristotle(seeibidem,pp.xxiii-xxiv).
13Aristotle,PosteriorAnalytics,75a37-b15,Bk.I,G.R.G.Mure(transl.),[in:]uThe
BasicWorksł”,pp.121-122.SinceinAristotle’sdayoptics,harmonicsand
mechanicswerewelldevelopedsciences,onesalreadyemployingmathematical
argumentsandproofs,hemadeareservationthattheseareafewumiddle”or
usubalternated”sciencesthatdonotobeytheaboveprohibition(seeibidem,
76a9-10,Bk.I,p.123:uTheonlyexceptionstothisrulearesuchcasesasthe-
oremsinharmonicswhicharedemonstrablebyarithmetic.”;Ibidem,76a23-25,
pp.123-124:uBut,asthingsare,demonstrationisnottransferabletoanother
genus,withsuchexceptionsas(ł)theapplicationofgeometricaldemonstra-
tiontotheoremsinmechanicsoroptics,orofarithmeticaldemonstrationsto
thoseofharmonics.”