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1、TOPICSbyAristotletranslatedbyW.A.Pickard-CambridgeBookI1OURtreatiseproposestofindalineofinquirywherebyweshallbeabletoreasonfromopinionsthataregenerallyacceptedabouteveryproblempropoundedtous,andalsoshallourselves,whenstandinguptoanargument,avoidsayinganythingthatwillobstructus.First,then,wemustsay
2、whatreasoningis,andwhatitsvarietiesare,inordertograspdialecticalreasoning:forthisistheobjectofoursearchinthetreatisebeforeus.Nowreasoningisanargumentinwhich,certainthingsbeinglaiddown,somethingotherthanthesenecessarilycomesaboutthroughthem.(a)Itisa'demonstration',whenthepremissesfromwhichthereason
3、ingstartsaretrueandprimary,oraresuchthatourknowledgeofthemhasoriginallycomethroughpremisseswhichareprimaryandtrue:(b)reasoning,ontheotherhand,is'dialectical',ifitreasonsfromopinionsthataregenerallyaccepted.Thingsare'true'and'primary'whicharebelievedonthestrengthnotofanythingelsebutofthemselves:for
4、inregardtothefirstprinciplesofscienceitisimpropertoaskanyfurtherforthewhyandwhereforeofthem;eachofthefirstprinciplesshouldcommandbeliefinandbyitself.Ontheotherhand,thoseopinionsare'generallyaccepted'whichareacceptedbyeveryoneorbythemajorityorbythephilosophers-i.e.byall,orbythemajority,orbythemostn
5、otableandillustriousofthem.Again(c),reasoningis'contentious'ifitstartsfromopinionsthatseemtobegenerallyaccepted,butarenotreallysuch,oragainifitmerelyseemstoreasonfromopinionsthatareorseemtobegenerallyaccepted.Fornoteveryopinionthatseemstobegenerallyacceptedactuallyisgenerallyaccepted.Forinnoneofth
6、eopinionswhichwecallgenerallyacceptedistheillusionentirelyonthesurface,ashappensinthecaseoftheprinciplesofcontentiousarguments;forthenatureofthefallacyintheseisobviousimmediately,andasaruleeventopersonswithlittlepowerofcomprehension.Sothen,ofthecontentiousreasoningsmentioned,theformerreallydeserve
7、stobecalled'reasoning'aswell,buttheothershouldbecalled'contentiousreasoning',butnot'reasoning',sinceitappearstoreason,butdoesnotreallydoso.Further(d),besidesallthereasoningswehavementionedtherearethemis-reasoning
