Abstract

This book aims to recapture Aristotle's vision of the nature of science and scientific knowledge. According to McKirahan, Aristotle's demonstrative science consists primarily of principles and proofs. In five chapters he systematically treats the principles: axioms, definitions, and existence claims. To settle some issues left obscure by Aristotle, McKirahan turns to Euclid's geometrical practice in the Elements, for he argues that Euclid is strongly influenced by the Posterior Analytics' model of demonstration. McKirahan examines aspects of Aristotelian proofs with a chapter on each of three distinct types of demonstration he finds in APo: universal subject-attribute demonstrations, application arguments, and demonstrations of existence.