First philosophy as a science: Aristotle’s theory of scientific knowledge in Posterior Analytics and in 'Metaphysics' IV

Abstract

The present paper endeavors to compare the general theory of scientific knowledge (ἐπιστήμη) as described in Posterior Analytics with the specific theory of science or 'first philosophy' expounded in the fourth book of Metaphysics. Both theories are examined not on the ground of any general preconceived hypothesis regarding their relation to one another, but by closely investigating the local characteristics peculiar to either of them. The set of characteristics brought under comparison comprises any special properties both the subject and the attributes under investigation possess, the way they are related to the first principles of science, as well as the general question of whether the science in question is supposed to be demonstrative. As a result, it can be shown that, contrary to the opinion dominating the present-day Aristotelian studies, the project of the first philosophy as it is described in Metaphysics IV presupposes the construction of a type of knowledge which, while remaining essentially different from the 'particular' sciences of the Posterior Analytics, is still a demonstrative science and has its main goal in giving an account of the demonstrable properties of any existent items in terms of their most general attributes by means of common definitions.