Fundacionalismo aristotélico: origem e aquisição dos primeiros princípios de acordo com os Segundos Analíticos II.19

Abstract

In his work entitled Posterior Analytics, Aristotle commits himself to a form of foundationalism. According to the Stagirite, some propositions become known by demonstration, that is to say, since they are demonstraded from other prior propositions in the causal order. However, in order not to incur an infinite regress, demonstrations must ultimately be based on first principles, which cannot be known by demonstration. Having said that, it is natural that the question arises: how do first principles become known? According to most interpreters, Aristotle reserves the last chapter of Posterior Analytics, II.19, to present his answer to that question. In this monograph, we intend to argue that, actually, Aristotle has two more modest objectives in II.19: (i) to resolve the aporia about the origin from which first principles become known; (ii) from the solution to this aporia, to clarify only one part of the answer to the question about how first principles become known.