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Work #162

On Interpretation

Aristotle
c. 350 BC (early in the Organon) · Classical Greek
Treatise in fourteen chapters · Classical Greek philosophy / Aristotelian logic

Names, verbs, propositions, opposition, and the famous sea-battle argument that haunted Western philosophy for two thousand years

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute On Interpretation
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Finite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Finite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Cosmic-ordering
Observer · Moral Authority Reason
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Non-conserved
Information · Granularity Discrete

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

On Interpretation

The sea-battle chapter is the canonical text on open future and the logic of future contingents.

Space

On Interpretation

Newtonian background space; the work's subject is logical-linguistic structure, not physical space.

Matter

On Interpretation

Spoken and written words as the conventional symbols of natural mental affections.

Observer

On Interpretation

The rational speaker-thinker, whose mental affections are the same for all humans (the famous 16a7 claim of psychological universalism).

Energy

On Interpretation

Not addressed; the work is conceptual-logical, not physical.

Information

On Interpretation

Linguistic and logical information; discrete, preserved through inscription and transmission.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

On Interpretation

The sea-battle problem generates a continuing tension in Aristotelian logic between bivalence (every proposition is true or false) and the open future. Łukasiewicz developed three-valued logics partly in response. The medieval Christian gloss (God's eternal present sees all times) and the Islamic gloss (Avicennan necessity) both close off the openness Aristotle himself seemed to leave. Whether Aristotle is best read as rejecting bivalence for future contingents (the Ackrill reading), or only rejecting their determinate truth-value while preserving bivalence (the Whitaker reading), remains contested.