Definition according to Aristotle

Philip Pennance1 -Version: March, 2020

1. Aristotle (384-322 BC) introduced the genus (chemical reaction) and the dif-
concept of definition. According to ferentia specifica (“liberates heat”).
Aristotle, the definition of a species
5. Mathematical definition is also of
consists of genus proximum and differ-
genus-differentia type. For example:
entia specifica. The differentia specifica
is that part of the definition not pro- An integer n is even if there exists an
vided by the genus. integer k such that n = 2k.
In the definition of even number the set
2. The genus expresses an is–a relation- of integers plays the role of genus. The
ship. Two species with the same genus differentia specifica, ”twice an integer”,
are said to be members of that genus. is expressed by the predicate, “there ex-
The differentia is the attribute by which ists an integer k such that n = 2k”.
one species is distinguished from all
others of the same genus. Two mem- 6. Binary Relations
bers of a genus are distinct if and only The differentia is often a compound
if their differentiae are distinct. Defi- statement. In the definition of binary
nition of species within a fixed genus is relation, the genus is triple. The differ-
(not surprisingly) called differentiation. entia is a conjunction of the three pred-
It is convention in mathematical writ- icates (a)–(c) below. Specifically:
ing, and elsewhere, to bold, italicize, or A triple (A, B, G) is a binary relation if
underline, the species.
(a) A is a set,
3. Examples.
(b) B is a set,
(a) An animal is a human if it has the
(c) G is a subset of A × B.
capacity for reason.
7. Example
(b) An animal is an elephant if it has
A binary relation (A, B, G) is a func-
a trunk.
tion if for every element a ∈ A, there
Example (a) defines, per genus proxi- is exactly one element b ∈ B such that
mum et differentia specifica, the species (a, b) ∈ G.
human by presenting the genus (ani-
We can use all or part of an existing def-
mal) and the differentia specifica (ca-
inition to define a new genus, a process
pacity for reason). Example (b) defines
known as abstraction. The definition of
another member of the same genus by
function above takes the previously de-
differentiation.
fined concept of relation as the genus.
4. Exmple. Thus relation is both a species of the
genus triple and the genus of the species
A reaction is exothermic if it liberates function.
heat.
The species of chemical reaction called
exothermic is defined by specifying the
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 8. Example A function (A, B, G) is an en- In this example, the concept of function
domorphism if A = B. is abstracted to provide the genus of the
the species endomorphsm.

Substance
(summum genus)

Body Spirit
(material) (immaterial)

Living Nonliving
(animate) (inanimate)

Animal Plant
(sensitive) (insensitive)

Man
(the unique animal
of a rational nature –infima species)

Prof. Pennance
(Individual – Neither genus or species )

Tree of Porphyry

The processes of differentiation and abstrac- Porphyry (234 — 305 AD) presented Aris-
tion can be illustrated by a graph, each vertex totle’s classification of categories as a tree
of which represents a species. Vertices are la- (drawn above). In this example differentiae
belled with the name of the species and pos- are enclosed by parentheses.
sibly also the corresponding differentia. The
lowest leaves represent the lowest species in The graph below shows some species obtained
the chains of abstraction. Highest species re- by differentiation and abstraction of the sum-
main undefined. mum (highest) genus triple.
Triple (A, B, G)

Relation

Complete Relation
Partial Function Function
(A, B, A × B)

Trigonometric Even
Endomorphism Bijection
Function Function

Logarithmic
(R, R, {(x, 2x + 1) : x ∈ R}) Cosine Function
Function

Natural
(R, R+ , {(x, x2 ) : x ∈ R})
Logarithm

Some Important Triples

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Exercises
1. Give definitions per genus proximus et differentia specifica of the following concepts:

(a) Triangle. (g) Prime.

(b) The minimum of a set. (h) Valid.
(c) The maximum a function. (i) Sound.
(d) Sequence. (j) Interval.
(e) A communism. (k) Rhombus.
(f) Odd. (l) Implication.

2. Explain what (if anything) is wrong with each of the following “definitions”:
(a) A circle is a figure all of whose points are equidistant from a given point.
(b) An elephant is an animal with four feet.
(c) A man is a dentist if he practices dentistry.
(d) A thief is a man who steals money.
(e) A contingency is a formula which is neither a contradiction nor a tautology.
3. Look up the concept of virtue in Aristotle’s works on Ethics. Identify the genus and
differentia.
4. In Plato’s Meno how does Socrates explain what is wrong with Meno’s definition,
“virtue is the capacity to rule”?
5. In the Mathematics Standards of Puerto Rico, the term pattern is mentioned multiple
times, but the notion of definition nowhere. Provide a clear definition of the word
pattern as used in these standards.

References
Philip Pennance, Mathematics Standards of the Puerto Rico Department of Education:
Analysis and Recommendations

Solutions to Selected Exercises

1a. A triangle is a polygon with three sides.
1b. Let A be an ordered set. An element m ∈ A is the minimum of A if m ≤ a for all
a ∈ A.
1c. Let f be a function with domain Df . A point a ∈ A is a maximum of f if f (a) ≥ f (x)
for all x ∈ Df .
1d. A function is called a sequence if its domain is the set of natural numbers or a finite
subset of consecutive natural numbers. ( A square is a rectangle with equal sides. )
Note: The codomain of a sequence can be any set.

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1k. A rhombus is a parallelogram with equal sides.
2a. The genus “figure“ is too broad and ill defined. The differentia of the given definition
of circle is satisfied by many sets which are not circles (e.g., the empty set, a semicircle,
a sphere, a single point set etc.)