Abstract of Logic, Book 2 · Chapter 3
CHAP. III. Of Imperfect Definition.
Ax. 1. IMperfect Definition is properly a Deſcription, and that is either Neceſſary or Arbitrary.
Ax. 2. Neceſſary, viz. when the Defined is either not capable of a perfect Definition, or elſe through the Imbecillity of our Minds we cannot attain to a perfect Definition of it; or, laſtly, when there are wanting fit Words required for an Accurate Definition.
Ax. 3. Of the firſt Sort are firſt, Infinite Things, and Secondly, thoſe which have not a true Eſſence: Thirdly, a Perfect one, and Fourthly, one by it ſelf: Fifthly, and laſtly, thoſe which are not placed immediately under ſome Genus.
COMMENTARY.
1. §. And 1ſt Infinite things, as God, having not a true Eſſence; as, Beings of Reaſon. Things feigned, Images of Things, Privations. Not a Perfect; as, Parts, Principles of Things, Things in doing or Imperfect. Not one by themſelves; as, Concretes, Aggregates, Complex. Not under one Genus; as, Tranſcendents, Supreme Genus's. At leaſt, not immediately; as, Individuals: For theſe are contained immediately under Species, and by Mediation of that under Genus.
Ax. 4. By reaſon of the Imbecillity of our Minds or Underſtanding, Subſtances Incorporereal, and moſt of the moſt ſpecial Species's of Corporeal Subſtances.
1. §. For Genus's and Species's Subaltern may be defin'd any way; as, an Animal is a living feeling Body, &c. In the Definition of Corporeal Subſtances of the loweſt Species in the Place of Eſſential Difference, there uſes to be added Propriety, as we obſerv'd a little before. The Proprieties of Incorporeal are, likewiſe unknown to us: Yet Man although he is the loweſt Species, is rightly enough defin'd a Rational Animal.
Ax. 5. When a fit or proper Word is wanting there are to be two or more joyned together by a Grammatical Conjunction. But,
1. §. Such Definitions as theſe ſin againſt the 5th. Law of Defining, propos'd in the 9th. Theoreme of the former Chapter; to which I refer you.
Ax. 6. Imperfect Definition Arbitrary, is, when declining or rejecting a Perfect Definition, we draw the thing in groſs; either for Delectations ſake, or that we may attemper our Definition to the Capacities of others.
Ax. 7. Of Imperfect, there are ſeveral Species's, of which thoſe approach neareſt to the Perfect Deſinition, which agree moſt with the Laws of Definition, which we have but now before propoſed.
Ax. 8. The principal Species's of them are theſe: Firſt, when a proper Accident is defin'd only by an External Cauſe.
1. §. As, an Eclipſe is an Interpoſition of the Earth between the Sun and the Moon: Death is an Extinction of the Vital Heat. This is called a Definition Cauſal or foreign, as in the Greek, Book 2. Poſt. Cap. 10.
Ax. 9. Secondly, by Genus and Subject not mentioning the Cauſe.
1. §. As, an Eclipſe is a Defect of Light in the Moon, Death is the Exit of the Living; and by this the Cauſal Definition is effected, a Perfect Definition of a proper Accident; as, an Eclipſe is a Defect of Light in the Moon, by reaſon of the Earth's Interpoſition Diametrically betwixt the Sun and the Moon; Death is the Interritus of the Living, by reaſon of the Extinction of the Vital Heat, &c.
Ax. 10. The third Species of Imperfect Definition is that which conſiſts of Genus, and of one or more Proprieties.
1. §. As, a Dog is a barking Beaſt; Man is a Riſible Animal; a Loadſtone that which draws Iron. And in this manner are defined Subſtances, whoſe Eſſential Differences are concealed from us, as is beforeſaid.
Ax. 11. The fourth is that which conſiſteth in an Enumeration of Parts or Species's.
1. §. As Logick is an Art of Defining, Dividing, Arguing, and Ordering well; The Roman Civil Law is that which conſiſts of Laws, Acts of Senate, Judgments, Authorities of Lawyers, Uſages; Laſtly, and Equality; as Cicero ſays in his Topicks.
Ax. 12. The Fifth is that which conſiſts of a Removement of its Oppoſite; as that of Horace, viz.
Virtus eſt Vitium fugere.
— Et Sapientia prima eſt
Stultitiâ caruiſſe.
i. e. Virtue is to fly Vice, and the firſt Degree of Wiſdom is to be void of Folly.
Ax. 13. The Sixth, when the Relate is defined by the Correlate, without Mention of the Genus and Foundation.
1. §. As, he is a Maſter that has a Servant, a Father that has Children, Teacher, or Maſter, that has Diſciples.
Ax. 14. The Seventh, which conſiſts of a Coacervation, or heaping up of Circumſtances, and common Adjuncts.
1. §. And this properly is a Deſcription; altho' Uſe has now obtain'd, that every Imperfect Definition be call'd a Deſcription. For Example: Man is a two-footed Animal, uncover'd with Hair, or Feathers, of an erect Countenance, and endued with Hands: Which Formula of Definition is uſed by Hiſtorians and Poets in the Deſcription of Perſons, Facts, Places, and the like ſingular things.
2. §. Boethius adds other Species's of this Imperfect Definition; as is Firſt, Definition by way of Metaphor, As when Youth is defined to be the Flower of Age, Age the Winter of Life, Sleep to be the Image of Death, &c. Secondly, by way of Praiſe or Diſpraiſe; to which belong Elogies, which are attributed to things, either by way of Praiſe or Diſpraiſe; as when Hiſtory is by Cicero Book 2. of his Orat. deſcrib'd to be the Witneſs of Time, the Light of Truth, the life of Memory, the Miſtreſs of Life and the Meſſenger of Antiquity. Or when Philoſophy is deſcrib'd by Plato, to be a Similitude with God as much as in Man lies. Pleaſure the Food of Evils, Anger a ſhort Madneſs or voluntary Diſtraction. Thirdly, by way of Periphraſis; as Homer is the Writer of the Trojan War. Fourthly, Difference, as Hatred is that which is more laſting than Anger. Fifthly, Example, or Inſtance; as an Animal is a Man, a Horſe, &c. Sixthly, what it wants of its Genus; as, a Deunx is a Roman Pound wanting an Ounce, &c. But yet all theſe are ſuch as hardly if at all merit the Name of Definition.