Chap. VIIL ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 437 



which argues ■rom pnnciples that it afTumes, without either demoii- 

 flrating them, or fliowing them to be felf-evidcnt. By this he does 

 not mean to dil'parage geometry, which he ftudicd very much him- 

 felf, and earneftly recommended to his fcholars i But he fays it is 

 imperfect, compared vv'iih. dialed ict which, in his language, Is the fame 

 with vvhat Ariftotle calls ihcjitji philofophy^ and is now commonly 

 known by the name of Metaphyfics * ; becaufe it does not demonftrate 

 its own principles, but takes them for granted, or fuppofes them to be 

 true ; whereas, metaphyfics demonftrates the principles of all fciences, 

 as well as its own. It, therefore, 1 think, belongs to my fubjedl:, to 

 fhow in what refpe£t geometry proceeds upon hypothefes, and how 

 metaphyfics fets it upon a more f lid and firm foundation, by fliowing 

 the reality of thofe hypothefes. And this 1 think the more neceffary , that 



there 



x«e< Tot fAlra^v e| 'av f4» «<oe <rvfi7ri7rXiKrxt, Tig f^-^^xvuf tsj* ToieivT-/,v e^«A«7<«» wars Sxic-T^tojn ys- 

 viiF^xi ; the meaning of which is, that ' what begins with that which it does not know, 



* and when the end and all betwixt isconne£bed with what is thus not known, that never 



* can defervcthe name of fcience ' He, therefore, does not call it e^Ko-Tr^ttn, but Itctvcix^ 

 being, no doubt, ax\ operation of the j-ovj, which is exprefTed by the word '^tuvtiu^ but 

 not proceeding from felf-evident or demonftrative principles- Ariftotle agrees with 

 his matter, that the principles both of geometry and arithmetic are affumed ; for, fays 

 he, the one afTumes that magnitude exifts, the other that a monad exifts. And he 

 further fays, that it is of nccelTity that all inferior and fubordinate fciencf s fhould af- 

 fume their principles, even fuch as may be demonftrated j becaufe it is impoffible they 

 can be demonftrated from the principles of the fcience, being themfelves the princi- 

 ples to be demonftrated. Wc muft, therefore, go for thedemonftration of them to ano- 

 ther fcience, and that fcience is no Lther th.m the firft philofophy, whicr^ as it demon- 

 ftrates the principles of all other ftiMic^^s, may be called the fcience of fciences. Arift. 

 Analytic. Pofterior. lib. i. cap 9 and 16. 



* We are not to confound the dialc5lic of Ariftotle with the diale6lic of Plato ; for, 

 as I have obferved, the diale6iic of Ariftotle is the art of argumentation from common 

 topics very well known, and much pradifed in the days of Plato, but not known bv 

 that name, though the pradice of it was exprelfed by the verb ^ixXiyf.T(>xt. 



