CHAPTER II. 



ARISTOTLE'S METHOD OF INVESTIGATING 

 THE NATURAL SCIENCES. 



The basis of Aristotle's method, as set out in his writings, 

 was the ascertainment of facts by actual observation of 

 natural phenomena. He preferred to rely on the evidences 

 of the senses rather than attempt to obtain a knowledge of 

 phenomena by a process of abstract reasoning. He knew 

 that the senses of sight and hearing, in particular, were less 

 keen or reliable in some persons than in others,* that some- 

 times the senses of touch and smell and, more rarely, those 

 of sight, hearing, and taste, are not trustworthy,! and he 

 believed that Man was surpassed by many animals in the 

 keenness of his senses, excepting those of touch and taste, + 

 Without the aid of the senses, however, he did not think 

 that anything could be learned or understood, § and he held 

 that errors were due to incorrect interpretations of the 

 evidences of the senses which, as far as they were giving 

 indications of their own proper objects of sensation, were 

 reliable, e.g., the tongue would be reliable if used only as an 

 organ of taste, and not as an organ of touch. || 



His method, therefore, was very different from that of 

 Plato, who denied that true knowledge could be based on 

 observations by the senses. Not only did Plato deny that 

 the evidences of the senses could be relied upon, but he also 

 considered the intellectual faculties to be enthralled and 

 their efficiency impaired by association with them. The 

 well-known story of the prisoners in the cave, who could 

 see only the back wall of the cave and the shadows projected 

 thereon by the Sun, towards which their backs were turned,^ 



- H.A.i. ce. 8 and 9. 



+ P. A. ii. c. 2, 648a and h ; De Anima, iii. c. S, 4286, ii. c. 6, 418a, 

 ii. c. 9, 421a. 



I H. A. i. c. 12, s. 4 ; P. A. ii. c. 16, 660a ; De Anima, ii. c. 9, 421a. 

 § De Anima, iii. c. 8, 432a ; De Sensu, dc, vi. 4456. 



II De Anima, ii. c. 6, 4l8a, iii. c. 3, 4276. 

 *\ Republic, vii. 



