Aristotle on Demonstrative Knowledge: Particulars Included

This paper examines Aristotle’s account of scientific knowledge through demonstration in Posterior Analytics, challenging the prevailing view that he excludes sensible particulars from demonstrative knowledge. I argue that Aristotle’s conception of demonstration includes not only unqualified demonstrations but also what I call ‘qualified’ demonstrations, which can have definite sensible particulars as subjects. These demonstrations yield knowledge that meets Aristotle’s central requirements for knowledge, albeit in a qualified way. Although qualified knowledge falls short of unqualified knowledge, it is nevertheless genuine demonstrative knowledge. I further argue that unqualified knowledge entails potential knowledge of a given particular, which is actualized by applying it to a particular at hand. Qualified demonstrations allow us to apply demonstrative knowledge to the sensible particulars around us.