[140] Ibid. p. 118, a. 6-14. οὐ γὰρ εἰ βελτίω, ἀναγκαῖον καὶ αἱρετώτερα· τὸ γοῦν φιλοσοφεῖν βέλτιον τοῦ χρηματίζεσθαι, ἀλλ’ οὐχ αἱρετώτερον τῷ ἐνδεεῖ τῶν ἀναγκαίων. τὸ δ’ ἐκ περιουσίας ἐστίν, ὅταν ὑπαρχόντων τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἄλλα τινὰ προσκατασκευάζηταί τις τῶν καλῶν. σχεδὸν δ’ ἴσως αἱρετώτερον τὸ ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι, βέλτιον δὲ τὸ ἐκ περιουσίας.
Among many other loci, applicable to this same question of comparative excellence between two different subjects, one more will suffice here. You must distinguish the various ends in relation to which any given subject is declared to be eligible: the advantageous, the beautiful, the agreeable. That which conduces to all the three is more eligible than that which conduces to one or two of them only. If there be two subjects, both of them conducive to the same end among the three, you must examine which of them conduces to it most. Again, that which conduces to the better end (e.g., to virtue rather than to pleasure) is the more eligible. The like comparison may be applied to the Fugienda as well as to the Expetenda. That is most to be avoided which shuts us out most from the desirable acquisitions: e.g., sickness is more to be avoided than ungraceful form; for sickness shuts us out more completely both from virtue and from pleasure.[141]
[141] Ibid. iii. p. 118, b. 27-36.
The same loci which are available for the question of comparison will also be available in the question of positive eligibility or positive ineligibility.[142] Further, it holds for all cases of the kind that you should enunciate the argument in the most general terms that each case admits: in this way it will cover a greater number of particulars. Slight mutations of language will often here strengthen your case: that which is (good) by nature is more (good) than that which is (good) not by nature; that which makes the subject to which it is better than that which does not make the subject good.[143]
[142] Ibid. iv. p. 119, a. 1.
[143] Topic. III. v. p. 119, a. 12: ληπτέον δ’ ὅτι μάλιστα καθόλου τοὺς τόπους περὶ τοῦ μᾶλλον καὶ τοῦ μείζονος· ληφθέντες γὰρ οὕτως πρὸς πλείω χρήσιμοι ἂν εἴησαν.
The loci just enumerated are Universal, and applicable to the debate of theses propounded in universal terms; but they will also be applicable, if the thesis propounded be a Particular proposition.
If you prove the universal affirmative, you will at the same time prove the particular; if you prove the universal negative, you prove the particular negative also. The universal loci from Opposites, from Conjugates, from Inflections, will be alike applicable to particular propositions. Thus, if we look at the universal locus from Contraries, If all pleasure is good, then all pain is evil, — this will apply also to the particular, If some pleasure is good, then some pain is evil: in the particular as in the universal form the proposition is alike an Endox or conformable to common received opinion. The like may be said about the loci from Habitus and Privatio; also about those from Generation and Destruction;[144] again, from More, Less, and Equally — this last, however, with some restriction, for the locus from Less will serve only for proving an affirmative. Thus, if some capacity is a less good than science, while yet some capacity is a good, then, à fortiori, some science is a good. But, if you take the same locus in the negative and say that the capacity is a good, you will not be warranted in saying, for that reason, that no science is a good.[145] You may apply this same locus from Less to compare, not merely two subjects in different genera, but also two subjects of different degrees under the same genus. Thus, let the thesis be, Some science or cognition is a good. You will disprove this thesis, if you can show that prudence (φρόνησις) is not a good; for, if prudence, which in common opinion is most confidently held to be a good, be really not so, you may argue that, à fortiori no other science can be so. Again, let the thesis be propounded with the assumption that, if it can be proved true or false in any one case, it shall be accepted as true or false in all universally (for example, that, if the human soul is immortal, all other souls are immortal also; or if not that, then none of the others): evidently, the propounder of such a thesis extends the particular into an universal. If he propounds his thesis affirmatively, you must try to prove the negative in some particular case; for this, under the conditions supposed, will be equivalent to proving an universal negative. If, on the other hand, he puts his thesis negatively, you will try to prove some particular affirmative; which (always under the given conditions) will carry the universal affirmative also.[146]
[144] Ibid. vi. p. 119, a. 32-b. 16. ὁμοίως γὰρ ἔνδοξον τὸ ἀξιῶσαι, εἰ πᾶσα ἡδονὴ ἀγαθόν, καὶ λύπην πᾶσαν εἶναι κακόν, τῷ εἴ τις ἡδονὴ ἀγαθόν, καὶ λύπην εἶναί τινα κακόν — ἐν ἅπασι γὰρ ὁμοίως τὸ ἔνδοξον.
[145] Ibid. b. 17-30. δῆλον οὖν ὅτι κατασκευάζειν μόνον ἐκ τοῦ ἧττον ἔστιν.