[227] Ibid. a. 35-b. 5. οἷον ἐπεὶ ταὐτόν ἐστι τῷ εἴδει ἄνθρωπος καὶ ἵππος, οὐκ ἀεὶ δὲ τοῦ ἵππου ἐστὶν ἴδιον τὸ ἑστάναι ὑφ’ αὑτοῦ, οὐκ ἀν εἴη τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἴδιον τὸ κινεῖσθαι ὑφ’ αὑτοῦ· ταὐτὸν γάρ ἐστι τῷ εἴδει τὸ κινεῖσθαι καὶ ἑστάναι ὑφ’ αὑτοῦ, ᾗ ζῴῳ ἐστὶν ἑκατέρῳ αὐτῶν τὸ συμβεβηκέναι. The last words are very obscure: they are explained by Waitz (p. 486) — “ᾗ τὸ συμβεβηκέναι ἑκάτερον (τὸ κινεῖσθαι καὶ ἑστάναι ὑφ’ αὑτοῦ intell.) ἑκατέρῳ αὐτῶν ἐστὶ συμβεβηκέναι ᾗ ζῴῳ, quatenus utrumque de utroque, quatenus animal est, prædicatur.â€�
[228] Topic. V. iv. p. 133, b. 5-14. Alexander declares this locus to be obscure. He comments, not without reason, on the loose manner in which Aristotle uses the term εἶδος; and he observes that Aristotle himself admits the locus to be κατά τι ψευδής (Schol. p. 285, a. 40-45, Br.). It is strange to read that man and horse, man and bird, are ταὐτὸν εἴδει, the same in species.
8. There is some difficulty in discussing the proprium, when the respondent is assailed by a sophistical dialectician who avails himself of the equivocal application of Idem and Diversum: contending that Subject with an Accident becomes a different subject — e.g., homo albus, a subject different from homo (so that, when a proprium has been shown to belong to homo, it has not been shown that the same proprium belongs to homo albus); and that the Abstract is a different subject from the Concrete — e.g. cognition, from the cognizing man (so that what has been shown as proprium of cognition has not been shown as proprium of the cognizing man). If the respondent shall himself set up these negatives, leaving to you the task of establishing the proprium against him, you will meet him by saying that homo is not a subject absolutely different and distinct from homo albus, but that there is only a notional distinction, the same subject having here two names each with a distinct connotation: homo has its own connotation; homo albus has also its own connotation, embodying in one total that which each of the terms connotes. And, when the Sophist remarks that what is a proprium of scientia cannot be predicated also as a proprium of homo sciens, you will reply that it may be so predicated, only with a slight change of inflection. For you need not scruple to employ sophistical refutation against those who debate with you in a sophistical way.[229]
[229] Topic. V. iv. p. 133, b. 15-p. 134, a. 4. πρὸς γὰρ τὸν πάντως ἐνιστάμενον, πάντως ἀντιτακτέον ἐστίν. It appears to me that Aristotle is not entitled to treat this objection as sophistical (i.e. as unfair Dialectic). He is here considering predication as Proprium, contrasted with predication as Accident. What is true as an accident respecting homo albus, will also be true as an accident respecting homo: but what is true as a proprium respecting homo albus, will not be true as a proprium respecting homo — nor vice versâ. This is a good locus for objections in predication of Proprium. There is a real distinction between homo and homo albus; between Koriskus and Koriskus albus: and one of the ways of elucidating that distinction is by pointing out that the proprium of one is not the same as the proprium of the other. Aristotle treats those who dwelt upon this distinction as Sophists: what their manner of noticing it may have been he does not clearly tell us; but if we are to have that logical accuracy of speech which his classification and theory demand, this distinction must undoubtedly be brought to view among the rest.
9. The respondent may perhaps intend to affirm as proprium something which by nature belongs to the subject; but he may err in his mode of stating it, and may predicate it as always belonging to the subject. Thus, he may predicate biped as a proprium always belonging to man. Under this mode of expression, you will be able to show that he is wrong; for there are some men who have not two feet. On the other hand, if the respondent denies biped to be a proprium of man, relying upon the statement that it is not actually true of every individual, you will be able to show against him that it is so in the correct phraseology of belonging to man by nature.[230]
[230] Topic. V. v. p. 131, a. 5-17. This locus is a question rather of phraseology than of real fact, and seems therefore rather to belong to the former class of Loci respecting the Proprium — πότερον καλῶς ἢ οὐ καλῶς ἀποδέδοται τὸ ἴδιον — than to the present class, which Aristotle declares (V. iv. p. 132, a. 25) to relate to the question πότερον ἴδιόν ἐστιν ὅλως τὸ εἰρημένον ἢ οὐκ ἴδιον.
10. That which is affirmed as a proprium may belong to its subject either primarily and immediately, or in a secondary way — relatively to some prior denomination of the same subject. In such cases it is difficult to set out the proprium in terms thoroughly unobjectionable. Thus, the superficies of a body is what is first coloured: when we speak of corpus album, this is by reason of its white superficies. Album is a proprium true both of body and of superficies; but the explanation usually given of Proprium will not hold here — that, wherever the predicate can be affirmed, the subject can be affirmed also. Album is proprium of superficies; and album can be truly affirmed as also proprium of body; but superficies cannot be truly affirmed of body.[231]
[231] Topic. V. v. p. 134, a. 18-25. This is a very obscure and difficult locus. I am not sure that I understand it.
11. The respondent who is affirming a Proprium may sometimes err by not clearly distinguishing in what mode, and in respect to what precise subject, he intends to affirm it. There are ten different modes, in one or other of which he always proposes to affirm it:—[232]
a. As belonging to the subject by nature. E.g., Biped is by nature a proprium of man.