[99] Ibid. b. 20-25.
[100] Ibid. b. 26.
When the questioner has obtained the premisses which he thinks necessary, and has drawn from them a refutative syllogism, the respondent must see whether he can properly solve that syllogism or not.[101] A good and proper solution is, to point out on which premiss the fallacy of the conclusion depends. First, he must examine whether it is formally correct, or whether it has only a false appearance of being so: if the last be the case, he must distinguish in which of the premisses and in what way such false appearance has arisen. If on the other hand the syllogism is formally correct, he must look whether the conclusion is true or false. Should it be true, he cannot solve the syllogism except by controverting one or both of the premisses; but should the conclusion be false, two modes of solution are open to him. One mode is, if he can point out an equivocation or amphiboly in the terms of the conclusion; another mode will be, to controvert, or exhibit a fallacy in, one of the premisses.[102] The respondent, however, must learn to apply this examination rapidly and unhesitatingly: to do so at once is very difficult, though it may be easily done if he has leisure to reflect.[103]
[101] Soph. El. xviii. p. 176, b. 29: ἡ μέν ὀρθὴ λύσις ἐμφάνισις ψευδοῦς συλλογισμοῦ, παρ’ ὁποίαν ἐρώτησιν συμβαίνει τὸ ψεῦδος.
[102] Soph. El. xviii. p. 176, b. 38: τοὺς μὲν κατὰ τὸ συμπέρασμα ψευδεῖς διχῶς ἐνδέχεται λύειν· καὶ γὰρ τῷ ἀνελεῖν τι τῶν ἠρωτημένων, καὶ τῷ δεῖξαι τὸ συμπέρασμα ἔχον οὐχ οὕτως.
Mr. Poste translates these last words — “or by a counterproof directed against the conclusion:â€� and he remarks in his note (pp. 145-147), “that this assertion — disproof of the conclusion of the refutative syllogism is one mode of solution — is both manifestly inadmissible, and flatly contradicted by Aristotle himself elsewhere.â€� The words of Aristotle doubtless seem to countenance Mr. Poste’s translation; yet the contradiction pointed out by Mr. Poste (and very imperfectly explained, p. 147) ought to make us look out for another meaning; which is suggested by the chapter immediately following (xix. p. 177, a. 9), where Aristotle treats of the Fallacies of Equivocation and Amphiboly. He tells us that equivocation may be found either in the conclusion or in the premisses; and that to show it in the conclusion is one mode of solving or invalidating the refutation. This is what Aristotle means by the words cited at the beginning of this note: τῷ δεῖξαι τὸ συμπέρασμα ἔχον οὐχ ὀρθῶς. In Mr. Poste’s translation these words mean the same as ἀνελεῖν used just before, which Aristotle obviously does not intend.
[103] Soph. El. xviii. p. 177, a. 7.
Aristotle then proceeds to indicate the modes in which the respondent may provide solutions for each of the thirteen heads of fallacious refutation above enumerated. For these thirteen classes, he pronounces that one and the same solution will be found applicable to all fallacies contained in one and the same class.[104]
[104] Scholia, p. 312, a. 4, Br.; Soph. El. 20, p. 177, b. 31: τῶν γὰρ παρὰ ταὐτὸν λόγων ἡ αὐτὴ λύσις, &c.
Thus, in the two first of them — Equivocation of Terms and Amphiboly of Propositions — duplicity of meaning must be either in the conclusion, or in the premisses, of the refutative syllogism. If it be in the conclusion, the refutation must at once be rejected, unless the respondent has previously admitted some proposition containing the equivocal word as one of its terms, so that the refutation may appear to contradict it expressly and distinctly. But, if it be in the premisses, then there is no necessity that the respondent should have previously admitted such a proposition; for the equivocal word may form the middle term of the refutative syllogism, and may thus not appear in the conclusion thereof.[105] The proper way for the respondent to deal with these questions, involving equivocation or amphiboly, is to answer them, at the outset, with a reserve for the double meaning, thus: “In one sense, it is so; in another sense, it is not.� If he does not perceive the double meaning until he has already answered the first question, he must recover himself, when he answers the second, by pointing out the equivocation more distinctly, and by specifying how much he is prepared to concede.[106] Even if he has been taken unawares, and has not perceived the equivocation until the refutative syllogism has been constructed simply and absolutely, he should still contend that he never meant to concede what has been apparently refuted, and that the refutation tells only against the name, not against the thing meant;[107] so that there is no genuine refutation at all.