The Lagoon: How Aristotle Invented Science

by Armand Marie Leroi

For all its limitations, Aristotle’s theory of demonstration is a genuine scientific method. It is part of ours. Scientists may quarrel about methodology but they also agree about a lot. They understand the domain of science: the kinds of things it investigates. They understand how it delimits things and problems and investigates them piecemeal rather than trying to study and answer everything. They understand the reciprocal role of theory and evidence and the distinction between hypothesis and fact. They understand that science begins with induction to give generalizations from observations and then deduction to give firm causal claims from generalizations. They understand that a scientific claim must be a logical one – and can recognize a logical argument when they hear one. They understand that some causal claims are strong, others weak – and that the trick is to tell them apart. That they understand all this is because Aristotle told them it was so.