**November 18** \- We will read *Topics*, Book I Chapter 2, at Bekker line 101a25.
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We are using the translation by Robin Smith: *Topics* Books I & VIII (Oxford University Press, 1997), page 2.
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Smith in his helpful "Introduction" forewarns us that because we don't know what we are ignorant of, we barbarians don't know yet what dialectic is or why we need it. So there will be learning pain involved as we bootstrap ourselves toward knowing *and* practicing what we will learn. The payoff will be tremendous and will be commensurate with personal effort.
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A new reading adventure beckons you and your willpower. Join us.
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\-\-\-\-
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*Organon* means "instrument," as in, instrument for thought and speech. The term was given by ancient commentators to a group of Aristotle's treatises comprising his logical works.

*Organon*
\|\-\- *Categories* \-\-\-\- 2023\.02\.28
\|\-\- *On Interpretation* \-\-\-\- 2023\.12\.12
\|\-\- *Topics* \-\-\-\- 2025\.10\.21
\|\-\- *Sophistical Refutations*
\|\-\- *Rhetoric*\*
\|\-\- *Prior Analytics*
\|\-\- *Posterior Analytics*

(\* Robin Smith, author of SEP's 2022 entry "[Aristotle's Logic](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-logic/#AriLogWorOrg)," argues that *Rhetoric* should be part of the *Organon*.)

Whenever we *do* any human thing, we can either do it well or do it poorly. With instruments, we can do things either better, faster, and more; or worse, slower, and less. That is, with instruments they either augment or diminish our doings.

Do thinking and speaking (and writing and listening) require instruments? Yes. We do need physical instruments like microphones, megaphones, pens, papers, computers. But we also need mental instruments: grammar, vocabulary words, evidence-gathering techniques, big-picture integration methods, persuasion strategies. Thinking while sitting meditatively all day in a lotus position doesn't require much instrumentation of any kind, but thinking and speaking well in the sense of project planning, problem-solving, negotiating, arguing, deliberating--that is, the active doings in the world (whether romantic, social, commercial, or political)--do require well-honed mental instruments. That's the *Organon* in a nutshell.

Are you an up-and-coming human being, a doer, go-getter, achiever, or at least you're choosing to become one? You need to wield the *Organon*.

Join us.

Tom Osg

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Aristotle's Dialectic - Topics I - Live-Reading--European Style

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Aristotle's Dialectic - Topics I - Live-Reading--European Style

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