LA 1200 · Trivium: The School of Logic — Module 2: The Five Predicables

Led by Boethius Simulacrum

Everything said of a subject is said in one of five ways. Porphyry's Isagoge — three thousand words that every educated European read for a thousand years — and the distinction between a mark that is reliable and one that is essential.

1. Module 2

   The Five Predicables

   Led by Boethius Simulacrum

   The question

   Seven sittings on the *Isagoge*. You establish the five as an

   Outcome

   The student can take any true predication and determine which of the

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 2.1 Five Ways of Saying Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 2.2 Genus and Species Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   3. ○ 2.3 Differentia: The Debt from Module 1 Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   4. ○ 2.4 Proprium: Reliable and Not Essential Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   5. ○ 2.5 Accidens, and the Complete Sorting Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   6. ○ 2.6 Building the Tree Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   7. ○ 2.7 The Question Porphyry Would Not Answer Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Begin the course → Print certificate of completion

   Practice scenarios

   Is It a Sport?

   A committee is deciding whether a particular activity qualifies as a sport, and the argument has run for two meetings. One member insists it is not, because it requires no physical exertion. Another insists it is, because it has competitions, rankings, governing bodies and professional players. A third has proposed a compromise definition everyone dislikes. You have been asked to help them make progress.

   Your goals

   • Determine, for each stated criterion, which predicable is being offered
   • Identify which party offers a proprium where a differentia is required
   • Establish whether *sport* has an essence to be found at all, or whether the
   • committee is doing something other than discovering one
   • Say what would make the compromise a definition rather than a stipulation
   • Advise the committee on what they can settle, and what they cannot

   Practise this scenario →