Aristotle and Bolzano on Grounding

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines Aristotle’s conception of scientific proofs as the historical roots of Bolzano’s conception of grounding and compares the two philosophers’ views on infinite grounding chains, on the role that generality plays in ground-revealing proofs, and on scientific knowledge. It begins by observing some key similarities between Aristotle’s account of demonstration in the Posterior Analytics and the account of grounding developed by Bolzano in the Theory of Science. Despite these similarities, Bolzano differs from Aristotle in that he accepts infinite regresses of grounds. Next, it considers how Bolzano adapts Aristotle’s principle that the premises of a demonstration should be of maximal generality. Finally, it discusses the role played by the relation of grounding in the broader logical theory developed by Bolzano in the Theory of Science.