Welcome to the Classical Liberal Arts Academy. In this lecture, Academy Headmaster William Michael presents a full study of Chapter 2 of Porphyry’s Introduction (Isagoge), one of the foundational texts of classical logic.
Porphyry (c. 234–305 AD) wrote the Introduction as a commentary on Aristotle’s Categories, explaining how we classify and reason about reality through the five predicables: genus, species, difference, property, and accident. In this second chapter, Porphyry focuses on genus and species, showing how these two concepts form the structure of logical and philosophical understanding.
Students will learn:
The three meanings of “genus” and why philosophers focus on the third
How “genus” and “species” differ and relate to each other
The hierarchy from the most general genus down to individual substances
The rules of logical predication and why higher terms are said of lower ones
How Porphyry’s teaching became the foundation of medieval Scholastic logic
This lesson provides a clear and systematic explanation of how human reason organizes knowledge into a rational order of reality—a method used by Aristotle, perfected by Porphyry, and taught by St. Thomas Aquinas and the great medieval schoolmen.
Course: TRV-371 Classical Reasoning I
Text: Porphyry, Introduction (Isagoge), Chapter 2
Instructor: William Michael, Headmaster, Classical Liberal Arts Academy
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