Philosophical, against the common view · thesis 2>32

Thesis 2>32

Latin

In omni quaestione per demonstrationem scibili, oportet praecognoscere quid subiecti et passionis, non intelligendo per quid, quid nominis, ut intelligunt expositores, sed quid rei.

Copy-text: Farmer 1998, line 19322

Apparatus (Farmer): 1486 per quid. quid nominis

1486/1487 apparatus: 1486 per quid. quid nominis

English

In every question knowable through demonstration, one must first know the what of the subject and of the property demonstrated of it — understanding by 'what' not the meaning of the name, as the commentators take it, but the nature of the thing.

'quid nominis' versus 'quid rei' is the standard distinction between a nominal and a real definition.

Translation: machine-drafted 2026-09-25 by TRANSLATOR-T05; sense checked against farmer1998:19381; awaiting human check

Attribution: Pico's own opinion (section 2>, philosophical conclusions dissenting from the common philosophy) · Pico's stance: endorses

Farmer's cross-references

• 7.10 Tres modi per se sunt ad demonstrationem utiles: primus, secundus et quartus.