ABSTRACT
The analytic character of Aristotle's thought is inherent in his method. Whether the works bear the stamp of a great scientist as well as a great philosopher is more debatable. In comparative studies Aristotle shows tremendous insight in ordering descriptive materials and in sensing useful analogies. Aristotle suggests three relations: signal, cause, and coincidence. On the theoretical side it lay in ingenuity of explanation, but he sometimes pressed general theories into particular explanations without sufficient precision to test them against alternative possibilities. Aristotle is often extraordinarily commonsensical. He has an essentially realistic orientation to the phenomena of a field and a stubborn how-is-it-used attitude to the meaning of terms. A commonsensical attitude may, even more, be a way in which significant philosophical views are introduced and taken for granted. The distinction between logoi and pragmata is more often one between the conclusion of an argument based on assumptions, and the obvious reality.
