The Peripatetic Problems: Visions and Re-visions, That a Scholar Will Revise
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Paul T. Keyser
Abstract
Evidence-gathering and model-development always reciprocally reinforce one another: every observation is theory-laden, and correlatively every theory is data-laden. Case studies are transitional, data being licked into model-shape. They may concern a singular event, apparently anomalous, or a repeated event, of an apparently anomalous kind. There is no fundamental distinction, e.g., between ‘one person, whose hair all turned grey overnight’ and ‘some people, whose hair all turned grey overnight’. Case studies become manifest either as isolated anecdotes, ad hoc in a synthetic work, or else as a list of similar anecdotes, often in their own work. Moreover, the genre is inherently unstable: as the theory in question goes on developing, ‘anomalous’ items fall away, and new ones take their place. Authors present themselves as having mastered ‘most’ of the evidence, with only a few ‘loose ends’ dangling. Thus, a system of thought (theories, models, data, and questions) that is well-documented and that was thoroughly elaborated provides a productive framework for thinking about case studies - and Aristotle’s system satisfies those conditions. Aristotle’s world behaved regularly, so that apparently anomalous events would eventually be explained as regular. Aristotle’s method of work was to raise a puzzle, then propound a few somewhat aporetic responses or disputed explanations, using the typical case-study question, “Why is it that . . .?” He often presented anomalies ad hoc, but he also composed a book Problems (‘unresolved issues’), that exists only in a much-revised later version. That book opens with nine sections of medical and physiological cases, and also includes five sections of cases on ‘meteorology’, five sections on the sense-organs, and three sections on botany and food. Each case presents an observation apparently contravening the standard theory. The wide or almost universal applicability of the theory is assumed, and the outlier is resolved as a case that pushes the limits or edges of the theory.
Abstract
Evidence-gathering and model-development always reciprocally reinforce one another: every observation is theory-laden, and correlatively every theory is data-laden. Case studies are transitional, data being licked into model-shape. They may concern a singular event, apparently anomalous, or a repeated event, of an apparently anomalous kind. There is no fundamental distinction, e.g., between ‘one person, whose hair all turned grey overnight’ and ‘some people, whose hair all turned grey overnight’. Case studies become manifest either as isolated anecdotes, ad hoc in a synthetic work, or else as a list of similar anecdotes, often in their own work. Moreover, the genre is inherently unstable: as the theory in question goes on developing, ‘anomalous’ items fall away, and new ones take their place. Authors present themselves as having mastered ‘most’ of the evidence, with only a few ‘loose ends’ dangling. Thus, a system of thought (theories, models, data, and questions) that is well-documented and that was thoroughly elaborated provides a productive framework for thinking about case studies - and Aristotle’s system satisfies those conditions. Aristotle’s world behaved regularly, so that apparently anomalous events would eventually be explained as regular. Aristotle’s method of work was to raise a puzzle, then propound a few somewhat aporetic responses or disputed explanations, using the typical case-study question, “Why is it that . . .?” He often presented anomalies ad hoc, but he also composed a book Problems (‘unresolved issues’), that exists only in a much-revised later version. That book opens with nine sections of medical and physiological cases, and also includes five sections of cases on ‘meteorology’, five sections on the sense-organs, and three sections on botany and food. Each case presents an observation apparently contravening the standard theory. The wide or almost universal applicability of the theory is assumed, and the outlier is resolved as a case that pushes the limits or edges of the theory.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
- Structure and Meaning in the Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital 9
- Children and the Art of Medical Storytelling: Contemporary Practice and Hippocratic Case-taking Compared 31
- Storytelling in Greek Law Courts 49
- The Peripatetic Problems: Visions and Re-visions, That a Scholar Will Revise 67
- Thinking in Cases in Ancient Greek Mathematics 97
- Rhetoric, Treatment and Authority in the Medical Cases of Xiao Jing蕭京(1605–1672) 109
- Demonological Poison (Gudu 蠱毒) and Cutting the Flesh [to Make Medicine] (Gegu割股): A History of Two Case Histories 147
- Notes on Contributors 181
- Index Rerum Nominumque 183
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
- Structure and Meaning in the Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital 9
- Children and the Art of Medical Storytelling: Contemporary Practice and Hippocratic Case-taking Compared 31
- Storytelling in Greek Law Courts 49
- The Peripatetic Problems: Visions and Re-visions, That a Scholar Will Revise 67
- Thinking in Cases in Ancient Greek Mathematics 97
- Rhetoric, Treatment and Authority in the Medical Cases of Xiao Jing蕭京(1605–1672) 109
- Demonological Poison (Gudu 蠱毒) and Cutting the Flesh [to Make Medicine] (Gegu割股): A History of Two Case Histories 147
- Notes on Contributors 181
- Index Rerum Nominumque 183
