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Sextus Empiricus

Against the Ethicists, Book XI of Against the Learned Section 8

Section 8 of 257

Canonical reference 11.8

Ancient Greek

Hermann Mutschmann and Jürgen Mau, editors · adversus-grc

Τὸν γὰρ ὅρον φασὶν οἱ τεχνουράφοι (Stoic.fr. ΙΙ224 Arn.) ψιλῇ τῇ συντάξει διαφέρειν τοῦ καθολικοῦ, δυνάμει τὸν αὐτὸν ὄντα. καὶ εἰκότως· ὁ γὰρ ‟ἄνθρωπός ἐστι ζῶον λογικὸν θνητόν” τῷ εἰπόντι ‟εἴ τί ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος, ἐκεῖνο ζῷόν ἐστι λογικὸν θνητόν” τῇ μὲν δυνάμει τὸ αὐτὸ λέγει, τῇ δὲ φωνῇ διάφορον.

English AI-generated translation, non-official

Codex gpt-5.6-sol · Non-official working translation · 2026-09-11

For the writers of technical handbooks say (Stoic. fr. II 224 Arn.) that a definition differs from a universal proposition merely in its verbal arrangement, while being the same in force. Reasonably so: “A human being is a rational mortal animal” says the same thing in force as “If anything is a human being, it is a rational mortal animal,” though it differs in wording.

French AI-generated translation, non-official

Codex gpt-5.6-sol · Non-official working translation · 2026-09-11

Les auteurs de traités techniques disent en effet (Stoic. fr. II 224 Arn.) que la définition ne diffère de l’universelle que par sa simple construction, tout en ayant la même valeur. Et cela avec vraisemblance : « L’homme est un animal rationnel mortel » dit quant au sens la même chose que « Si quelque chose est un homme, cette chose est un animal rationnel mortel », mais diffère dans son expression.

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