Grice on σύστημα

---- I am discussing elsewhere with Grice-Club correspondent Roger Bishop Jones the nature of 'system' in various philosophies. He hangs out at Carnap Corner, so he knows what he is talking about!

I looked for 'systema' in Short/Lewis (that Oxford Latin) but was NOT illuminated, so here's the Greek thing -- Grecian, as it were -- a running commentary by yours truly, as it applied to Grice's motto,

Philosophy, like virtue, is entire.


--- what lies behind Grice's use of 'systematic'?

---

From the Greek:

σύστημα (neuter)

A. Most general "sense":

a whole compounded of several parts or members -- a "system" (Liddell/Scott could be literalists, especially in couple).

Sources:

Plato Epin.991e,

Aristoteles GA740a20;

-- specifically:

of the composite whole of soul and body ("soma"):

Epicurus Ep.1p.21U.;

τὸ ὅλον σύστημα τοῦ σώματος

-- this has an odd Carnapian-Duhemian-Quinean ring about it, the holon, for it is said that Carnap was citing Duhem early enough.

D.H. Rh.10.6.

b. In literary sense, composition

ἐποποιικὸν σύστημα πραγμάτων

Aristotels Poetica 1456a11

λυρικὰ σύστημα

SIG660.3 (Delph., ii B.C.)

τέχνη ἐστὶ σύστημα ἐκ καταλήψεων συγγεγυμνασμένων

Zeno Stoic.1.21,

cf. Arr.Epict.1.20.5;

of the syllogism, S.E.P.2.173.

Third sub-"usage": c. = σύστασις B. 11.2,

Aristoteles GA758b3.

Second 'usage': political connotations:

2. organized government, constitution,

Plato, Leges 686b,
Aristoteles, Ethica Nichomachea 1168b32

σύστημα δημοκρατίας

Plb.2.38.6, cf. 6.10.14;

τὸ ἐκ θεῶν καὶ σοφῶν σύστημα

-- a system of 'wise ones' -- perhaps it has a stuffy philosophical connotation about it!

Diog.Bab.Stoic.3.241; confederacy,

σύστημα τῶν Ἀχαιῶν

Plb.2.41.15, cf. 9.28.2;

τὸ Ἀμφικτιονικὸν σύστημα

SIG761 A 16 (Delph., i B.C.), Delph.3(1).480.16;

band of partisans, J.AJ20.9.4;

σύστημα τοῦ γένους ἡμῶν, of a Jewish community, Id.Ap.1.7

:—it seems to have meant also a company or guild, CIG2508 (Cos, Dor. σύσταμα), 2562 (Hierapytna), 2699 (Mylasa); or a committee,

τῆς γερουσίας

ib.2930 (Tralles).

-- Third 'usage': Military uses:

3. body of soldiers, corps, usu. of a definite number, like τάγμα, σύνταγμα,

σύστημα μισθοφόρων, ἱππέων, etc., Plb.1.81.11, 30.25.8, etc.; but

τὸ τῆς φάλαγγος σύστημα

the phalanx itself, Id.5.53.3.

b. -- NAVY: a boat's crew, Alciphr.1.8.

Collective 'uses':

4. generally,flock, herd, Plb.12.4.10;

τὰ βασιλικὰ σύστημα τῶν ἱπποτροφιῶν

Id.10.27.2.

5. college of priests or magistrates, Id.21.13.11, Str.17.1.29, etc.; of the Roman Senate, Plu. Rom.13, cf. Lib.Or.11.146.

Other:

6. in Music, system of intervals, scale, Pl.Phlb.17d;

σύστημα ἐναρμόνια, ὀκτάχορδα

---- this has a Gricean ring to it, in that a systematic philosopher is one that will 'harmonise' his answers: he cannot wax materialist in ethics while a dualist in aesthetics, say. (Find the right scenario and FIRE him if you find him!)

Aristox.Harm.p.2 M., cf. Ph.1.10, Plu.2.1142f, Cleonid.Harm.1.

b. strain, Jul.Caes. 315c.

7. in Metre, metrical system, as in Anapaestics, Heph. Poë.3.

MEDICAL uses: favourite with Grice, "Those spots mean measles; i.e. they meant measles to the doctor; they meant nothing to _me_" (How can the thing not mean anything? Surely spots mean spots -- I owe the nature of this commentary to J. M. Geary).

8. Medic., accumulation of sediment, Hp.Epid.7.83;

τὰ τῶν ὑδάτων σύστημα


LXX Ge.1.10 (v.l. συστέματα), cf. Ezek.Exag.134, Sotion p.183 W.

9. Medic., the pulse-beats taken collectively, Gal.9.279.

10. machine, apparatus, Apollod.Poliorc.138.13.

--The word first occurs in Hp. and Plato, but is chiefly used in later Prose.

to Carnap onwards!