System

Use in the book

The doctrinal definition makes a system personal to its inventor. It can be good when it illuminates other doctrines, bad when it merely contradicts them; even approval is qualified as excellence “at least as a system.” The note on objections makes the object more important than the construction: a good objection reveals what is at issue while destroying the system. The phrase “system of the world” has a broader organizing sense in the ventilator comparison and need not denote a philosopher’s private doctrine.

Places to read

1. II, p. 651, entry 2, ¶1A personal doctrine is judged by whether it illuminates others.
2. I, p. 270, entry 2, ¶1An objection should show the object even while destroying its system.
3. II, p. 841, entry 3, ¶1System of the world names an ordering whose mechanism can supposedly be imitated.

Translation in this edition

The English translation repeats system and preserves the qualification “at least.” It does not supply a precise Platonic locus for the reported Theaetetus wording or interpret ventilator as a modern medical machine.

Doctrine

French: doctrine.

The system definition calls a system a doctrine absolutely personal to its inventor, then tests whether it contradicts or illuminates other doctrines. Doctrine here need not mean religious dogma. The final approval is qualified by at least as a system; illumination does not certify every proposition or supply an absolute standard of truth.

Places to read: II, p. 651, entry 2, ¶1.