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Moreover，toclaima’Yes’or’No’answeristhebusinessnotofamanwhoisshowingsomething，butofonewhoisholdinganexamination。Fortheartofexaminingisabranchofdialecticandhasinviewnotthemanwhohasknowledge，buttheignorantpretender。He，then，isadialecticianwhoregardsthecommonprincipleswiththeirapplicationtotheparticularmatterinhand，whilehewhoonlyappearstodothisisasophist。Nowforcontentiousandsophisticalreasoning：（1）onesuchisamerelyapparentreasoning，onsubjectsonwhichdialecticalreasoningisthepropermethodofexamination，eventhoughitsconclusionbetrue：foritmisleadsusinregardtothecause：also（2）therearethosemisreasoningswhichdonotconformtothelineofinquirypropertotheparticularsubject，butaregenerallythoughttoconformtotheartinquestion。Forfalsediagramsofgeometricalfiguresarenotcontentious（fortheresultingfallaciesconformtothesubjectoftheart）—anymorethanisanyfalsediagramthatmaybeofferedinproofofatruth—e。g。
Hippocrates’figureorthesquaringofthecirclebymeansofthelunules。ButBryson’smethodofsquaringthecircle，evenifthecircleistherebysquared，isstillsophisticalbecauseitdoesnotconformtothesubjectinhand。So，then，anymerelyapparentreasoningaboutthesethingsisacontentiousargument，andanyreasoningthatmerelyappearstoconformtothesubjectinhand，eventhoughitbegenuinereasoning，isacontentiousargument：foritismerelyapparentinitsconformitytothesubject—matter，sothatitisdeceptiveandplaysfoul。Forjustasafoulinaraceisadefinitetypeoffault，andisakindoffoulfighting，sotheartofcontentiousreasoningisfoulfightingindisputation：forintheformercasethosewhoareresolvedtowinatallcostssnatchateverything，andsointhelattercasedocontentiousreasoners。Those，then，whodothisinordertowinthemerevictoryaregenerallyconsideredtobecontentiousandquarrelsomepersons，whilethosewhodoittowinareputationwithaviewtomakingmoneyaresophistical。Fortheartofsophistryis，aswesaid，’akindofartofmoney—makingfromamerelyapparentwisdom，andthisiswhytheyaimatamerelyapparentdemonstration：andquarrelsomepersonsandsophistsbothemploythesamearguments，butnotwiththesamemotives：andthesameargumentwillbesophisticalandcontentious，butnotinthesamerespect；rather，itwillbecontentiousinsofarasitsaimisanapparentvictory，whileinsofarasitsaimisanapparentwisdom，itwillbesophistical：fortheartofsophistryisacertainappearanceofwisdomwithoutthereality。Thecontentiousargumentstandsinsomewhatthesamerelationtothedialecticalasthedraweroffalsediagramstothegeometrician；foritbeguilesbymisreasoningfromthesameprinciplesasdialecticuses，justasthedrawerofafalsediagrambeguilesthegeometrician。Butwhereasthelatterisnotacontentiousreasoner，becausehebaseshisfalsediagramontheprinciplesandconclusionsthatfallundertheartofgeometry，theargumentwhichissubordinatetotheprinciplesofdialecticwillyetclearlybecontentiousasregardsothersubjects。
Thus，e。g。thoughthesquaringofthecirclebymeansofthelunulesisnotcontentious，Bryson’ssolutioniscontentious：andtheformerargumentcannotbeadaptedtoanysubjectexceptgeometry，becauseitproceedsfromprinciplesthatarepeculiartogeometry，whereasthelattercanbeadaptedasanargumentagainstallthenumberofpeoplewhodonotknowwhatisorisnotpossibleineachparticularcontext：foritwillapplytothemall。OrthereisthemethodwherebyAntiphonsquaredthecircle。Oragain，anargumentwhichdeniedthatitwasbettertotakeawalkafterdinner，becauseofZeno’sargument，wouldnotbeaproperargumentforadoctor，becauseZeno’sargumentisofgeneralapplication。If，then，therelationofthecontentiousargumenttothedialecticalwereexactlylikethatofthedraweroffalsediagramstothegeometrician，acontentiousargumentupontheaforesaidsubjectscouldnothaveexisted。But，asitis，thedialecticalargumentisnotconcernedwithanydefinitekindofbeing，nordoesitshowanything，norisitevenanargumentsuchaswefindinthegeneralphilosophyofbeing。Forallbeingsarenotcontainedinanyonekind，nor，iftheywere，couldtheypossiblyfallunderthesameprinciples。Accordingly，noartthatisamethodofshowingthenatureofanythingproceedsbyaskingquestions：foritdoesnotpermitamantograntwhicheverhelikesofthetwoalternativesinthequestion：fortheywillnotbothofthemyieldaproof。Dialectic，ontheotherhand，doesproceedbyquestioning，whereasifitwereconcernedtoshowthings，itwouldhaverefrainedfromputtingquestions，evenifnotabouteverything，atleastaboutthefirstprinciplesandthespecialprinciplesthatapplytotheparticularsubjectinhand。Forsupposetheanswerernottograntthese，itwouldthennolongerhavehadanygroundsfromwhichtoargueanylongeragainsttheobjection。Dialecticisatthesametimeamodeofexaminationaswell。Forneitheristheartofexaminationanaccomplishmentofthesamekindasgeometry，butonewhichamanmaypossess，eventhoughhehasnotknowledge。Foritispossibleevenforonewithoutknowledgetoholdanexaminationofonewhoiswithoutknowledge，ifalsothelattergrantshimpointstakennotfromthingthatheknowsorfromthespecialprinciplesofthesubjectunderdiscussionbutfromallthatrangeofconsequencesattachingtothesubjectwhichamanmayindeedknowwithoutknowingthetheoryofthesubject，butwhichifhedonotknow，heisboundtobeignorantofthetheory。Sothenclearlytheartofexaminingdoesnotconsistinknowledgeofanydefinitesubject。Forthisreason，too，itdealswitheverything：forevery’theory’ofanythingemploysalsocertaincommonprinciples。Henceeverybody，includingevenamateurs，makesuseinawayofdialecticandthepracticeofexamining：forallundertaketosomeextentaroughtrialofthosewhoprofesstoknowthings。Whatservesthemhereisthegeneralprinciples：fortheyknowtheseofthemselvesjustaswellasthescientist，evenifinwhattheysaytheyseemtothelattertogowildlyastrayfromthem。All，then，areengagedinrefutation；fortheytakeahandasamateursinthesametaskwithwhichdialecticisconcernedprofessionally；andheisadialecticianwhoexaminesbythehelpofatheoryofreasoning。Nowtherearemanyidenticalprincipleswhicharetrueofeverything，thoughtheyarenotsuchastoconstituteaparticularnature，i。e。aparticularkindofbeing，butarelikenegativeterms，whileotherprinciplesarenotofthiskindbutarespecialtoparticularsubjects；accordinglyitispossiblefromthesegeneralprinciplestoholdanexaminationoneverything，andthatthereshouldbeadefiniteartofsodoing，and，moreover，anartwhichisnotofthesamekindasthosewhichdemonstrate。Thisiswhythecontentiousreasonerdoesnotstandinthesameconditioninallrespectsasthedrawerofafalsediagram：
forthecontentiousreasonerwillnotbegiventomisreasoningfromanydefiniteclassofprinciples，butwilldealwitheveryclass。