organon

American  

[awr-guh-non] / ˈɔr gəˌnɒn /

noun

• organa,
  plural
• organons
  plural

1. an instrument of thought or knowledge.

2. Philosophy. a system of rules or principles of demonstration or investigation.

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organon British  

/ ˈɔːɡəˌnɒn /

noun

1. a system of logical or scientific rules, esp that of Aristotle

2. archaic a sense organ, regarded as an instrument for acquiring knowledge

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• organa
  plural
• organons
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of organon

First recorded in 1580–90; from Greek órganon; see organ

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

organon organa organons

Where Thomas Aquinas, in his thirteenth century “Summa Theologica,” wished to systematize all of Christian doctrine, Lem wrote a secular organon of human civilization’s entanglement with machines.

From The New Yorker ● Jan. 6, 2019

He worked out the first "organon," or manual of logical thought.

From Time Magazine Archive

They had of course inherited the technology from Ktesibios's hydraulis organ - and the name organum likewise comes from the Greek organon, meaning instrument or tool.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Logic is the doctrine of the organon of science, and when applied is the organon of science.

From International Congress of Arts and Science, Volume I Philosophy and Metaphysics by Various

Like many other termini technici, it must be understood historically; just as logic, metaphysic, analytic, organon, etc., can only be apprehended and understood historically.

From The Silesian Horseherd - Questions of the Hour by F. Max (Friedrich Max) Müller

Winchester’s Troper of two-voice organa manuscripts and its mighty four- hundred-voice pipe organ were the work of Anglo-Saxon Christians.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

A commentator on Aristotle, writing in the 4th century A.D., calls certain instruments used for fusion and calcination "chuika organa," that is, instruments for melting and pouring.

From The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry by M. M. Pattison Muir

Or clumsy chilblain'd judgment; that with oath Magnificates his merit; and beapawls The conscious time, with humorous foam and brawls, As if his organons of sense would crack The sinews of my patience.

From The Poetaster by Ben Jonson

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