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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.


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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of organon

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

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

But he corrected Aristotle's method of examining nature, instituting a "new organon" of inductive logic�accumulating facts, theorizing later.

From Time Magazine Archive

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

How can they abase grand humanity to the level of their social organon, affecting to control it with their arbitrary absolutisms, their mammon deification, their mimic infallibility!

From She and I, Volume 1 by Hutcheson, John C. (John Conroy)

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 Muir, M. M. Pattison

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 Jonson, Ben

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