Miscellanies 8.4.12

But if he tries to cut the examination short by asking questions, it is clear that he does not even want to listen. But if he chooses to answer, first of all we must ask him to what thing he applies the name “animal”; and when he has answered this, we must ask again what “what is conceived” or “what is in the womb” signifies to him: whether by “what is in the womb” he means also the things not yet formed and the seed itself that has been deposited, or only what is already articulated and formed, the so-called embryos. When he has answered this too, one must then conclude and teach the matter at hand in order. But if he wants us to speak without answering himself, let him hear: “Since you are unwilling to say of what signified thing you are speaking in what you proposed (for then I would not be arguing about meanings but would already be examining the things themselves), know that you have done something like this: as if you had proposed whether the dog is an animal. For I might reasonably say, ‘What sort of dog?’ For I will go through the land dog and the sea dog and the star in the heavens, and also Diogenes and the other dogs in turn. For I could not divine whether you are asking about all or about one. What you will do later, then, do now: say clearly which one you are inquiring about. But if you are twisting about names, then the very name ‘what is conceived’ is plainly, to everyone, neither an animal nor a plant, but a name and a sound and a body and a being and a something, and anything rather than an animal. And if this is what you proposed, you have your answer.”