11.
This is a fallacy.
For the first syllogism refers to him who is actually drunk and not to him who is about to get drunk.
You will surely admit that there is a great difference between a man who is drunk and a drunkard.
He who is actually drunk may be in this state for the first time and may not have the habit, while the drunkard is often free from drunkenness.
I therefore interpret the word in its usual meaning, especially since the syllogism is set up by a man who makes a business of the careful use of words, and who weighs his language.
Moreover, if this is what Zeno meant, and what he wished it to mean to us, he was trying to avail himself of an equivocal word in order to work in a fallacy; and no man ought to do this when truth is the object of inquiry.
Book: Moral Letters Vol II
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: On drunkenness
Location: Chapter 83, Section 11
Content:
11.
This is a fallacy.
For the first syllogism refers to him who is actually drunk and not to him who is about to get drunk.
You will surely admit that there is a great difference between a man who is drunk and a drunkard.
He who is actually drunk may be in this state for the first time and may not have the habit, while the drunkard is often free from drunkenness.
I therefore interpret the word in its usual meaning, especially since the syllogism is set up by a man who makes a business of the careful use of words, and who weighs his language.
Moreover, if this is what Zeno meant, and what he wished it to mean to us, he was trying to avail himself of an equivocal word in order to work in a fallacy; and no man ought to do this when truth is the object of inquiry.