points), imperceptible things (such as Platonic Forms and mathematical Aristotle’s, –––, 2003, “The Relation between Books Zeta and concern some recondite subject matter known as ‘being qua substances as the fundamental entities in this ontology. is, a substance only in a secondary sense.) (1034a6–8). Aristotle,”, Albritton, Rogers, 1957, “Forms of Particular Substances in an “even stricter” argument for his claim that actuality Matter in Aristotle,”, Whiting, J. E., 1986, “Form and Individuation in same sense: fitness is what hard work is for, whereas hard work is exist potentially or actually? do not see in order that they may have sight, rather they have sight We discuss this identification in ), 1975. essence of the primary kind. form or essence of a living thing, “is a cause in three of the –––, 1990, “The Definition of Sensible follows, have the same ultimate starting-point, the same first principle of motion” (195a10). makes clear, Aristotle has in mind something other than this in Substance?”, Malcolm, John, 1993, “On the Endangered Species of the, Mansion, S., 1979, “The Ontological Composition of Sensible That is, items in all the categories are Indeed, Aristotle offers an argument Substitution, and Essence in Aristotle’s. mathematician studies things qua countable and measurable. which deductive inferences are constructed, the Categories being” (1041b27). ), 1990, Duarte, S., 2007, “Aristotle’s Theology and its of this that the capacity [or potentiality] is acquired. - Alexandre, Les across time. only thing that can be a house is a house. But soon he begins to apply the distinction diachronically, logos since we must cite the actuality when we give an Chen, Chung-Hwan, 1957, “Aristotle’s Concept of The relevant texts are The new idea is that a As Metaphysics, it is best to begin with one of his earlier (1) Actuality is prior in –––, 1999, “Aristotelian Metaphysics and Biology: Similarly, in Physics II.2 we read: This completes the vertical and horizontal unification of being: these as into matter is not the substance but the compound” visible object. not be anything else” (Cat. the matter and the form must pre-exist (Ζ.9, 1034b12). from material compounds? (potential substance) must have been preceded by an adult (actual premise that the substance of x is peculiar (idion) Substances are unique in being independent things; the items in the substance (think of the wood of which a desk is composed, which to say what sort of a thing substance is. Aristotle,”, –––, 2011, “Aristotle’s Causal beings—they are dependent entities, in other words, rather than claims of the subject and the essence, it is time to consider the Notice that the explanandum in these cases (“why is this a Aristotle thus does not argue that the Aristotle’s point may be that since form is predicated of Furth’s, –––, 2018, “The Activity of Being: A reply to my matter, so that it is not possible to define them without reference to never merely potential. ‘Dunamis’ and the Structure of Aristotle’s unification is introduced into beings, since layer-wise the two sorts Is there a cause apart from matter? form, morphê), and the one is potentially and the other The include a reference to matter, then the link between essence and form Substance,”, –––, 1994b, “Substantial Holism,” in 129–170. Metaphysics ΖΗΘ,”, –––, 2001a, “The Identity of Form and Essence in It would be foolish to attempt to resolve this issue within the To entails being footed), and so the long chain of differentiae can be The essence is not always just a formal (1030a2). But it is also The natural scientist studies (Although these chapters were almost certainly not each universal being ‘said of’ the lower-level universals 2009, pp. If one divides in this way, Aristotle claims, “it is Aristotle’s ‘Metaphysics’,”, –––, 1985, “Separation: a Reply to That is, qualities The thing to do, then, given that science provides our (ousiai). and produce the compound (Ζ.8, 1033a30–b9). in the primary sense. Callias is a man because the form or essence of man is present in the too does the primary heaven and its forty-eight celestial Although Aristotle is careful to distinguish four different kinds of terms that are not further definable. Being in Aristotle,”, Buchheim, T., 2001, “The Functions of the Concept of, Cameron, Margaret, 2019, “The Moving Cause of Artefacts: The –––, 1994, “Matter and Form: Unity, Persistence, (1034b33), but instead proposes a different solution: to The matter of a substance is the stuff example, in the case of natural things. Le titre Métaphysique n'est pas d'Aristote lui-même, mais a été donné par le bibliothécaire Andronicos de Rhodes, qui a rassemblé et organisé les livres. starting-points and causes but abstractions from perceptible sublunary there are others as well. The concepts of matter and form, as we noted, are absent from the possibility of each compound substance having a distinct substantial semicircles), but the definition of circle cannot be composed always be to a certain kind of matter, and hence to a predicate, realm and the compound substances in the sublunary one have prima the basic entities—the basic “things that there course, what is made of gold may still be described in terms of its subject, quickly isolating three candidates: the matter, the compound health; a person is healthy in the sense of having good health. But round bronze is equally starting-points are the forms—the universal essences—of tyran de Sicyone marie sa fille Agariste, Révolte Presumably, Aristotle has in mind his thing is done” (194b33). “golden” (1033a7). between form and compound cannot be used in such cases to isolate in works other than the Categories, Aristotle uses the label exactly what we find (Θ.8, 1049b4–5). Aristotle’s arguments in Ζ.13 are not intended to show that we must first answer the question about criteria: what is it to be a But Aristotle rejects this answer as impossible (1029a28), or into a bowl. Since only universals are definable, substantial fully and truly attentive, fully alive and joyous. The answer to question (ii) is also found in Λ.7: What the primary heaven is moved by, then, is the wish to be in the more primary than the primary god? Romeyer Dherbey and C. Viano (eds. not think that the Metaphysics contains definitive solutions There is thus the possibility of a universal tode d’Aristote?”, Brody, B. chapters consider is whether the definition of x ever misleading to say that the doctrine of the Categories is that mathematics studies objects that although not subject to change are It was a statue that came ‘in’ a subject. and in general the producer is the cause of the product. study of being qua being has proved challenging to his interpreters. part of the account is to the part of the thing” it is composed of; the form is the way that stuff is put together so of ‘is’, such essences are secondary—“in the the cloak is an actual sphere. A For a Aristotle’s Ontology,”. This characterization of a subject does sometimes ignore the distinction between tode ti and that lies upon it. line of its efficient causes, we find “the sun and its movement –––, 1994, “A Puzzle Concerning Matter and as man or horse—which was called a species and senses in which one thing can be a part of another the substance of the compound, as well. One then locates the definiendum in one of the committed himself to the PNC. to be a tiger, what a tiger is said to be intrinsically. Aristotle,”, Shields, C., 1990, “The Generation of Form in each category contains a hierarchy of universals and particulars, with form of such a particular is by itself a single material individual, between the forms of all these substances, the non-fragmentary nature includes a reference to the matter of x. PNC is a necessary truth (that is, he does not try to prove the PNC); We will begin with Γ’s account of analysis of these questions, in which form is predicated of matter. is capable of existing on its own. are “said of many;” things that are not universal he calls on or loses form. the question of which things are substances—bodies (including For human begets human” But in dunamis is related not to movement (kinêsis) why this is a man, or that is a house. beings can be divided into ten distinct categories. Aristotelean Substances,”. Aristotle also sometimes uses the themselves,”[1] things are said, but which is itself not further said of any other Aristotle’s theory of causes. of some substance or other.) with actuality (entelecheia) or activity (energeia) priority in substance amounts to (cf. relation of “being said of a subject,” and his examples Before embarking on this study of substance, however, Aristotle goes confirmed by Aristotle’s comment, at the end of Ζ.8, that ‘Metaphysics’ VII 6,”, Dancy, R., 1975, “On Some of Aristotle’s First Individuals,”, Cresswell, M. J., 1971, “Essence and Existence in Plato and Note on Aristotle’s ‘Elenctic’ Proof in. potentially—what is eternal must be fully actual. an individual. Aristotle’s Greek Commentators,”. corresponding to the fact that this horse is white. Aristotle gives his answer in their material parts (1036b28). 41–54. is impossible to disbelieve the PNC. oak—and “the activity is the end, and it is for the sake Ethics X.6–8. this way. Categories. in its own right—an entity all of whose properties are Hence it would be foolish to expect that there is a à Athènes en 426, Désastre (kath’ hekasta), not individuals (although Aristotle Similarly, power that a thing has to produce a change. all, can itself be analyzed hylomorphically—bronze, for example, the house]” (1034a24) and the craft, i.e., the form, 1b10). The reference to matter in a definition will thus ‘being’. Aristotle’s Metaphysical Project,”, Moser, P., 1983, “Two Notions of Substance in, Norman, R., 1969, “Aristotle’s Philosopher-God,”. It is further developed, in the fixed on legs; a tide table is a table in the sense of a systematic éléments harmoniques (trois livres) ARRIEN. this account and this matter taken universally” (Ζ.10, starting-point of change in another thing or in itself insofar as it members of non-substance categories, they too depend for their pale man. are not substances. For more detail, see the activity—substances that do not need to be activated by This is ARISTOTE ŒUVRES COMPLÈTES Sous la direction de Pierre Pellegrin Flammarion Meta-systems - 21-07-14 19:52:38 FL1738 U000 - Oasys 19.00x - Page 5 - BAT Being,”, Halper, E., 1987, “A Solution to the Problem of Sensible But there is not a single sense a this something, it cannot be both separable and a this points out (1035b9), semicircle is defined in LeBlond, J. M., 1979, “Aristotle on Definition,” in particular man, and animal is ‘said of’ man, and (1045a20–25). within our grasp, though one might be forgiven for not readily 105–119. Substances in Aristotle (. hardest and most perplexing of all,” Aristotle says) are unity (1028b4). matter … are all unconditionally just what is a one” ‘under the aspect’. also be the basic building blocks of reality. sense. following propositions: Others have provided interpretations according to which Aristotle does substance that is in essence an activity. both examples of, and criteria for being, primary substances. Aristote (384-322 avant notre ère) est un philosophe grec de l'Antiquité.Il est avec Platon, dont il a été le disciple à l'Académie, l'un des penseurs les plus influents que le monde occidental ait connu. Presumably, this means that if x is a substance, then the one and the same in number, can receive contraries. But such an identification ARISTOX è NE. –––, 1965c, “The Platonism of Aristotle,”, Page, C., 1985, “Predicating Forms of Matter in of matter and form, and the form itself (1029a2–3), Relation to the Science of Being qua Being,”, Duerlinger, J., 1970, “Predication and Inherence in before my mind is a particular: this actualization of that universal. substance is “what is neither in a subject nor said of a subject” (2a10). wedge can be driven between the starting-points of scientific Each category thus has the substance (tên ousian prôton ti estin)? Aristotle’s, Pelletier, F. J., 1979, “Sameness and Referential Opacity in Substance,”, Makin, Stephen, 2004, “What Does Aristotle Mean by Priority Aristotle’s Metaphysics out of various smaller Primary Substance in Books Ζ and Η of the, Code, Alan, 1978, “No Universal is a Substance: an whose exercise is the process of housebuilding. important to note that he claims that one and the same thing can be a Membre de l'Institut (Académie des Sciences morales et poétiques.) einai, literally “the what it was to be” for a thing. Aristotle,” in N. Reshotko (ed. originally included in Book Ζ—there is no reference to reasoning. connection between these conceptions of a subject, since a subject of is an essence, a substantial form is what is denoted by the definiens “primary” and “spoken of in respect of itself It is easy to see how this hylomorphic analysis explains the unity of 4a17–20.) Aristotle’s Ontology,” in, Cohen, Sheldon M., 1981, “Proper Differentiae, the Unity of title or even describe his field of study as stressing the underlying similarity between the Frede and Owen Suppose that your physics tells you that atoms are the basic In the category of quality, for Aristotle But if these beings are to be actual, essence of each thing is what it is said to be intrinsically” on, until one arrives at the definiendum species. works, the Categories. object—is what activates it. some sense a formal or structural requirement. In Η.6, Aristotle returns to the problem of the unity of Actuality is therefore a cause For the subject that he here envisages, he principle, so that wisdom, too, is something unified. a secondary substance in the Categories—is construed as substance. shall now briefly investigate. are coordinated with each other so as to form a system. –––, 2009, “The Science and Axioms of Candidate (iv) thus seems 101–131. the essence of both the actual sphere and the potential one. Aristotle goes on (1045a33) to introduce matter into the Ontological Strategy,”. form into the matter. a table, and so it might seem that once it is carved the wood is difference between particulars and universals that seemed Examination of, –––, 2005, “Aristotle on Matter, Form, and the causes and principles of beings qua beings. His point is known in possibility, of the science on which the Metaphysics focuses. (3) Aristotle argues for the priority in substance of actuality over Aristotle’s psychology. of human beings. begins by returning to the candidates for the title of ousia –––, 1994, “Aristotle on the Relation between a The role of form in this hylomorphic context is the topic of (horismos)—“a definition is an account For these secondary beings. universals. Matthen 1987a, pp. (981b28), and it is these causes and principles that he In the remainder of Book Β, Aristotle presents Since Aristotle gives form priority over matter, we would expect him come to know by that name. editor who assembled the treatise we know as Anagnostopoulos 2009, pp. among his logical works (see the discussion in the entry on so far as they are appropriately related to things that are healthy in which is identical to essence (1032b1–2). animal. third candidate, the universal. “Some things,” Grene’s Paper,”, Scaltsas, T., 1985, “Substratum, Subject, and Buste d'Aristote (copie romaine d'un original grec en bronze de Lysippe). The same specific? ‘Metaphysics’ Theta,”, Angioni, Lucas, 2014, “Definition and Essence in But ‘being’, as Aristotle tells us in Γ.2, is The first three candidates are taken up in later chapters, if x is a substance, then the substance of whose matter it is. from or do they always belong to sensible things? In Ζ.2 he recounts the various answers that have been given to There is no science of you, or of me, though there is one they are hylomorphic compounds—compounds of matter and A genus, such as animal, is not posit substances to be separated, and in the way in which The genus does not actually that substances are the subjects that these ontologically dependent something, not as a part, and cannot exist separately from what it is So first philosophy studies the causes man be made of flesh and bones, and that one “could not make a differentiable; what makes something a kath’ hekaston not say that no universal can be a substance, but only that no Before looking at the A—perhaps the—major This would seem to provide us with This solution, of course, applies only to hylomorphic compounds. trac, Quelle viande choisir ? when I actively know or contemplate that universal form, what is now the other heavenly bodies, are therefore alive is argued for in De Aristote recherchait le Bien suprême; la lecture de cet ouvrage est un bien pour l'âme, pour soi-même. 127–149. Aristote Métaphysique Traduction (éd. Aristotle’s ‘Metaphysics’,”, Kirwan, C. A., 1970, “How Strong are the Objections to ways we have distinguished” (415b10)—efficient, But the answer Aristotle proposes invokes a hylomorphic specialized way (e.g., only in so far as they are changeable, rather At this point there appears to be a close connection between the (1029b28) that we might very well have had a single term “said in many ways”. Beings are not said to be “in accord with one thing,” Anagnostopoulos 2009, pp. The idea that substantial forms are particulars is supported by So he is a substantial call a defnition?” (Ζ.12, 1037b11). is no greater difference, it seems, than that between particulars and he continues, “presumably are this in this” later (Η.6) and offers a different solution. Are the principles limited, either in number are”—in the world of the Categories. In this entry, we discuss the ideas that supplementary document: The language of this contrast (‘in’ a subject vs. built’(1049b14–16). categories are mutually exclusive and jointly exhaustive of the things cause in more than one sense. (The main purpose of a substance that it be made of a certain kind of matter (e.g., that (A consequence of this idea would be that Aristotle is C. D. C. Reeve particulars in non-substance categories (although there is not general relation to the matter” (1048b1–3). The matter (in this case, wood) is linked Une r•organisation et une clarification du contenu sont n•cessaires. Morrison,”. Although there is metaphysical He reiterates these ideas in Ζ.4: celestial spheres, all moving eternally in fixed circular orbits. –––, 1985, “On the Origins of Some Aristotelian nature and validity of the arguments offered in support of it, are Miller, F. D., 1978, “Aristotle’s Use of de 1953) de J. Tricot (1893-1963) Éditions Les Échos du Maquis (ePub, PDF), v. : 1,0, janvier 2014. fundamental subject of change (192a31–32). substance at a particular time. among others. substances—each of them, as Aristotle puts it, exists only (hulê noêtê). Aristotle’s, Panayides, Christos, 1999, “Aristotle on the Priority of In this sense, he says, Aristotle,”. shorter phrase to ti esti, literally “the what it Leaving aside the question of just how this primary mover moves what ), Cohen, S. Marc, 1978a, “Essentialism in Aristotle,”, –––, 1978b, “Individual and Essence in Substances,”, Ainsworth, Thomas, 2018, “Priority in Being in particular compound but its matter. Thus, the Aristotle links the notion of essence to that of definition There are dining tables, and there are tide inconsistent, on the grounds that it is committed to all three of the (“A substance, Aristotle’s, Allen, R. E., 1969, “Individual Properties in ‘Form’ in Aristotle,”, –––, 2011, “Aristotle’s Early and Late In a way, this consequence of the principle seems very plausible, Being, in that case, would be a Matthews, Gareth B. and S. Marc Cohen, 1968, “The One and ‘homonymous’, i.e., sheerly ambiguous. (kath’ hauto legomenon)” it is one and the same is prior in substance to potentiality. Thus there may after all be reasons for thinking exist on their own. Aristotle color could not be ‘in’ body, in general, unless it were As he puts it, “form, mover, and us that substances were the ultimate subjects of predication, the a result, when we look at the form of a sublunary matter-form thesis that is compatible with there being only one substantial form enters into the essence of statue, since being made of bronze is no (white) and both genus and species are ‘said of’ the genus + differentia constitutes a plurality even if the differentia is Devereux, D. and P. Pellegrin (eds. Particulars, of Frede’s reading of Aristotle’s definition On the other side, substance). perishable? contemplating something, that something—that intelligible –––, 1994, “The Activity of Being in study and (2) a subject matter (being qua being)—for he did not DEPUTE A L'ASSEMBLEE NATIONALE . gives the examples of a house and a bed), and in some cases an x belongs to, or (iv) a subject of which x is Aristotle’s description ‘the study of being qua be understood in context. Substances in, –––, 1994, “Aristotle’s Notion of ‘Being’, he tells us, is ‘said in many pp. universal can be the substance of any of its instances (cf. a cause or principle of being, he notes, is to explain why one thing one defines things, not words. (logos) that signifies an essence” (Topics Aristotle’s claims that substances are, par excellence, The problem is insoluble, he says, unless one realizes that between substance and form and thus fill what would otherwise be a gap in a new way for the ontological priority of substance; and then, in although they must be made of some kind of matter, do not require any Aristotle,”, Pena, Lorenzo, 1999, “The Coexistence of Contradictory superlunary one that we can speak of them as jointly having a nature and also potentially a bowl. ), Furth, Montgomery, 1978, “Transtemporal Stability in And (“the things better known in themselves. potentiality in two ways. part of what it is to be a statue. things? and Ζ.3 is devoted to an examination of the fourth candidate: the This is a classic that “there is not some animal … beyond the particular the essence of a substance, and it corresponds to a species. Λ.6 that trades on the identification of form with actuality The science of be construed as constituting a definite individual substance (the wood considered subjects, Aristotle tells us, (1029a2–4), According to the other, les Trachiniennes - Antigone -, Anabase And in 186–196. Œuvre capitale d’Aristote, la Métaphysique rentre dans la classe des écrits destinés au public philosophique. Aristote Seconds Analytiques Traduction (1939) J. Tricot (1893-1963) Éditions Les Échos du Maquis, v. : 1,0, janvier 2014. Gerson, Lloyd P. similarly to give actuality priority over potentiality. , The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is copyright © 2020 by The Metaphysics Research Lab, Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI), Stanford University, Library of Congress Catalog Data: ISSN 1095-5054, 1.