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Aristotle's Analytic Tools, Mary Mulhern
Aristotle's Analytic Tools, Mary Mulhern
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
Aristotle developed analytic tools to deal with conceptual difficulties that were important in his time. Some of these tools are his explicit analysis of homonymy, his eightfold classification of subjects and predicates and its elaboration into the predicaments and predicables, his syntactical analysis of ordinary language sentences, and his construction of a formal language for deductive and demonstrative syllogistic. Some of these conceptual difficulties are traceable to theories of Ideas, in which definitory predicates were not distinguished from non-definitory ones, as for instance in Hypothesis V of the Parmenides, where it is argued that the (non-existent) one is not equal …
Aristotle's Formal Language, Mary Mulhern
Aristotle's Formal Language, Mary Mulhern
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
A formal language was invented by Aristotle and used by him in his lectures. This formal language consisted of Greek capital letters used as placeholders, arrayed in the schemata of the three figures recognized as authentically Aristotle’s. In these arrays, arcs under the placeholder letters indicate how the terms are linked in the premisses and conclusion and are read as some inflection of ΰπάρχειν, used by Aristotle as a second- order expression to convey the relation that the terms—not the designata of the terms-of a syllogism have to one another. It is further possible that Aristotle elaborated the three- term …
Is There A Focal Meaning Of Being In Aristotle?, Jiyuan Yu
Is There A Focal Meaning Of Being In Aristotle?, Jiyuan Yu
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
At the beginning of Metaphysics Γ Aristotle claims that there is a science which is concerned with being qua being. 'Being’ is said in many senses. Different beings are not said to be purely homonymous, but rather to be “related to one thing (πρόσ ἕν)”(1003a33- 4). G.E.L Owen translates this ττρός ἕν formula as "focal meaning", and in his paraphrase, it means that all the “senses [of ‘being’] have one focus, one common element”, or “a central sense”, so that “all its senses can be explained in terms of substance and of the sense of ‘being’ that is appropriate to …
Aristotle On Existential Import And Nonreferring Subjects, Scott Carson
Aristotle On Existential Import And Nonreferring Subjects, Scott Carson
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
Much contemporary philosophy o f language has shown considerable interest in the relation between our linguistic practice and our metaphysical commitments, and this interest has begun to influence work in the history of philosophy as well. In his Categories and De interpretatione, Aristotle presents an analysis of language that can be read as intended to illustrate an isomorphism between the ontology of the real world and how we talk about that world. Our understanding of language is at least in part dependent upon our understanding of the relationships that exist among the enduring πράγματα that we come across in our …
Being According To Aristotle's Metaphysics Delta, Richard Bodeus
Being According To Aristotle's Metaphysics Delta, Richard Bodeus
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
In ordinary language, what is said 'being' is so-called in several different ways. In his attempt to clarify this important point, Aristotle introduces distinctions that are not as easily grasped as one might at first believe. Commentators are particular troubled by what 'being per se' means, especially in relation to the 'categories'. Some of them are also surprised to see that Aristotle leaves no room for what one might call 'existential being.' And other aspects of Aristotle's account raise additional problems. I hope to contribute to a more successful understanding of Aristotle's general aim in this text.
Ontological Structures In Aristotle, Donald Morrison
Ontological Structures In Aristotle, Donald Morrison
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
According to the traditional view of the Categories, the ten "categories" are the highest genera of beings. Each of them stands at the head of a tree-like division of the the items falling under it; this division is also sometimes called a "category". The metaphysical structure made up of these ten divisions is the "system of the categories". According to the traditional view, the system of the categories is very rigidly laid out. Not only is every being included in the structure, but every being has exactly one location. Each being is predicated essentially of those below it along the …
Substances, Accidents, And Kinds: Some Remarks On Aristotle's Theory Of Predication, Frank A. Lewis
Substances, Accidents, And Kinds: Some Remarks On Aristotle's Theory Of Predication, Frank A. Lewis
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
A major feature of Aristotle's strategy against Plato in the Categories is to collapse the dichotomy that Plato's theory of (metaphysical) predication attempts to make between forms and sensibles. In Aristotle's theory, Socrates IS some of his predicables, but HAS others. He IS what is essential to him, and HAS the rest. These different relations between Socrates and his various predicables form a large part of the motivation for the further ontological distinctions that Aristotle draws in the Categories.
Predication And Immanence: Anaxagoras, Plato, Eudoxus, And Aristotle, Russell M. Dancy
Predication And Immanence: Anaxagoras, Plato, Eudoxus, And Aristotle, Russell M. Dancy
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
A theory of predication invokes immanence if it explains why snow is white by introducing something that is in snow that accounts for its being white. Aristotle's theory of predication in the Categories is partly immanentist, see Cat. 2, 1a24-25. My object here is to shed some indirect light on this passage. I suggest that the comment is a disclaimer responding to an immanentist theory of predication under discussion in the Academy, according to which the something that is immanent in snow that makes it white is a physical ingredient. This theory was an idea of Eudoxus'. Aristotle was sympathetic …
Is Αγαθον A Pros Hen Equivocal In Aristotle's Ethics?, Lawrence Jost
Is Αγαθον A Pros Hen Equivocal In Aristotle's Ethics?, Lawrence Jost
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
Is agathon a pros hen equivocal? EN does not unambiguously endorse this idea, and it is difficult to defend. EE remains silent on the question.
Aristotle And Plato's Theory Of Transcendent Ideas, Chung-Hwan Chen
Aristotle And Plato's Theory Of Transcendent Ideas, Chung-Hwan Chen
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
No abstract provided.