Philosophy Commons^™

Aristotle On Unity: Metaphysics Delta 6, Constantine Georgiadis

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The brief passage on accidental unity (ἕv κατὰ συμβεβηκός) in Chapter 6 of Metaphysics Δ (1015b 16-34) raises a number of questions for which the text does not provide explicit answers. Aristotle does not define the nature of accidental unity, nor does he explain the status and character of the items which partake in accidental unities. One may wonder whether those items pertain to language, or to reality or whether they involve a certain relation of language to reality. Aristotle lists different examples which are purported to illustrate different kinds of accidental unity but those kinds are not described in …