Much of this was taken from Jason Costanzo’s lecture on YouTube. Thank you for providing the free content. I’m providing my notes from the lecture here.
Aristotle’s philosophy introduced a framework of categories that help describe and analyze the nature of reality. These categories serve as fundamental ways to classify aspects of the world, focusing on different dimensions of being and understanding. Below is a quick summary of some key categories, including Action vs. Passion, Time and Place, Quality, and Relation.
Words as Signs
- That which is vocally transmitted are signs (symbola) of passions in the soul (en te psyche pathematon), and that which is written are signs of that which is vocally transmitted. (On Interpretation 1.1)
Aristotle on the Soul / Perception
- The Soul (psyche): At birth, the soul is like a tabula rasa (blank slate).
- Compare to Plato’s Ideas before birth.
- Sensory experience involves passive reception of impressions (phantasmata).
- Impressions consist of a compound form (eidos) and matter (hyle), endowed with various properties.
- The form (eidos) is sealed upon the soul akin to wax.
- Words as Signs: Mental signs or symbols of sensory experience, including vocal and written utterances.
- Realism: Words denote real things and their relations to things, including universal concepts such as “animal” or “color.”
The Organon (= The Instrument)
Aristotle discovered the laws of logic, compiling them into texts later referred to as the Organon:
- The Categories: On terms.
- On Interpretation: On judgments.
- Prior Analytics: On arguments and syllogisms.
- Posterior Analytics: On scientific knowledge.
- Topics: On dialectic.
- Sophistical Refutations: On fallacies.
The Categories
- Category: A ‘term of predication,’ e.g., “Socrates is human.”
- Categories are the highest genera (classifications) of things:
- Substance: Material substance → living thing.
- Ten Categories:
- Substance (ousia): “Man, dog, tree.”
- Quantity (poson): “two feet long, three feet deep.”
- Quality (poion): “white, grammatical, sharp, bitter.”
- Relation (pros ti): “double, half, taller.”
- Location (pou): “in St. John’s Hall, in the parking lot.”
- Time (pote): “yesterday, today, tomorrow.”
- Position (keisthai): “lying down, sitting.”
- Possession (exein): “has shoes on, has a hat on.”
- Action (poiein): “cutting, burning.”
- Passion (paschein): “being cut, being burnt.”
Relations among Terms
- Homonymous / Two Types:
- A. Equivocal: Same terms, but distinct in sense.
- “pen” as writing instrument and pig “pen.”
- “date” as fruit and “date” as meeting. - B. Analogical: Different terms, but similar in sense.
- “healthy” said of body, medicine, exercise, food.
- “animal” said of Socrates and a picture of Socrates.
- Synonymous (or Univocal): Same term, same sense.
- “human” as applied equally of Peter and Mary.
- “color” as applied to Red and Blue.
- Paronymous: Things sharing common terminological roots.
- “grammar” versus “grammatical.”
Other Categories
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Action vs. Passion: Action involves the activity of an agent, while passion involves being acted upon by an agent. For example, when I lift a ball, I am the active agent, and the ball is the passive agent.
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When: Concerns time and temporality.
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Where: Refers to locality, place, and space.
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Position: Indicates the orientation of a thing.
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Possession: Involves the appropriation of an object by a subject, e.g., “my body,” “John’s hat.”
Relation
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Real Relation: Involves an actual relationship between things, such as cause and effect.
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Logical Relation: Exists within reasoning and thinking. For instance, “All humans are mortal” is logically related to “No human is immortal” as a contradiction—if the first is true, the second is false.
Quality
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A. Alterable Qualities: These are qualities that undergo change, usually sensory, such as hot, cold, smooth, hard, red, or green.
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B. Shape and Figure: Refers to the outer limits of a body, like a shadow.
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C. Powers: Distinguishing capacities that enable a subject to perform specific acts, such as thinking, willing, walking, or running.
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D. Habits: Stable qualities related to skills or perfections in a subject, like speaking, drawing, or driving.
Quantity
- Continuous vs. Discrete: E.g., a straight line vs. a broken line.
- Indefinite (potentially infinite) vs. Infinite: For example, 1, 2, 3… (indefinite) vs. (infinite).
- Substances have size and may be counted, but quantity is distinct from substance:
- This small bird & that small bird = two small birds.
- However, “two/small” + “bird” are distinct.
Substance vs. Accident
- Substances: These are “bearers of properties.”
- Accidents: Such properties are called the “accidents” of substance.
- Substance:
- Examples: Socrates, God, this tree, “3”, etc.
- Self-subsistent.
- The underlying subject of properties.
- Accident [Property, Attribute]:
- Examples: “Quantity, quality, relation, etc.”
- White haired, perfect, 15ft tall, odd, etc.
- Subsists in and through another.
- That which inheres in a subject.