Categories.docx
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Categories
CATEGORIES
byAristotletranslatedbyE.M.Edghill1
Thingsaresaidtobenamed'equivocally'when,thoughtheyhaveacommonname,thedefinitioncorrespondingwiththenamediffersforeach.Thus,arealmanandafigureinapicturecanbothlayclaimtothename'animal';yettheseareequivocallysonamed,for,thoughtheyhaveacommonname,thedefinitioncorrespondingwiththenamediffersforeach.Forshouldanyonedefineinwhatsenseeachisananimal,hisdefinitionintheonecasewillbeappropriatetothatcaseonly.
Ontheotherhand,thingsaresaidtobenamed'univocally'whichhaveboththenameandthedefinitionansweringtothenameincommon.
Amanandanoxareboth'animal',andtheseareunivocallysonamed,inasmuchasnotonlythename,butalsothedefinition,isthesameinbothcases:
forifamanshouldstateinwhatsenseeachisananimal,thestatementintheonecasewouldbeidenticalwiththatintheother.
Thingsaresaidtobenamed'derivatively',whichderivetheirnamefromsomeothername,butdifferfromitintermination.Thusthegrammarianderiveshisnamefromtheword'grammar',andthecourageousmanfromtheword'courage'.
2
Formsofspeechareeithersimpleorcomposite.Examplesofthelatteraresuchexpressionsas'themanruns','themanwins';oftheformer'man','ox','runs','wins'.
Ofthingsthemselvessomearepredicableofasubject,andareneverpresentinasubject.Thus'man'ispredicableoftheindividualman,andisneverpresentinasubject.
Bybeing'presentinasubject'Idonotmeanpresentaspartsarepresentinawhole,butbeingincapableofexistenceapartfromthesaidsubject.
Somethings,again,arepresentinasubject,butareneverpredicableofasubject.Forinstance,acertainpointofgrammaticalknowledgeispresentinthemind,butisnotpredicableofanysubject;oragain,acertainwhitenessmaybepresentinthebody(forcolourrequiresamaterialbasis),yetitisneverpredicableofanything.
Otherthings,again,arebothpredicableofasubjectandpresentinasubject.Thuswhileknowledgeispresentinthehumanmind,itispredicableofgrammar.
Thereis,lastly,aclassofthingswhichareneitherpresentinasubjectnorpredicableofasubject,suchastheindividualmanortheindividualhorse.But,tospeakmoregenerally,thatwhichisindividualandhasthecharacterofaunitisneverpredicableofasubject.Yetinsomecasesthereisnothingtopreventsuchbeingpresentinasubject.Thusacertainpointofgrammaticalknowledgeispresentinasubject.
3
Whenonethingispredicatedofanother,allthatwhichispredicableofthepredicatewillbepredicablealsoofthesubject.
Thus,'man'ispredicatedoftheindividualman;but'animal'ispredicatedof'man';itwill,therefore,bepredicableoftheindividualmanalso:
fortheindividualmanisboth'man'and'animal'.
Ifgeneraaredifferentandco-ordinate,theirdifferentiaearethemselvesdifferentinkind.Takeasaninstancethegenus'animal'
andthegenus'knowledge'.'Withfeet','two-footed','winged','aquatic',aredifferentiaeof'animal';thespeciesofknowledgearenotdistinguishedbythesamedifferentiae.Onespeciesofknowledgedoesnotdifferfromanotherinbeing'two-footed'.
Butwhereonegenusissubordinatetoanother,thereisnothingtopreventtheirhavingthesamedifferentiae:
forthegreaterclassispredicatedofthelesser,sothatallthedifferentiaeofthepredicatewillbedifferentiaealsoofthesubject.
4
Expressionswhichareinnowaycompositesignifysubstance,quantity,quality,relation,place,time,position,state,action,oraffection.Tosketchmymeaningroughly,examplesofsubstanceare'man'or'thehorse',ofquantity,suchtermsas'twocubitslong'
or'threecubitslong',ofquality,suchattributesas'white','grammatical'.'Double','half','greater',fallunderthecategoryofrelation;'inamarketplace','intheLyceum',underthatofplace;'yesterday','lastyear',underthatoftime.'Lying','sitting',aretermsindicatingposition,'shod','armed',state;
'tolance','tocauterize',action;'tobelanced','tobecauterized',affection.
Nooneoftheseterms,inandbyitself,involvesanaffirmation;itisbythecombinationofsuchtermsthatpositiveornegativestatementsarise.Foreveryassertionmust,asisadmitted,beeithertrueorfalse,whereasexpressionswhicharenotinanywaycompositesuchas'man','white','runs','wins',cannotbeeithertrueorfalse.
5
Substance,inthetruestandprimaryandmostdefinitesenseoftheword,isthatwhichisneitherpredicableofasubjectnorpresentinasubject;forinstance,theindividualmanorhorse.Butinasecondarysensethosethingsarecalledsubstanceswithinwhich,asspecies,theprimarysubstancesareincluded;alsothosewhich,asgenera,includethespecies.Forinstance,theindividualmanisincludedinthespecies'man',andthegenustowhichthespeciesbelongsis'animal';these,therefore-thatistosay,thespecies'man'andthegenus'animal,-aretermedsecondarysubstances.
Itisplainfromwhathasbeensaidthatboththenameandthedefinitionofthepredicatemustbepredicableofthesubject.Forinstance,'man'ispredictedoftheindividualman.Nowinthiscasethenameofthespeciesman'isappliedtotheindividual,forweusetheterm'man'indescribingtheindividual;andthedefinitionof'man'willalsobepredicatedoftheindividualman,fortheindividualmanisbothmanandanimal.Thus,boththenameandthedefinitionofthespeciesarepredicableoftheindividual.
Withregard,ontheotherhand,tothosethingswhicharepresentinasubject,itisgenerallythecasethatneithertheirnamenortheirdefinitionispredicableofthatinwhichtheyarepresent.
Though,however,thedefinitionisneverpredicable,thereisnothingincertaincasestopreventthenamebeingused.Forinstance,'white'beingpresentinabodyispredicatedofthatinwhichitispresent,forabodyiscalledwhite:
thedefinition,however,ofthecolourwhite'isneverpredicableofthebody.
Everythingexceptprimarysubstancesiseitherpredicableofaprimarysubstanceorpresentinaprimarysubstance.Thisbecomesevidentbyreferencetoparticularinstanceswhichoccur.'Animal'
ispredicatedofthespecies'man',thereforeoftheindividualman,foriftherewerenoindividualmanofwhomitcouldbepredicated,itcouldnotbepredicatedofthespecies'man'atall.Again,colourispresentinbody,thereforeinindividualbodies,foriftherewerenoindividualbodyinwhichitwaspresent,itcouldnotbepresentinbodyatall.Thuseverythingexceptprimarysubstancesiseitherpredicatedofprimarysubstances,orispresentinthem,andiftheselastdidnotexist,itwouldbeimpossibleforanythingelsetoexist.
Ofsecondarysubstances,thespeciesismoretrulysubstancethanthegenus,beingmorenearlyrelatedtoprimarysubstance.Forifanyoneshouldrenderanaccountofwhataprimarysubstanceis,hewouldrenderamoreinstructiveaccount,andonemorepropertothesubject,bystatingthespeciesthanbystatingthegenus.Thus,hewouldgiveamoreinstructiveaccountofanindividualmanbystatingthathewasmanthanbystatingthathewasanimal,fortheformerdescriptionispeculiartotheindividualinagreaterdegree,whilethelatteristoogeneral.Again,themanwhogivesanaccountofthenatureofanindividualtreewillgiveamoreinstructiveaccountbymentioningthespecies'tree'thanbymentioningthegenus'plant'.
Moreover,primarysubstancesaremostproperlycalledsubstancesinvirtueofthefactthattheyaretheentitieswhichunderlieevery.
else,andthateverythingelseiseitherpredicatedofthemorpresentinthem.Nowthesamerelationwhichsubsistsbetweenprimarysubstanceandeverythingelsesubsistsalsobetweenthespeciesandthegenus:
forthespeciesistothegenusassubjectistopredicate,sincethegenusispredicatedofthespecies,whereasthespeciescannotbepredicatedofthegenus.Thuswehaveasecondgroundforassertingthatthespeciesismoretrulysubstancethanthegenus.
Ofspeciesthemselves,exceptinthecaseofsuchasaregenera,nooneismoretrulysubstancethananother.Weshouldnotgiveamoreappropriateaccountoftheindividualmanbystatingthespeciestowhichhebelonged,thanweshouldofanindividualhorsebyadoptingthesamemethodofdefinition.Inthesameway,ofprimarysubstances,nooneismoretrulysubstancethananother;anindividualmanisnotmoretrulysubstancethananindividualox.
Itis,then,withgoodreasonthatofallthatremains,whenweexcludeprimarysubstances,weconcedetospeciesandgeneraalonethename'secondarysubstance',forthesealoneofallthepredicatesconveyaknowledgeofprimarysubstance.Foritisbystatingthespeciesorthegenusthatweappropriatelydefineanyindividualman;andweshallmakeourdefinitionmoreexactbystatingtheformerthanbystatingthelatter.Allotherthingsthatwestate,suchasthatheiswhite,thatheruns,andsoon,areirrelevanttothedefinition.Thusitisjustthatthesealone,apartfromprimarysubstances,shouldbecalledsubstances.
Further,primarysubstancesaremostproperlysocalled,becausetheyunderlieandarethesubjectsofeverythingelse.Nowthesamerelationthatsubsistsbetweenprimarysubstanceandeverythingelsesubsistsalsobetweenthespeciesandthegenustowhichtheprimarysubstancebelongs,ontheonehand,andeveryattributewhichisnotincludedwithinthese,ontheother.Forthesearethesubjectsofallsuch.Ifwecallanindividualman'skilledingrammar',thepredicateisapplicablealsot