PHL 3305 Lecture 12
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Aristotle's Categories
Chapter 1: Naming Things
| same name | different name | |
|---|---|---|
| same substance/nature | univocal (living man and ox are both animal) |
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| different substance/nature | equivocal (a living man vs. a depicted man) |
Be especially cautious of words that may seem similar (grammarian and grammar; manly and manliness; deprecate and defecate) not interested in this so much |
Univocal naming is most useful in philosophy if we want to make sure people know what we're talking about.
Chapter 2: Things that Exist
| The way we speak | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| said of subject (universals; can be used in a logical predicate) |
not said of subject (particulars; 'cause it is the subject) | ||
| The way things are | not present in subject (substance) |
man | a particular man or horse |
| present in subject (accidents) |
knowledge in the soul; the color white | knowledge of grammar; whiteness of a body | |
When Aristotle says something may be "in a subject", he means that it "subsists in the subject as a single thing, not as a piece of it, and that it cannot exist apart from the subject.
Chapter 3: Categorizing Syllogisms
- something that is predicated of a subject, the predicate's properties apply to the subject
- EX: man is predicated of a particular man, and animal is predicated of man, hence animal is predicated of that particular man.
- ...
- genera, inheritance, etc... It sounds like Aristotle is trying to talk about object-oriented programming.
Chapter 4: Combining Subjects and Predicates
Things that are said without combination (i.e., words by themselves) signifies:
- substance
- quantity (how much)
- quality (what kind)
- relative (towards what)
- place (where)
- time (when)
- position
- condition (state)
- acting
- being acted upon
Affirmation (whether something is true or false) comes from combining the above-type terms into subject/predicate statements.
Logic Text
Analogies and Anological Naming
Analogical names are equivocal occurrences that have a direct cognitive relationship
- General similarity between things
- Relationship between things
- Different relationships to the same thing
- Same relationship to different things
- A : B :: C : D — The relationship between A and B is the same between C and D.
For example, God is good / My neighbor is good.
Exercises
Indicate whether or not the thing signified
- is present in a subject (Present or Not Present), and
- is said/predicated of a subject (Said or Not Said)
| present in subject? | said of subject? | |
|---|---|---|
| just | Y | Y |
| this green | Y | N |
| this Petoskey stone | N | N |
| giraffe | N | Y |
| this knowledge of the Pythagorean theorem | Y | N |
| red | Y | Y |
| this eucalyptus tree | N | N |
| man | N | Y |
| plant | N | Y |
| courageous | Y | Y |
Put differently,
| present in subject | not present in subject | |
|---|---|---|
| said of subject |
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| not said of subject |
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