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make. (1) We can affirm without falsehood ‘the white (thing) is walking’, and
that big (thing) is a log’; or again, ‘the log is big’, and ‘the man walks’. But
the affirmation differs in the two cases. When I affirm ‘the white is a log’, I
mean that something which happens to be white is a log-not that white is the
substratum in which log inheres, for it was not qua white or qua a species of
white that the white (thing) came to be a log, and the white (thing) is
consequently not a log except incidentally. On the other hand, when I affirm
‘the log is white’, I do not mean that something else, which happens also to be
a log, is white (as I should if I said ‘the musician is white,’ which would mean
‘the man who happens also to be a musician is white’); on the contrary, log is
here the substratum-the substratum which actually came to be white, and did
so qua wood or qua a species of wood and qua nothing else.
If we must lay down a rule, let us entitle the latter kind of statement
predication, and the former not predication at all, or not strict but accidental
predication. ‘White’ and ‘log’ will thus serve as types respectively of
predicate and subject.
We shall assume, then, that the predicate is invariably predicated strictly
and not accidentally of the subject, for on such predication demonstrations
depend for their force. It follows from this that when a single attribute is
predicated of a single subject, the predicate must affirm of the subject either
some element constituting its essential nature, or that it is in some way
qualified, quantified, essentially related, active, passive, placed, or dated.
(2) Predicates which signify substance signify that the subject is identical
with the predicate or with a species of the predicate. Predicates not signifying
substance which are predicated of a subject not identical with themselves or
with a species of themselves are accidental or coincidental; e.g. white is a
coincident of man, seeing that man is not identical with white or a species of
white, but rather with animal, since man is identical with a species of animal.
These predicates which do not signify substance must be predicates of some
other subject, and nothing can be white which is not also other than white.
The Forms we can dispense with, for they are mere sound without sense; and
even if there are such things, they are not relevant to our discussion, since
demonstrations are concerned with predicates such as we have defined.
(3) If A is a quality of B, B cannot be a quality of A-a quality of a quality.
Therefore A and B cannot be predicated reciprocally of one another in strict
predication: they can be affirmed without falsehood of one another, but not
genuinely predicated of each other. For one alternative is that they should be
substantially predicated of one another, i.e. B would become the genus or
differentia of A-the predicate now become subject. But it has been shown that
in these substantial predications neither the ascending predicates nor the
177
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book The Complete Aristotle"
The Complete Aristotle
- Title
- The Complete Aristotle
- Author
- Aristotle
- Date
- ~322 B.C.
- Language
- English
- License
- PD
- Size
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Pages
- 2328
- Keywords
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Categories
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International
Table of contents
- Part 1; Logic (Organon) 3
- Categories 4
- On Interpretation 34
- Prior Analytics, Book I 56
- Prior Analytics, Book II 113
- Posterior Analytics, Book I 149
- Posterior Analytics, Book II 193
- Topics, Book I 218
- Topics, Book II 221
- Topics, Book III 237
- Topics, Book IV 248
- Topics, Book V 266
- Topics, Book VI 291
- Topics, Book VII 317
- Topics, Book VIII 326
- On Sophistical Refutations 348
- Part 2; Universal Physics 396
- Physics, Book I 397
- Physics, Book II 415
- Physics, Book III 432
- Physics, Book IV 449
- Physics, Book V 481
- Physics, Book VI 496
- Physics, Book VII 519
- Physics, Book VIII 533
- On the Heavens, Book I 570
- On the Heavens, Book II 599
- On the Heavens, Book III 624
- On the Heavens, Book IV 640
- On Generation and Corruption, Book I 651
- On Generation and Corruption, Book II 685
- Meteorology, Book I 707
- Meteorology, Book II 733
- Meteorology, Book III 760
- Meteorology, Book IV 773
- Part 3; Human Physics 795
- On the Soul, Book I 796
- On the Soul, Book II 815
- On the Soul, Book III 840
- On Sense and the Sensible 861
- On Memory and Reminiscence 889
- On Sleep and Sleeplessness 899
- On Dreams 909
- On Prophesying by Dreams 918
- On Longevity and the Shortness of Life 923
- On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration 929
- Part 4; Animal Physics 952
- The History of Animals, Book I 953
- The History of Animals, Book II translated 977
- The History of Animals, Book III 1000
- The History of Animals, Book IV 1029
- The History of Animals, Book V 1056
- The History of Animals, Book VI 1094
- The History of Animals, Book VII 1135
- The History of Animals, Book VIII 1150
- The History of Animals, Book IX 1186
- On the Parts of Animals, Book I 1234
- On the Parts of Animals, Book II 1249
- On the Parts of Animals, Book III 1281
- On the Parts of Animals, Book IV 1311
- On the Motion of Animals 1351
- On the Gait of Animals 1363
- On the Generation of Animals, Book I 1381
- On the Generation of Animals, Book II 1412
- On the Generation of Animals, Book III 1444
- On the Generation of Animals, Book IV 1469
- On the Generation of Animals, Book V 1496
- Part 5; Metaphysics 1516
- Part 6; Ethics and Politics 1748
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book I 1749
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book II 1766
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book III 1779
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IV 1799
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book V 1817
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI 1836
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII 1851
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII 1872
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IX 1890
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book X 1907
- Politics, Book I 1925
- Politics, Book II 1943
- Politics, Book III 1970
- Politics, Book IV 1997
- Politics, Book V 2023
- Politics, Book VI 2053
- Politics, Book VII 2065
- Politics, Book VIII 2091
- The Athenian Constitution 2102
- Part 7; Aesthetic Writings 2156