Categories.docx

Categories.docx

《Categories.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《Categories.docx（34页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

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