Philosophy of Being » Metaphysics http://philofbeing.com A University of Dallas Course by Taylor Marshall Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:47:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Outline of Aristotle’s Metaphysics http://philofbeing.com/2009/10/outline-of-aristotles-metaphysics/ http://philofbeing.com/2009/10/outline-of-aristotles-metaphysics/#comments Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:45:57 +0000 Taylor Marshall http://philofbeing.com/?p=78 Aristotle’s Metaphysics consists of fourteen (14) books of various lengths, often without any obvious order or relation to prior books. The books are referred to by either Arabic numerals or Greek letters–something rather confusing to new students of the Metaphysics. The confusion is made worse by the fact that Book One is “Big Alpha” and Book Two is “Little Alpha” so that the numbers don’t correspond directly to what one might assume to be the Greek letters. Here is a brief outline:

1, “Big” Alpha – “first philosophy” as the science of the first principles or causes of things

2, “Little” Alpha – method and rejection of infinite regresses

3, Beta – list of metaphysical “aporiai” or puzzles

4, Gamma – logical assumption of the Principle of Non-Contradiction and the Principle of the Excluded Middle

5, Delta – Aristotle’s Dictionary of Terms (just remember “delta” does with “dictionary”)

6, Epsilon – Metaphysics is the study of being as being and thus it is Theology (study of God/gods), because the highest substance (God) is the Principle of all Being.

7, Zeta – Aristotle lists four candidates for being/ousia/substance as 1) subject, 2) universal, 3) genus, and 4) essence.

8, Eta

9, Theta

10, Iota – One and many, sameness and difference.

11, Kappa – Review of things said already and of things stated in Aristotle’s Physics.

12, Lambda – The “Theology” Book. Aristotle examines the first principles or “gods”. Aristotle discusses the unmoved mover(s).

13, Mu – Mathematics and numbers

14, Nu – Mathematics and numbers continued

]]> http://philofbeing.com/2009/10/outline-of-aristotles-metaphysics/feed/ 1 Aristotle’s Vocabulary http://philofbeing.com/2009/10/aristotles-vocabulary/ http://philofbeing.com/2009/10/aristotles-vocabulary/#comments Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:08:46 +0000 Taylor Marshall http://philofbeing.com/?p=67 Aristotle’s Book Delta of his Metaphysics is commonly called Aristotle’s dictionary or lexicon. Below is a helpful list of Greek words used by Aristotle organized by their commonly accepted English equivalents.

This list is derived from Marc Cohen’s article “Aristotle’s Metaphysics” in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

•    accident: sumbebêkos (kata sumbebhko,j)
•    accidental: kata sumbebêkos (kata sumbebhko,j)
•    account: logos
•    actuality: energeia, entelecheia
•    alteration: alloiôsis
•    affirmative: kataphatikos
•    assertion: apophansis (sentence with a truth value, declarative sentence)
•    assumption: hupothesis
•    attribute: pathos
•    axiom: axioma
•    be: einai
•    being(s): on, onta
•    belong: huparchein
•    category: katêgoria
•    cause: aition, aitia
•    change: kinêsis, metabolê
•    come to be: gignesthai
•    coming to be: genesis
•    contradict: antiphanai
•    contradiction: antiphasis (in the sense “contradictory pair of propositions” and also in the sense “denial of a proposition”)
•    contrary: enantion
•    definition: horos, horismos
•    demonstration: apodeixis
•    denial (of a proposition): apophasis
•    dialectic: dialektikê
•    differentia: diaphora; specific difference, eidopoios diaphora
•    distinctive: idios, idion
•    end: telos
•    essence: to ti ên einai, to ti esti
•    essential: en tôi ti esti, en tôi ti ên einai (of predications); kath’ hauto (of attributes)
•    exist: einai
•    explanation: aition, aitia
•    final cause: hou heneka (literally, “what something is for”)
•    form: eidos, morphê
•    formula: logos (lo,goj)
•    function: ergon
•    genus: genos
•    homonymous: homônumon
•    immediate: amesos
•    impossible: adunaton
•    in respect of itself: kath’ hauto
•    individual: atomon, tode ti
•    induction: epagôgê
•    infinite: apeiron
•    kind: genos, eidos
•    knowledge: epistêmê
•    matter: hulê
•    movement: kinêsis
•    nature: phusis
•    negation (of a term): apophasis
•    particular: en merei, epi meros (of a proposition); kath’hekaston (of individuals)
•    peculiar: idios, idion
•    per se: kath’ hauto
•    perception: aisthêsis
•    perplexity: aporia
•    possible: dunaton, endechomenon; endechesthai (verb: “be possible”)
•    potentially: dunamei
•    potentiality: dunamis
•    predicate: katêgorein (verb); katêegoroumenon(“what is predicated”)
•    predication: katêgoria (act or instance of predicating, type of predication)
•    principle: archê (starting point of a demonstration)
•    qua: hêi
•    quality: poion
•    quantity: poson
•    refute: elenchein, refutation, elenchos
•    separate: chôriston (cwristo,n)
•    said in many ways: pollachôs legetai
•    science: epistêmê
•    soul: psuchê
•    species: eidos
•    specific: eidopoios (of a differentia that “makes a species”, eidopoios diaphora)
•    subject: hupokeimenon (u`pokei,menon)
•    substance: ousia (ouvsia)
•    term: horos
•    this: tode ti (to,de ti)
•    universal: katholou (both of propositions and of individuals)
•    wisdom: sophia

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