The Categories of Aristotle Essay Essay Example

The Categories of Aristotle Essay Essay Example The Categories of Aristotle Essay Essay The Categories of Aristotle Essay Essay Aristotle ( 384-322BC ) is one of the most influential philosophers of the western tradition and had many philosophical plants credited to him. In his treatise on logic jointly known as â€Å"Organon† . Aristotle gave two preliminary treatises ; â€Å"The Categories and De Interpretatione ( on reading ) covering with footings and with propositions severally. This paper is an effort to look at the classs from Aristotle’s position. Hence it is necessary to specify the term class ( Internet Explorers ) from a general point of position foremost. so as to make enabling environment to dig into the classs of Aristotle. THE TERM CATEGORY ( IES ) In remarkable signifier. class harmonizing to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary is a category or group of people or things regarded as holding certain characteristics in common. Etymologically. the word itself is derived from the Grecian word â€Å"Kategorein† which has the significance of â€Å"predicate† . Thus. the classs signify different ways of predicating something or better still. different manners of being. The exact same significance is besides found in the Latin reading â€Å"praedicamenta† from the verb â€Å"praedicare† intending to asseverate. ARISTOTLE’S CATEGORIES. Aristotle’s classs is a singularly of import work of doctrine. which non merely presents the anchor of Aristotle’s ain philosophical theorizing. but has exerted an alone influence on the systems of many of the greatest philosophers in the western tradition. The set of philosophies in the classs provides the frame work of enquiry for a broad assortment of Aristotle’s philosophical probes. runing from his treatments of clip and alteration in the natural philosophies. to the scientific discipline of Being qua being in the metaphysics. and even widening to his rejection of Platonic moralss in the Nicomachean Ethics. In his treatise. the classs deal with footings in isolation and he used it to demo the different categorization of things. which for him. can be in 10 different categorizations viz. ; substance. measure. relation. quality. topographic point. clip. place. ownership. action and passion. He considers these classs to hold really been in being outside the head and in things and non as unreal creative activities of the head. Thingss for him fell into assorted categorizations by their very nature and we think of them as members of a species or genus because they are. Therefore. thought was connected with the ways things are. and this underlies the close relation between logic and metaphysics. Furthermore. the 10 classs are divided foremost into significant and inadvertent things. The significant which is the substance states whatness or essence/substance. that is a thing which can non be in its ain right. instead does be in another thing as in a topic. THE Tenfold DIVISION OF THE CATEGORIES 1 Substance: this is a thing which can be in its ain right. non merely as a alteration of something else. Substance is the 1. like human being. animate beings. and workss. It is identified from inquiry like ; â€Å"what is the thing? † 2 QUANTITY: in relation to the substance. the measure negotiations about the sum or figure of something that can be measured or that is fixed. For illustration ; the adult male is six pess tall. It is fixed. It is elucidated in inquiries like ; how many or much of it is at that place? In other words. measure is an accident of material things whereby they are extended into infinite. measureable by some mathematical criterion. and capable of being divided into separate parts. It is either diescrete measures or uninterrupted. Discrete measures are figure abd address ; that of uninterrupted are lines. surfaces. solids etc. 3 Quality: this is a term that is used in many senses. However. in this context. it is that in virtuousness of which people ( substances ) are said to be such and such. It is an accident by which a thing is of a certain kind or sort ; its sense qualities and form. how a thing acts ; its abilities and wonts. Therefore. one may inquire for case. what kind of thing is it? Is it green. Sweet. happy. weather etc? 4 Relation: this is an accident that answers the inquiry ; what is the connexion? Example ; are they same. similar. equal. male parent. president. break ones back? It is an accident in a thing which is the bearing or mention of the thing towards another thing. 5 Topographic point: this is an extrinsic accident said of a thing which makes a mention to where or location. Example. here. at that place. near. up. down. 6 Time: this deals with or makes a mention to when ; when is it runing: yesterday. now. so. before etc. 7 Position: this talk of a thing with mention to the order of a thing’s portion in a given topographic point. That is. what is its place? Is it dead set. standing. reversed. prone. foremost? 8 Possession: it is an accident peculiar to the homo being which includes all external equipments added to his natural organic structure such as vesture. decorations etc. it describes human existences as holding particular ownerships. 9 Action: this entails making or transporting out an activity. It is an accident which is the making of something to something else. Like heating. traveling a tabular array. cutting grass etc. 10 Passion: while the action is of making. passion is the receiving system. In other words. passion is an accident which is the receiving of something from something else such as being cut. being moved etc. RULES FOR THE CATEGORIES Before one can put a given thing in any one of the classs. one must detect the undermentioned regulations: 1 Merely simple worlds can be placed in a given class. That is to state that composite construct like â€Å"healthy child† must be reduced to its elements before trying to use the classs. Therefore. we have child as substance and healthy as quality. 2 The simple world must be a whole. The portion of something is placed in the same class as the whole to which it belongs. Example. the human manus as portion of the human being. is placed in the class of substance. 3 The simple world must be natural ; however. an unreal thing may be placed in the same class as the thing which it imitates. 4 The simple world must be a unequivocal word. for if the word is ambiguous. two different constructs are implied. every bit good as the possibility of two different classs. For case. â€Å"Bark† as the covering of a tree is placed in the class of substance. but as the sound of a Canis familiaris. it is in quality. 5 Merely the cosmopolitan nature can be placed in the classs and non the alone singular. Example. Canis familiaris stand foring the whole household Canis familiaris is acceptable non Regis or Alsatian stand foring a peculiar household of Canis familiaris. EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION From the foregoing. it could be said. from one’s point of position. that Aristotle classified footings upon the rudimentss of grammatical differentiation as to their usage. From another angle. it may be that he is non sorting lingual symbols but what they symbolize. that is. things. An ontological reading to this 2nd position. will show Aristotle as trying to sort the chief facets of world. However. the reply to what Aristotle is really making encompasses the three position as articulated in the words of Porphyry’s commentary on the classs ; â€Å"†¦ as things are. so are the looks which chiefly indicate them. † Conclusively. these classs are ways of showing how things relate to each other or ways in which we speak about worlds. Wordss uncombined can be said to intend and fall into one or other of the above 10 classs. What Aristotle wants to emphasis is that there is a series of related things or events that leads to â€Å"science† . This order is. in the first topographic point the being of things and their procedures ; secondly. our believing about things and their behavior ; and eventually. the transmutation of our idea. Hence. logic is the analysis of linguistic communication. the procedure of concluding. and the manner linguistic communication and concluding are related to world. BIBLIOGRAPHY BRUGGER. W. A ; BAKER. K. : â€Å"Categories† in Philosophical Dictionary. New York: Drams associates Inc. . 1966. 51-55. EDWARD. P. ( erectile dysfunction ) : â€Å"Aristotle† The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 1 A ; 2. New York: Macmillan Publishing Inc. A ; the Free Press. 1967. 155-157. FLEW. A. : â€Å"Aristotle. † in The Dictionary of Philosophy. London: Pan Book. 1984. 160-163. HALVERSON. W. A. : Concise Introduction to Philosophy ; 2nd Edition. New York: Random House. 1967. LEVY. I. M. : â€Å"Categories. † in Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus. Chicago 2009. CDR. LEVY. I. M. : â€Å"Aristotle’s Classs. † in Encyclopedia Britannica Student A ; Home Edition. Chicago 2009. CDR. OZUMBA. G. O. : A Concise Introduction to Epistemology. Calabar: Ebenezer Printing Press A ; Computer Service. 2001. 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