Aristotle's Categories Overview

Overview

This lecture introduces Aristotle's Categories, explaining its structure, key concepts from the first four chapters, and the foundational distinctions needed to understand how Aristotle classifies and discusses reality.

Introduction to Aristotle's Categories

• Aristotle's Categories is often assigned as an introductory text but can be challenging for students without a philosophical background.
• The text investigates “ways things can be said,” focusing on language, thought, and being.
• Categories are central to Aristotle’s logic (part of the "Organon," or logical toolkit).

Three Ways of Naming (Chapter 1)

• Equivocal naming uses the same term for different things with different definitions (e.g., "seal" as an animal vs. a wax stamp).
• Univocal naming uses a term that has the same definition for all instances (e.g., "human" for various people).
• Derivative naming involves terms derived from a primary word but with different endings or senses (e.g., "health," "healthy," "healthful").

Predication and Subject Relations (Chapter 2)

• Aristotle distinguishes four ways things relate:
  • Predicable of a subject but not in a subject.
  • In a subject but not predicable of it.
  • Both predicable of and in a subject (usually not the same subject).
  • Neither predicable of nor in a subject (individual substances).
• Substances (individual things) are subjects; properties inhere in them or are said about them.

Transitive Predication (Chapter 3)

• If a property is predicated of a genus, and the genus is predicated of an individual, the property holds for the individual (e.g., all humans are mortal; Socrates is human; Socrates is mortal).
• “Genus” and “species” refer broadly to classes and sub-classes, not just biological categories.

The Ten Categories (Chapter 4)

• Aristotle identifies ten main categories for saying things about subjects:
  1. Substance (primary being, e.g., individual human)
  2. Quantity (how much, e.g., height, weight)
  3. Quality (what sort, e.g., white, wise)
  4. Relation (towards something, e.g., double, father)
  5. Place (where)
  6. Time (when)
  7. Position (state, e.g., sitting)
  8. Condition/State (having, e.g., armed, healthy)
  9. Action (doing, e.g., hitting)
  10. Passion/Suffering (undergoing, e.g., being hit)
• All except substance are considered “accidents”—less essential properties.

Key Terms & Definitions

• Category — A major class under which beings are spoken of or predicated.
• Predicable — Something that can be said about a subject.
• Substance (Ousia) — The fundamental being or individual thing.
• Accident — A property or attribute not essential to the subject.
• Equivocal — Same word, different meanings.
• Univocal — Same word, same meaning.
• Derivative — A term formed from another, with related but distinct meaning.

Action Items / Next Steps

• Review the list of ten categories and memorize basic definitions.
• Reflect on examples for each category from daily life.
• Prepare to read further chapters and consider how these categories apply to other Aristotelian texts.