Priority in Aristotle's Metaphysics

by Peramatzis, Michail

• ISBN13: 9780199588350
• ISBN10: 019958835X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-09-30
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Michail Peramatzis presents a new interpretation of Aristotle's view of the priority relations between fundamental and derivative parts of reality, following the recent revival of interest in Aristotelian discussions of what priority consists in and how it relates existents. He explores how in Aristotle's view, in contradistinction with (e.g.) Quinean metaphysical views, questions of existence are not considered central. Rather, the crucial questions are: what types of existent are fundamental and what their grounding relation to derivative existents consists in. It is extremely important, therefore, to return to Aristotle's own theses regarding priority and to study them not only with exegetical caution but also with an acutely critical philosophical eye. Aristotle deploys the notion of priority in numerous levels of his thought. In his ontology he operates with the notion of primary substance. HisCategories, for instance, confer this honorific title upon particular objects such as Socrates or Bucephalus, while in theMetaphysicsit is essences or substantial forms, such as being human, which are privileged with priority over certain types of matter or hylomorphic compounds (either particular compound objects such as Socrates or universal compound types such as the species human). Peramatzis' chief aim is to understand priority claims of this sort in Aristotle's metaphysical system by setting out the different concepts of priority and seeing whether and, if so, how Aristotle's preferred prior and posterior items fit with these concepts.

Author Biography

Michail Peramatzis presents a new interpretation of Aristotle's view of the priority relations between fundamental and derivative parts of reality, following the recent revival of interest in Aristotelian discussions of what priority consists in and how it relates existents. He explores how in Aristotle's view, in contradistinction to (e.g.)

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Preliminaries	p. 3
Priority in Definition: Form, Matter, and Compound	p. 6
Ontological Priority in 'Being What Something Essentially Is'	p. 11
Aristotelian Method and Methodological Neutrality	p. 16
Definitional Priority: Form, Matter, and Compound
Definitional Priority and Definitionally Primary Items	p. 23
Priority in Definition or in Account	p. 23
Separation in Definition and the Asymmetry of Definitional Priority	p. 25
Transitivity	p. 25
Irreflexivity and Fundamentally Primary Items	p. 27
Form as Definitionally Primary	p. 30
Can Definitionally Posterior Items Be Indefinable?	p. 32
Important Consequences	p. 37
Matter within a Form's Essence?	p. 39
Preliminary Remarks	p. 39
An Important Distinction	p. 40
The Dominant Question of Metaphysics Z. 10-11	p. 42
Initial Examples of Metaphysics Z. 10 and Different Types of Matter	p. 45
The End of Metaphysics Z.11 and the 'Matter of Form' (Metaphysics A.24)	p. 50
Natural Form, Mathematical Form, and Platonist Errors	p. 55
Hyper-Materiality and Hyper-Formality	p. 56
Abstractability, Separability, and Definitional Independence (Physics B.2)	p. 59
What Natural Forms Are Not Like (I): Forms Studied by Subordinate Mathematical Sciences (Posterior Analytics A. 13)	p. 64
What Natural Forms Are Not Like (II): Mathematical Abstractions in Thought (Physics B.2, 193b31-5)	p. 70
What Natural Forms Are Not Like (III): Platonist Forms	p. 74
Platonist Forms and Change (Metaphysics A.9 and Z.8)	p. 77
Concluding Note on Mathematical Versus Natural Form (De Anima KA)	p. 84
Natural Forms as Essentially Matter- and Change-Involving	p. 90
Why is Hyper-Formality Mistaken? (Metaphysics Z. 11)	p. 91
Matter, Change, and the Case of the Soul (Metaphysics E. l and De Anima A. l)	p. 99
Formal and Material Parts of a Form's Essence: Intra-Definiens Priority of Form over Matter? (Physics B .2)	p. 110
The Inextricability of Formal and Material Parts of a Form's Essence (Sophistici Elenchi 31)	p. 122
Interim Conclusions	p. 132
Material and Change-Related Features of a Natural Form's Essence	p. 138
The Necessary and Causal Link between Matter and Change	p. 139
What Kind of Matter Accounts for Natural Change?	p. 143
Material and Change-Related Parts in a Natural Form's Essence	p. 152
The Explanatory Role of Material and Change-Related Features within a Natural Form's Essence (De Anima A.4)	p. 157
Conclusion: Metaphysics and the Study of Matter and Change (Metaphysics ZA1)	p. 162
Essentially Enmattered Form as Prior to Matter: A Modest Proposal	p. 168
Biting the Bullet	p. 169
Pragmatic or Interest-Relative Views	p. 170
Two Objects - Two Definitions	p. 171
'Matter' as an Ambiguous Term	p. 173
Proximate and Remote Types of Matter	p. 173
Reclaiming the Form's Priority over Matter: The Basics	p. 176
Definitional Models of Priority	p. 178
Determining the Prior and Posterior Relata: The Causal-Explanatory Model Introduced	p. 180
Filling in the Gaps: Specifying the Posterior Relata as Explananda	p. 188
Conclusion: Dissecting the Definiens	p. 195
Ontological Priority
Priority in Nature or in Substance	p. 203
The Neutral Formulation of the Independence Claim [IC]	p. 204
More on the Distinction between Existing and Being What Something Is	p. 208
Interim Conclusions	p. 210
Platonist Ontological Priority	p. 212
The Discussion of Platonist Priority in the Eudemian Ethics	p. 213
Platonist and Aristotelian Ontological Priority	p. 216
Appendix: Separation and Priority	p. 217
Evidence for Priority in Being [PIB] in Metaphysics ¿.l1	p. 219
Prior Subjects and Prior Substances	p. 219
Ways of Being and Ways of Being Ontologically Prior	p. 222
Priority in Potential Being or Destruction and Actual Being or Generation	p. 223
Interim Conclusions	p. 228
The Ontological Priority of Particular Substanees	p. 229
Primary Substances of the Categories and Metaphysics Z.1	p. 230
How not to Understand the Priority of Particular Substances	p. 233
Subjecthood, and the Ontological Priority of Particular Substances as [PIB]	p. 238
Conclusion	p. 244
Appendix: Metaphysics Z.l and Priority 'in Time	p. 249
Definitional and Ontological Priority [PIB]	p. 254
Aristotle's Distinction between 'Priority in Account' and 'Priority in Substance' (Metaphysics M.2)	p. 255
Metaphysics M.2 and the Claim of Form to both Priority Conditions	p. 260
What Is it for a Form to Be 'Prior in Account'? (Metaphysics H.l & Physics BA)	p. 262
Ontological Priority [PIB] as Grounding 'Real' Definitional Priority	p. 265
Test Cases for Ontological Priority [PIB]	p. 270
Right/Acute Angles (Metaphysics Z.10)	p. 270
Actual Being as Ontologically Prior to Potential Being (Metaphysics $.8)	p. 278
Substance and Form as Actual Being - Matter as Potential Being	p. 278
Generalizability of [PIB] (I): Capacity Possession and Exercise	p. 286
Generalizability of [PIB] (II): Capacities and Their Exercise	p. 288
Generalizability of [PIB] (III): Perishable Things and Eternal Actual Beings	p. 291
Conclusion: The Unity of Metaphysics $.8	p. 299
Conclusion: Further Problems and Some Suggestions	p. 301
Substancehood, and the Status of Priority	p. 302
Essential Interdependence and 'Parts' of the Form's Essence	p. 305
The Scope of Ontological Priority and 'Particular versus Universal Form'	p. 308
Ontological Priority and Modality	p. 309
Metaphysics Z. 11, 1036b28: $ or $?	p. 312
Textual and Interpretative Issues in Metaphysics ¿.11, 1019al-14	p. 317
Bibliography	p. 320
Index Locorum	p. 325
General Index	p. 327
Index Nominum	p. 329
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