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Ideas of Aristotle, by Text

[Greek, 384 - 322 BCE, Born Stageira. Plato's Academy in 368 BCE, for 20 years. Tutor to Alexander the Great. Founded Lyceum in Athens. Died at Chalcis.]

350BCE The Art of Rhetoric
1355a p.68 5847 It is the role of dialectic to survey syllogisms
1355b p.69 5848 All good things can be misused, except virtue
1356a p.75 5849 Rhetoric is a political offshoot of dialectic and ethics
1360b p.87 5850 Happiness is composed of a catalogue of internal and external benefits
1361b p.89 5851 Pentathletes look the most beautiful, because they combine speed and strength
1366a p.102 5852 The four constitutions are democracy (freedom), oligarchy (wealth), aristocracy (custom), tyranny (security)
1366b p.105 5853 The best virtues are the most useful to others
1367a19 p.189 1660 It is noble to avenge oneself on one's enemies, and not come to terms with them
1369a1 p.112 23250 Desired responsible actions result either from rational or from irrational desire
1372a p.121 5854 Nobody fears a disease which nobody has yet caught
1373b p.125 5855 We all feel universal right and wrong, independent of any community or contracts
1389b p.175 5856 Self-interest is a relative good, but nobility an absolute good
1390a p.176 5857 The young feel pity from philanthropy, but the old from self-concern
1390b p.177 5858 Men are physically prime at thirty-five, and mentally prime at forty-nine
1391a p.178 5859 Rich people are mindlessly happy
1401b p.210 5861 People assume events cause what follows them
1402b p.213 5862 A single counterexample is enough to prove that a truth is not necessary
347BCE The Poetics
1451b05 p.1464 16566 Poetry is more philosophic than history, as it concerns universals, not particulars
1451b18 p.1464 22518 The actual must be possible, because it occurred
345BCE The Parts of Animals
p.20 23218 The brain has not responsibility for sensations, which occur in the heart
344BCE The History of Animals
p.206 15119 Aristotelian explanation by essence may need to draw on knowledge of other essences [Koslicki]
588b04 p.635 23301 There is a gradual proceeding from the inanimate to animals, with no clear borderlines
588b09 p.635 23302 Plants have far less life than animals, but more life than other corporeal entities
337BCE Physics
p.5 17464 When Aristotle's elements compound they are stable, so why would they ever separate? [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry]
p.6 16972 The four explanations are the main aspects of a thing's nature [Moravcsik]
p.13 22885 For Aristotle time is not a process but a means for measuring processes [Bardon]
p.51 11250 Four Explanations: the essence and form; the matter; the source; and the end [Politis]
p.53 11252 The 'form' of a thing explains why the matter constitutes that particular thing [Politis]
p.54 11253 A 'material' cause/explanation is the form of whatever is the source [Politis]
p.55 11254 Matter is potentiality [Politis]
p.60 11255 In feature-generation the matter (such as bronze) endures, but in generation it doesn't [Politis]
p.85 12045 Aristotle's four 'causes' are four items which figure in basic explanations of nature [Annas]
p.96 22929 Aristotle's infinity is a property of the counting process, that it has no natural limit [Le Poidevin]
p.106 22930 Lengths do not contain infinite parts; parts are created by acts of division [Le Poidevin]
184a12 p.9 5080 We know a thing if we grasp its first causes, principles and basic elements
184a22 p.9 9071 We first sense whole entities, and then move to particular parts of it
185b11 p.125 13270 Are a part and whole one or many? Either way, what is the cause?
188a11 p.226 16644 The features of a thing (whether quality or quantity) are inseparable from their subjects
189a06 p.22 5082 Reason grasps generalities, while the senses grasp particulars
190a16 p.25 16104 Unity of the form is just unity of the definition
190b01 p.26 16172 Substance is not predicated of anything - but it still has something underlying it, that originates it
190b06 p.26 16173 Coming to be is by shape-change, addition, subtraction, composition or alteration
190b39- p.27 16174 A nature is related to a substance as shapeless matter is to something which has a shape
191a08 p.232 16623 We only infer underlying natures by analogy, observing bronze of a statue, or wood of a bed
191a27 p.28 5083 Do things come to be from what is, or from what is not? Both seem problematical.
191b13 p.234 16574 Coming-to-be may be from nothing in a qualified way, as arising from an absence
192a22 p.235 16762 Matter desires form, as female desires male, and ugliness desires beauty
192b09 p.33 17041 Natural objects include animals and their parts, plants, and the simple elements
192b14 p.33 17042 Natural things are their own source of stability through change
192b20 p.33 5084 A thing's nature is what causes its changes and stability
193b07 p.35 17043 Form, not matter, is a thing's nature, because it is actual, rather than potential
193b27 p.36 9787 Scientists must know the essential attributes of the things they study
193b33 p.36 9788 Mathematicians study what is conceptually separable, and doesn't lead to error
193b36 p.36 9789 You can't abstract natural properties to make Forms - objects and attributes are defined together
194a09 p.37 9790 Geometry studies naturally occurring lines, but not as they occur in nature
194a12 p.37 5085 'Nature' refers to two things - form and matter
194a29 p.37 5086 The nature of a thing is its end and purpose
194a35 p.38 5087 A thing's purpose is ambiguous, and from one point of view we ourselves are ends
194b18 p.38 8331 To know something we need understanding, which is grasp of the primary cause
194b23- p.39 8332 The four causes are the material, the form, the source, and the end
194b33-5 p.39 20042 We assign the cause of someone's walking when we say why they are doing it
195b39 p.42 13106 Maybe there is no pure chance; a man's choices cause his chance meetings
196b25 p.44 13107 Causes produce a few things in their own right, and innumerable things coincidentally
197a05 p.45 13108 Chance is a coincidental cause among events involving purpose and choice
197a19 p.45 13109 Chance is inexplicable, because we can only explain what happens always or usually
198a10 p.48 13110 Intrinsic cause is prior to coincidence, so nature and intelligence are primary causes, chance secondary
198a16 p.48 16968 There are as many causes/explanations as there are different types of why-question
198a23 p.49 16969 Science refers the question Why? to four causes/explanations: matter, form, source, purpose
198a24 p.2 17262 Aristotle's formal and material 'becauses' [aitiai] arguably involve grounding [Correia/Schnieder]
198a24 p.49 16970 A thing's form and purpose are often the same, and form can be the initiator of change too
198b16 p.50 5089 Nature has purpose, and aims at what is better. Is it coincidence that crops grow when it rains?
199b33 p.51 5091 Teeth and crops are predictable, so they cannot be mere chance, but must have a purpose
200b12 p.56 5092 Nature is a principle of change, so we must understand change first
200b18 p.56 5093 Continuity depends on infinity, because the continuous is infinitely divisible
201a10 p.57 16115 Change is the implied actuality of that which exists potentially
201a10-11 p.89 20063 Motion fulfils potentiality
202b19 p.62 16656 The separation from here to there is not the same as the separation from there to here
203b25 p.65 5095 The heavens seem to be infinite, because we cannot imagine their end
206a22 p.265 16691 A day, or the games, has one thing after another, actually and potentially occurring
206b09 p.24 18090 Without infinity time has limits, magnitudes are indivisible, and numbers come to an end
209a23 p.80 5097 If everything has a place, this causes an infinite regress, because each place must have place
210a16 p.273 16791 There is no whole except for the parts
211b06 p.86 5098 Place is not shape, or matter, or extension between limits; it is the limits of a body
212b14 p.89 5099 The universe as a whole is not anywhere
217b33 p.41 22956 How can time exist, when it is composed of what has ceased to be and is yet to be?
217b34 p.102 5102 If all of time has either ceased to exist, or has not yet happened, maybe time does not exist
218a05 p.378 16693 Time has parts, but the now is not one of them, and time is not composed of nows
218a08 p.41 22957 We can't tell whether the changing present moment is one thing, or a succession of things
218a18 p.41 22958 Nows can't be linked together, any more than points on a line
218b11- p.15 22916 Unlike time, change goes at different rates, and is usually localised [Le Poidevin]
218b19 p.104 5103 Time is not change, but requires change in our minds to be noticed
218b3 p.407 20920 If there were many cosmoses, each would have its own time, giving many times
218b32 p.105 8590 Time does not exist without change
219a09 p.105 5104 Time is an aspect of change
219b01 p.44 22959 Time is not change, but the number we associate with change
219b19 p.45 22960 The sophists thought a man in the Lyceum is different from that man in the marketplace
219b33 p.45 22961 The present moment is obviously a necessary feature of time
220a227 p.46 22962 Two is the least number, but there is no least magnitude, because it is always divisible
220b14 p.46 22963 We measure change by time, and time by change, as they are interdefined
221a05 p.47 22964 Change only exists in time through its being temporally measure
221b07 p.48 22965 Time measures rest, as well as change
221b36 p.112 5105 The incommensurability of the diagonal always exists, and so it is not in time
222a10 p.49 22966 The present moment is a link (of past to future), and also a limit (of past and of future)
223a21 p.115 5106 Would there be time if there were no mind?
223a22 p.52 22967 It is unclear whether time depends on the existence of soul
223b14 p.53 22968 Circular motion is the most obvious measure of time, and especially the celestial sphere
224a2-14 p.117 9974 Ten sheep and ten dogs are the same numerically, but it is not the same ten
225b06 p.121 5107 Predicates are substance, quality, place, relation, quantity and action or affection
230a29 p.135 5108 Is ceasing-to-be unnatural if it happens by force, and natural otherwise?
231a23 p.210 18833 A continuous line cannot be composed of indivisible points
246a12 p.175 5110 Goodness is when a thing (such as a circle) is complete, and conforms with its nature
247a08 p.176 5111 All moral virtue is concerned with bodily pleasure and pain
252a11 p.189 5113 Nothing natural is disorderly, because nature is responsible for all order
252b24 p.190 5114 If movement can arise within an animal, why can't it also arise in the universe?
254b21 p.196 5116 When there is unnatural movement (e.g. fire going downwards) the cause is obvious
255b14 p.199 5117 Heavy and light are defined by their tendency to move down or up
267b19 p.231 5119 The source of all movement must be indivisible and have no magnitude
336BCE On the Heavens
p.67 16102 Aether moves in circles and is imperishable; the four elements perish, and move in straight lines [Gill,ML]
271a33 p.61 394 An unworn sandal is in vain, but nothing in nature is in vain
274a26 p.71 395 It seems possible that there exists a limited number of other worlds apart from this one
277a26 p.83 396 There has to be some goal, and not just movement to infinity
279b12 p.42 1498 Everyone agrees that the world had a beginning, but thinkers disagree over whether it will end
286a08 p.121 398 Each thing that has a function is for the sake of that function
294a12 p.153 399 If the more you raise some earth the faster it moves, why does the whole earth not move?
296b33 p.433 19740 A very hungry man cannot choose between equidistant piles of food
297b29 p.167 402 The Earth must be spherical, because it casts a convex shadow on the moon
297b30 p.167 403 The earth must be round and of limited size, because moving north or south makes different stars visible
302a05 p.4 17463 An element is what bodies are analysed into, and won't itself divide into something else
309b24 p.395 20918 Void is a kind of place, so it can't explain place
335BCE Coming-to-be and Passing-away (Gen/Corr)
316a09 p.474 21360 Unobservant thinkers tend to dogmatise using insufficient facts
316b11 p.476 13210 Wood is potentially divided through and through, so what is there in the wood besides the division?
316b24 p.476 13211 If a body is endlessly divided, is it reduced to nothing - then reassembled from nothing?
317a24 p.478 16100 True change is in a thing's logos or its matter, not in its qualities
317a27 p.478 16101 A change in qualities is mere alteration, not true change
317b21 p.479 16572 Does the pure 'this' come to be, or the 'this-such', or 'so-great', or 'somewhere'?
317b29 p.479 16573 Philosophers have worried about coming-to-be from nothing pre-existing
318a17 p.480 16595 If each thing can cease to be, why hasn't absolutely everything ceased to be long ago?
318a21 p.480 13212 Infinity is only potential, never actual
319a07 p.483 13213 All comings-to-be are passings-away, and vice versa
319a19 p.483 13214 The substratum changing to a contrary is the material cause of coming-to-be
319b08-16 p.484 12133 If the substratum persists, it is 'alteration'; if it doesn't, it is 'coming-to-be' or 'passing-away'
319b11-17 p.484 13215 If a perceptible substratum persists, it is 'alteration'; coming-to-be is a complete change
320a03 p.485 12134 Matter is the substratum, which supports both coming-to-be and alteration
320b16 p.487 13216 Matter is the limit of points and lines, and must always have quality and form
326b27 p.502 13220 Bodies are endlessly divisible
327b24 p.504 13221 Existence is either potential or actual
329a30 p.508 17994 The primary matter is the substratum for the contraries like hot and cold
329b04 p.509 16717 Which of the contrary features of a body are basic to it?
329b1 p.509 16594 The Four Elements must change into one another, or else alteration is impossible
330b02 p.511 13223 Fire is hot and dry; Air is hot and moist; Water is cold and moist; Earth is cold and dry
332a09 p.515 13224 There couldn't be just one element, which was both water and air at the same time
336b13 p.526 13226 An Order controls all things
336b29 p.527 13227 Being is better than not-being
337a24 p.528 13228 There is no time without movement
334BCE Nichomachean Ethics
p.3 4369 It is not universals we must perceive for virtue, but particulars, seen as intrinsically good [Achtenberg]
p.8 2681 Aristotle is unsure about eudaimonia because he is unsure what people are [Nagel]
p.8 4370 For Aristotle 'good' means purpose, and value is real but relational [Achtenberg]
p.9 4371 Seeing particulars as parts of larger wholes is to perceive their value [Achtenberg]
p.12 2682 Aristotle thinks human life is not important enough to spend a whole life on it [Nagel]
p.19 4326 Aristotle gives a superior account of rationality, because he allows emotions to participate [Hursthouse]
p.29 18673 Eudaimonia is said to only have final value, where reason and virtue are also useful [Orsi]
p.36 4117 Nowadays we (unlike Aristotle) seem agreed that someone can have one virtue but lack others [Williams,B]
p.40 2684 Aristotle needed to distinguish teleological description from teleological explanation [Irwin]
p.58 5075 Aristotle said there are two levels of virtue - the conventional and the intellectual [Taylor,R]
p.70 8007 Aristotle never discusses free will [MacIntyre]
p.94 3548 Aristotle neglects the place of rules in the mature virtuous person [Annas]
p.187 21044 For Aristotle, debates about justice are debates about the good life [Sandel]
p.201 21047 To be just, Aristotle thought slavery must be both necessary and natural [Sandel]
p.256 3559 For Aristotle, true self-love is love of the higher parts of one's soul [Annas]
1094a02 p.63 20 The good is 'that at which all things aim'
1094a03 p.91 4380 Not all actions aim at some good; akratic actions, for example, do not [Burnyeat]
1094b14 p.65 21 Moral acts are so varied that they must be convention, not nature
1094b18 p.65 22 Trained minds never expect more precision than is possible
1095b15 p.68 23 The masses believe, not unreasonably, that the good is pleasure
1095b22 p.68 24 Honour depends too much on the person who awards it
1095b25 p.39 4119 If you aim at honour, you make yourself dependent on the people to whom you wish to be superior [Williams,B]
1096a02 p.68 25 You can be good while asleep, or passive, or in pain
1096a06 p.69 26 Wealth is not the good, because it is only a means
1096a16 p.939 21356 Piety requires us to honour truth above our friends
1096a23 p.70 5128 Each category of existence has its own good, so one Good cannot unite them
1096a27 p.70 5129 There should be one science of the one Good, but there are many overlapping sciences
1096a32 p.70 5130 It is meaningless to speak of 'man-himself', because it has the same definition as plain 'man'
1096b05 p.70 27 Eternal white is no whiter than temporary white, and it is the same with goodness
1096b15 p.71 5131 Intelligence and sight, and some pleasures and honours, are candidates for being good in themselves
1097a p.230 18227 We desire final things just for themselves, and not for the sake of something else
1097a12 p.72 28 How will a vision of pure goodness make someone a better doctor?
1097a32 p.73 5132 Goods like pleasure are chosen partly for happiness, but happiness is chosen just for itself
1097b10 p.74 5133 Man is by nature a social being
1097b21 p.74 30 Happiness is perfect and self-sufficient, the end of all action
1097b22 p.3 5127 Does Aristotle say eudaimonia is the aim, or that it ought to be? [McDowell]
1097b22 p.75 5134 Perhaps we get a better account of happiness as the good for man if we know his function
1097b30 p.75 31 If bodily organs have functions, presumably the whole person has one
1098a09 p.76 33 Each named function has a distinctive excellence attached to it
1098a13 p.76 34 The good for man is an activity of soul in accordance with virtue
1098b12 p.77 35 A statement is true if all the data are in harmony with it
1098b13 p.78 5135 Goods are external, of the soul, and of the body; those of the soul (such as action) come first
1098b21 p.78 5136 Happiness seems to involve virtue, or practical reason, or wisdom, or pleasure, or external goods
1099a14 p.79 5137 Many pleasures are relative to a person, but some love what is pleasant by nature, and virtue is like that
1099a32 p.79 5138 The fine deeds required for happiness need external resources, like friends or wealth
1099b03 p.80 38 A man can't be happy if he is ugly, or of low birth, or alone and childless
1099b17 p.80 5139 If happiness can be achieved by study and effort, then it is open to anyone who is not corrupt
1099b29 p.81 5140 Political science aims at the highest good, which involves creating virtue in citizens
1099b32 p.81 5142 Oxen, horses and children cannot be happy, because they cannot perform fine deeds
1100a05 p.81 39 Happiness needs total goodness and a complete life
1100a17 p.82 5143 Some good and evil can happen to the dead, just as the living may be unaware of a disaster
1101a13 p.84 5144 Happiness is activity in accordance with complete virtue, for a whole life, with adequate external goods
1101a14 p.75 4342 Aristotle must hold that virtuous King Priam's life can be marred, but not ruined [Hursthouse]
1101a15 p.93 4381 How can an action be intrinsically good if it is a means to 'eudaimonia'? [Ackrill]
1102a27 p.88 5145 The rational and irrational parts of the soul are either truly separate, or merely described that way
1102a33 p.88 5146 Everything that receives nourishment has a vegetative soul, with it own distinctive excellence
1102b14 p.85 4383 Aristotle seems not to explain why the better syllogism is overcome in akratic actions [Burnyeat]
1102b16 p.89 5147 In a controlled person the receptive part of the soul is obedient, and it is in harmony in the virtuous
1102b33 p.90 5148 The irrational psuché is persuadable by reason - shown by our criticism and encouragement of people
1103a04 p.90 5149 The two main parts of the soul give rise to two groups of virtues - intellectual, and moral
1103a15 p.91 5150 Intellectual virtue arises from instruction (and takes time), whereas moral virtue result from habit
1103a19 p.91 4367 Moral virtue is not natural, because its behaviour can be changed, unlike a falling stone
1103a21 p.91 43 Nature enables us to be virtuous, but habit develops virtue in us
1103b01 p.91 44 We acquire virtues by habitually performing good deeds
1103b03 p.81 21046 The aim of legislators, and of a good constitution, is to create good citizens
1103b16 p.92 5151 Justice concerns our behaviour in dealing with other people
1103b22 p.92 5152 Like activities produce like dispositions, so we must give the right quality to the activity
1103b27 p.93 45 We aim not to identify goodness, but to be good
1103b31 p.93 46 We must take for granted that we should act according to right principle
1104a08 p.93 5153 There is no fixed art of good conduct, and each situation is different, as in navigation
1104a13 p.60 3545 The mean implies that vices are opposed to one another, not to virtue [Annas]
1104a15 p.94 5154 Excess and deficiency are bad for virtue, just as they are for bodily health
1104a23 p.94 47 Virtues are destroyed by the excess and preserved by the mean
1104a24 p.101 4406 Aristotle aims at happiness by depressing emotions to a harmless mean [Nietzsche]
1104b02 p.73 4378 We must practise virtuous acts because practice actually teaches us the nature of virtue [Burnyeat]
1104b04 p.95 49 Character is revealed by the pleasures and pains people feel
1104b10 p.110 4382 Feelings are vital to virtue, but virtue requires choice, which feelings lack [Kosman]
1104b14 p.95 51 True education is training from infancy to have correct feelings
1104b29 p.96 52 We choose things for their fineness, their advantage, or for pleasure
1105a07 p.96 53 Feeling inappropriate pleasure or pain affects conduct, and is central to morality
1105a19 p.97 5156 How can good actions breed virtues, if you need to be virtuous to perform good actions?
1105a24 p.97 6793 People can break into the circle of virtue and good action, by chance, or with help
1105a29 p.97 54 Actions are not virtuous because of their quality, but because of the way they are done
1105b04 p.98 57 We acquire virtue by the repeated performance of just and temperate acts
1106a10 p.99 58 If virtues are not feelings or faculties, then they must be dispositions
1106a17 p.99 5157 If a thing has excellence, this makes the thing good, and means it functions well
1106a32 p.100 60 The mean is relative to the individual (diet, for example)
1106b09 p.100 61 Skills are only well performed if they observe the mean
1106b16 p.43 4373 Virtue is the feeling of emotions that accord with one's perception of value [Achtenberg]
1106b16 p.162 4388 One drink a day is moderation, but very drunk once a week could exhibit the mean [Urmson]
1106b17 p.160 4387 In most normal situations it is not appropriate to have any feelings at all [Urmson]
1106b18 p.101 62 We must tune our feelings to be right in every way
1107a01 p.101 63 Virtue is a purposive mean disposition, which follows a rational principle and prudent judgment
1107a18 p.102 64 There is no right time or place or way or person for the committing of adultery; it is just wrong
1107a29 p.103 5158 Actions concern particular cases, and rules must fit the cases, not the other way round
1108a16 p.105 5159 The mean is always right, and the extremes are always wrong
1108a29 p.106 5160 There is a mean of feelings, as in our responses to the good or bad fortune of others
1108b33 p.108 4333 Contraries are by definition as far distant as possible from one another
1109a12 p.108 65 The vices to which we are most strongly pulled are most opposed to the mean
1109a26 p.109 5161 To make one's anger exactly appropriate to a situation is very difficult
1110a15 p.111 5211 An action is voluntary if the limb movements originate in the agent
1110a27 p.112 5212 A man should sooner die than do some dreadful things, no matter how cruel the death
1110b22 p.113 5213 If you repent of an act done through ignorance, you acted involuntarily, not non-voluntarily
1110b29 p.113 67 Bad people are just ignorant of what they ought to do
1110b31 p.113 5214 Acts may be forgivable if particular facts (rather than principles) are unknown
1110-ish p.67 20192 Aristotle assesses whether people are responsible, and if they are it was voluntary [Zagzebski]
1111a04 p.114 5215 There are six categories of particular cirumstance affecting an action
1111a17 p.114 5216 An act is involuntary if the particular facts (esp. circumstances and effect) are unknown
1111a29 p.115 5217 At times we ought to feel angry, and we ought to desire health and learning
1111b06 p.176 12961 For an action to be 'free', it must be deliberate as well as unconstrained [Leibniz]
1111b14 p.116 68 The akrates acts from desire not choice, and the enkrates acts from choice not desire
1111b15 p.1 4318 Virtue is right reason and feeling and action. Akrasia and enkrateia are lower levels of action. [Cottingham]
1111b15 p.24 4372 Akrasia merely neglects or misunderstands knowledge, rather than opposing it [Achtenberg]
1112a07 p.117 4391 Opinion is praised for being in accordance with truth
1112a09 p.117 5218 Some people are good at forming opinions, but bad at making moral choices
1112a28 p.118 5219 Types of cause are nature, necessity and chance, and mind and human agency
1112b11-24 p.27 23320 Choice is not explained by the will, but by the operation of reason when it judges what is good [Frede,M]
1112b12 p.119 69 We deliberate about means, not ends
1112b33 p.120 5220 Particular facts (such as 'is it cooked?') are matters of sense-perception, not deliberation
1113a06 p.120 5221 Deliberation ends when the starting-point of an action is traced back to the dominant part of the self
1113a32 p.121 5222 A person of good character sees the truth about what is actually fine and pleasant
1113b18 p.66 4118 A human being fathers his own actions as he fathers his children
1114a07 p.123 4394 People develop their characters through the activities they pursue
1114b13 p.117 4384 For Aristotle responsibility seems negative, in the absence of force or ignorance [Irwin]
1114b21 p.126 5223 We are partly responsible for our own dispositions and virtues
1115a33 p.128 5224 Strictly speaking, a courageous person is one who does not fear an honourable death
1115b14 p.128 5225 The end of virtue is what is right and honourable or fine
1115b18 p.128 5226 True courage is an appropriate response to a dangerous situation
1115b23 p.129 5227 The nature of any given thing is determined by its end
1116a14 p.130 5228 A suicide embraces death to run away from hardships, rather than because it is a fine deed
1117b11 p.135 5229 The more virtuous and happy a person is, the worse the prospect becomes of ending life
1117b28 p.136 5230 There are pleasures of the soul (e.g. civic honour, and learning) and of the body
1118a25 p.137 71 Licentiousness concerns the animal-like pleasures of touch and taste
1118b21 p.138 5231 To eat vast amounts is unnatural, since natural desire is to replenish the deficiency
1119b09 p.141 5232 If beings are dominated by appetite, this can increase so much that it drives out reason
1123b20 p.154 5233 Honour is clearly the greatest external good
1124b08 p.156 5234 For the great-souled man it is sometimes better to be dead
1125b33 p.160 5235 Patient people are indignant, but only appropriately, as their reason prescribes
1126a05 p.161 5236 It is foolish not to be angry when it is appropriate
1126b04 p.162 5237 We cannot properly judge by rules, because blame depends on perception of particulars
1127a29 p.165 5238 The sincere man is praiseworthy, because truth is the mean between boasting and irony
1129a03 p.164 4389 What emotion is displayed in justice, and what are its deficiency and excess? [Urmson]
1129a07 p.171 5239 When people speak of justice they mean a disposition of character to behave justly
1129a32 p.172 5240 The word 'unjust' describes law-breaking and exploitation
1129b12 p.173 5241 We hold that every piece of legislation is just
1129b18 p.173 5242 Justice is whatever creates or preserves social happiness
1130a07 p.174 5243 The best people exercise their virtue towards others, rather than to themselves
1130b01 p.175 23556 Particular justice concerns specific temptations, but universal justice concerns the whole character
1132b34 p.183 5245 Society collapses if people cannot rely on exchanging good for good and evil for evil
1134b18 p.189 5246 Natural justice is the same everywhere, and does not (unlike legal justice) depend on acceptance
1139a06 p.204 72 Assume our reason is in two parts, one for permanent first principles, and one for variable things
1139a28 p.205 73 Practical intellect serves to arrive at the truth which corresponds to right appetite
1139b10 p.206 4405 The attainment of truth is the task of the intellectual part of the soul
1139b24 p.207 76 The object of scientific knowledge is what is necessary
1141b03 p.212 78 Wisdom is scientific and intuitive knowledge of what is by nature most precious
1141b14 p.213 5247 Prudence is mainly concerned with particulars, which is the sphere of human conduct
1142a25 p.215 79 Intuition grasps the definitions that can't be proved
1143b20 p.221 5248 Wisdom does not study happiness, because it is not concerned with processes
1144a07 p.222 80 Virtue ensures that we have correct aims, and prudence that we have correct means of achieving them
1144a10 p.222 55 People who perform just acts unwillingly or ignorantly are still not just
1144a19 p.222 56 A person is good if they act from choice, and for the sake of the actions in themselves
1144a33 p.223 5249 One cannot be prudent without being good
1144b04 p.223 4362 Dispositions to virtue are born in us, but without intelligence they can be harmful
1144b30 p.224 81 For Socrates virtues are principles, involving knowledge, but we say they only imply the principle of practical reason
1145a02 p.225 82 The one virtue of prudence carries with it the possession of all the other virtues
1145a15 p.158 4386 Character can be heroic, excellent, controlled, uncontrolled, bad, or brutish [Urmson]
1145a16 p.226 5250 The three states of character to avoid are vice, 'akrasia' and brutishness
1145a24 p.226 5251 Gods exist in a state which is morally superior to virtue
1145b05 p.75 22141 It is enough if we refute the objections and leave common opinions undisturbed
1145b09 p.227 5252 'Enkrateia' (control) means abiding by one's own calculations
1145b33 p.228 5254 Some people explain akrasia by saying only opinion is present, not knowledge
1147a01 p.232 5255 A person may act against one part of his knowledge, if he knows both universal and particular
1148a09 p.23 23317 Aristotle sees akrasia as acting against what is chosen, not against reason [Frede,M]
1148a10 p.24 23318 Akrasia is explained by past mental failures, not by a specific choice [Frede,M]
1148b16 p.237 5256 Some things are not naturally pleasant, but become so through disease or depravity
1150b28 p.244 5257 Licentious people feel no regret, but weak-willed people are capable of repentance
1152a03 p.251 5258 While replenishing we even enjoy unpleasant things, but only absolute pleasures when we are replenished
1152b15 p.250 84 The greater the pleasure, the greater the hindrance to thought
1153b19 p.224 1665 It is nonsense to say a good person is happy even if they are being tortured or suffering disaster
1154a08 p.255 5259 If we criticise bodily pleasures as licentious and bad, why do we consider their opposite, pain, to be bad?
1154b25 p.257 383 God feels one simple pleasure forever
1155a03- p.305 2686 Aristotle does not confine supreme friendship to moral heroes [Cooper,JM]
1155a23 p.258 5260 Friendship holds communities together, and lawgivers value it more than justice
1155a26 p.259 5261 Between friends there is no need for justice
1155b16 p.260 5262 Only lovable things are loved, and they must be good, or pleasant, or useful
1156b10 p.308 2687 For Aristotle in the best friendships the binding force is some excellence of character [Cooper,JM]
1157a16 p.265 85 Bad men can have friendships of utility or pleasure, but only good men can be true friends
1159a13 p.271 5263 Most people want to be loved rather than to love, because they desire honour
1159b30 p.273 5264 Friendship is based on a community of sharing
1161a29 p.278 86 A bad political constitution (especially a tyranny) makes friendship almost impossible
1161b09 p.278 87 Democracy is the best constitution for friendship, because it encourages equality
1162a20 p.280 5265 Even more than a social being, man is a pairing and family being
1166a23 p.294 88 Nobody would choose all the good things in world, if the price was loss of identity
1166a25 p.294 5266 It would seem that the thinking part is the individual self
1168b06 p.300 90 All altruism is an extension of self-love
1168b09 p.301 91 A man is his own best friend; therefore he ought to love himself best
1169a01 p.302 5267 Our reasoned acts are held to be voluntary and our own doing
1169a12 p.302 92 Self-love benefits ourselves, and also helps others
1170a09 p.305 2689 Good people enjoy virtuous action, just as musicians enjoy beautiful melodies
1170a12 p.305 2690 Associating with good people can be a training in virtue
1170a32 p.306 2573 To perceive or think is to be conscious of our existence
1170b09 p.306 93 Existence is desirable if one is conscious of one's own goodness
1173a01 p.314 95 If everyone believes it, it is true
1173b20 p.152 4374 For Aristotle, pleasure is the perception of particulars as valuable [Achtenberg]
1173b20 p.317 5268 Disreputable pleasures are only pleasant to persons with diseased perception
1174a02 p.317 96 Nobody would choose the mentality of a child, even if they had the greatest childish pleasures
1174a06 p.318 97 There are many things we would want even if they brought no pleasure
1174a08 p.318 5269 Pleasure is not the Good, and not every pleasure is desirable
1175a15 p.322 98 It is right to pursue pleasure, because it enhances life, and life is a thing to choose
1176a02 p.324 5270 Intellectual pleasures are superior to sensuous ones
1176b28 p.327 99 If happiness were mere amusement it wouldn't be worth a lifetime's effort
1177a03 p.327 100 The happy life is in accordance with goodness, which implies seriousness
1177a08 p.328 101 Slaves can't be happy, because they lack freedom
1177a32 p.329 103 Wise people can contemplate alone, though co-operation helps
1177b p.231 18229 Only contemplation is sought for its own sake; practical activity always offers some gain
1177b17 p.330 104 Contemplation (with the means to achieve it) is the perfect happiness for man
1177b31 p.330 5272 The intellectual life is divine in comparison with ordinary human life
1177b33 p.331 105 We should aspire to immortality, and live by what is highest in us
1178a08 p.331 106 The best life is that of the intellect, since that is in the fullest sense the man
1178a10 p.331 107 A life of moral virtue brings human happiness, but not divine happiness
1178a28 p.332 108 The virtue of generosity requires money
1178a32 p.332 109 Clearly perfect conduct will involve both good intention and good action
1178b p.235 18232 The gods live, but action is unworthy of them, so that only leaves contemplation?
1178b25 p.333 110 Lower animals cannot be happy, because they cannot contemplate
1178b29 p.334 111 The more people contemplate, the happier they are
1179b18 p.336 4379 It is very hard to change a person's character traits by argument
1180a05 p.337 112 Most people are readier to submit to compulsion than to argument
II 5.1 p.211 20212 Practical reason is truth-attaining, and focused on actions good for human beings
334BCE Protrepticus (frags)
p.120 17949 Inquiry is the cause of philosophy
333BCE Eudemian Ethics
1214a30 p.2 5865 Happiness involves three things, of which the greatest is either wisdom, virtue, or pleasure
1214b10 p.2 5866 It is folly not to order one's life around some end
1215 p.232 18230 No one would choose life just for activities not done for their own sake
1217a26 p.8 5868 Horses, birds and fish are not happy, lacking a divine aspect to their natures
1217b20 p.9 5869 The thesis of the Form of the Good (or of anything else) is verbal and vacuous
1218a30 p.10 5870 Everything seeks, not a single good, but its own separate good
1218b34 p.12 5871 Goods in the soul are more worthy than those outside it, as everybody wants them
1219a02 p.12 5872 Excellence is the best state of anything (like a cloak) which has an employment or function
1219a08 p.12 5873 Each thing's function is its end
1219b32 p.140 20204 Whether the mind has parts is irrelevant, since it obviously has distinct capacities
1220a11 p.14 5874 Character virtues (such as courage) are of the non-rational part, which follows the rational part
1220a36 p.15 5875 Character (éthos) is developed from habit (ethos)
1222b19 p.21 22504 Only a human being can be a starting point for an action
1222b31 p.21 22505 The two right angles of a triangle necessitate that a quadrilateral has four
1223a08 p.22 22506 A man is the cause of what is within his power, and what he causes is in his power
1224a06 p.24 22507 An action is voluntary when it is accompanied by thought of some kind
1224a07 p.25 23319 We are responsible if our actions reflect our motivation [Frede,M]
1224a24 p.25 22508 Unlike in inanimate things, in animate things actions have more than one starting point
1224b32 p.26 22509 What is natural for us is either there at birth, or appears by normal processes
1225b08 p.28 22512 Acts are voluntary if done knowingly, by the agent, and in his power to avoid it
1225b11 p.28 22513 Knowing is having knowledge; understanding is using knowledge
1225b20 p.27 22510 Some emotional states are too strong for human nature
1226b26 p.31 22514 The deliberative part of the soul discerns explanatory causes
1227a04 p.31 22515 Choice results when deliberation brings together an opinion with an inclination
1227b08 p.32 22516 Character is shown by what is or is not enjoyed, and virtue chooses the mean among them
1227b17 p.33 5876 Virtue is different from continence
1228a03 p.34 22517 We judge character not by their actions, but by their reasons for actions
1228a15 p.34 5877 We judge people from their deeds because we cannot see their choices (which matter more)
1246a26 p.35 5878 Eyes could be used for a natural purpose, or for unnatural seeing, or for a non-seeing activity
332BCE Politics
11323b33 p.159 22579 The same four cardinal virtues which apply to individuals also apply to a city
1252a01 p.54 2431 Every state is an association formed for some good purpose
1252a18 p.2 22521 Our method of inquiry is to examine the smallest parts that make up the whole
1252a24 p.2 22522 To grasp something, trace it back to its natural origins
1252a30 p.57 2801 Intelligence which looks ahead is a natural master, while bodily strength is a natural slave
1252b03 p.57 2800 The best instruments have one purpose, not many
1252b26 p.59 2802 Men imagine gods to be of human shape, with a human lifestyle
1252b27 p.3 22523 The community (of villages) becomes a city when it is totally self-sufficient
1252b32 p.4 22524 The nature of each thing is its mature state
1253a01 p.59 2803 Man is by nature a political animal
1253a09 p.12 1570 Human beings, alone of the animals, have logos
1253a12 p.60 1574 Reasoning distinguishes what is beneficial, and hence what is right
1253a17 p.60 2805 A community must share a common view of good and justice
1253a20 p.4 22525 The whole is prior to its parts, because parts are defined by their role
1253a27 p.4 22526 People who are anti-social or wholly self-sufficient are no part of a city
1253a31 p.61 2806 Man is the worst of all animals when divorced from law and justice
1253a36 p.5 22527 Justice is the order in a political community
1253b20 p.63 2807 Some say slavery is unnatural and created by convention, and is therefore forced, and unjust
1254a09- p.312 21358 Natural slaves are those naturally belonging to another, or who can manage no more than labouring
1254a28 p.7 22528 The nature of all animate things is to have one part which rules it
1255b12 p.73 2808 Master and slave can have friendship through common interests
1256b20 p.79 2809 If nature makes everything for a purpose, then plants and animals must have been made for man
1259b01 p.18 22529 Men are natural leaders (apart from the unnatural ones)
1260b14 p.21 22530 Both women and children should be educated, as this contributes to a city's excellence
1260b28 p.22 22531 We aim to understand the best possible community for free people
1261a14 p.22 22532 A city can't become entirely one, because its very nature is to be a multitude
1261a38 p.23 22533 If the people are equal in nature, then they should all share in ruling
1261b33 p.24 22534 People care less about what is communal, and more about what is their own
1262b07 p.25 22535 Friendship is the best good for cities, because it reduces factions
1263a02 p.26 22536 There could be private land and public crops, or public land and private crops, or both public
1263a38 p.27 22537 Property should be owned privately, but used communally
1263b03 p.115 2810 Selfishness is wrong not because it is self-love, but because it is excessive
1263b23 p.28 22538 Owning and sharing property communally increases disagreements
1263b33 p.116 2811 A state is plural, and needs education to make it a community
1265a32 p.123 2813 It is quite possible to live a moderate life and yet be miserable
1266a25 p.33 22539 Election of officials by the elected is dangerous, because factions can control it
1266a38 p.127 2814 Phaleas proposed equality of property, provided there is equality of education
1266b02 p.34 22540 Wealth could be quickly leveled by only the rich giving marriage dowries
1269a23 p.139 2816 If it is easy to change the laws, that makes them weaker
1271a10 p.147 2817 It is wrong that a worthy officer of state should seek the office
1271a20 p.44 22541 Kings should be selected according to character
1273b01 p.49 22542 People who buy public office will probably expect to profit from it
1273b11 p.49 22543 In large communities it is better if more people participate in the offices
1275b18 p.53 22544 A citizen is someone who is allowed to hold official posts in a city
1276b28 p.179 2818 The virtues of a good citizen are relative to a particular constitution
1276b33 p.56 22545 A person can be an excellent citizen without being an excellent man
1277b27 p.182 2819 The only virtue special to a ruler is practical wisdom
1278b20 p.187 2820 People want to live together, even when they don't want mutual help
1279a17 p.61 22546 A city is a community of free people, and the constitution should aim at the common advantage
1279b04 p.190 2821 The six constitutions are monarchy/tyranny, aristocracy/oligarchy, and polity/democracy
1280a11 p.63 22547 Justice is equality for equals, and inequality for unequals
1280b38 p.65 22548 A city aims at living well
1281b01 p.202 2823 The many may add up to something good, even if they are inferior as individuals
1281b08 p.203 2824 The collective judgement of many people on art is better than that of an individual
1281b18 p.67 22549 In many cases, the claim that the majority is superior would apply equally to wild beasts
1281b28 p.67 22550 It is dreadful to neither give a share nor receive a share
1282b01 p.69 22551 Correct law should be in control, with rulers only deciding uncertain issues
1282b17 p.207 2825 The good is obviously justice, which benefits the whole community, and involves equality in some sense
1283a32 p.70 22552 The rich can claim to rule, because of land ownership, and being more trustworthy
1283a38 p.71 22553 Justice is a virtue of communities
1286a10 p.76 22554 It is said that we should not stick strictly to written law, as it is too vague
1286a30 p.222 2826 Like water, large numbers of people are harder to corrupt than a few
1286b10 p.78 22555 The function of good men is to confer benefits
1287a19 p.226 2827 It is preferable that law should rule rather than any single citizen
1287a31 p.226 2828 Law is intelligence without appetite
1287b04 p.227 2829 The law is the mean
1287b05 p.80 22556 Laws that match people's habits are more effective than mere written rules
1288a38 p.82 22557 Virtuous people are like the citizens of the best city
1289a15 p.84 22558 Constitutions specify distribution of offices, the authorities, and the community's aim
1292a07 p.90 22560 Popular leaders only arise in democracies that are not in accord with the law
1293b38 p.94 22561 The rich are seen as noble, because they don't need to commit crimes
1294a11 p.260 2830 We can claim an equal right to aristocratic virtue, as well as to wealth or freedom
1294b07 p.96 22562 Choosing officials by lot is democratic
1295b12 p.98 22563 The middle classes are neither ambitious nor anarchic, which is good
1295b24 p.98 22564 Community is based on friends, who are equal and similar, and share things
1295b25 p.267 2832 The state aims to consist as far as possible of those who are like and equal
1295b34 p.99 22565 The best communities rely on a large and strong middle class
1297a10 p.101 22566 The greed of the rich is more destructive than the greed of the people
1301a28 p.111 22567 Democracy arises when people who are given equal freedom assume unconditional equality
1302a30 p.113 22568 Faction is for inferiors to be equal, and equals to become superior
1303a14 p.115 22569 The Heraeans replaced election with lot, to thwart campaigning
1305a12 p.119 22570 Rhetoric now enables good speakers to become popular leaders
1307b36 p.125 22571 'If each is small, so too are all' is in one way false, for the whole composed of all is not small
1309a27 p.328 2833 Equality is obviously there to help people who do not get priority in the constitution
1309a33 p.128 22572 Officers should like the constitution, be capable, and have appropriate virtues and justice
1309a37 p.128 22573 The virtue of justice may be relative to a particular constitution
1310a17 p.130 22574 A community can lack self-control
1312b05 p.134 22575 Ultimate democracy is tyranny
1317b42 p.146 22576 No office is permanent in a democracy
1318b05 p.367 2834 It is always the weak who want justice and equality, not the strong
1319b35 p.373 2835 Any constitution can be made to last for a day or two
1323a14 p.391 2973 We must decide the most desirable human life before designing a constitution
1323a19 p.158 22577 What is the best life for everyone, and is that a communal or an individual problem?
1323b24 p.392 2836 God is not blessed and happy because of external goods, but because of his own nature
1323b29 p.159 22578 The happiest city is the one that acts most nobly
1324a23 p.160 22580 The best constitution enables everyone to live the best life
1325b09 p.400 2837 Nothing contrary to nature is beautiful
1326b23 p.165 22581 The size of a city is decided by the maximum self-sufficient community that can be surveyed
1327b39 p.168 22582 Spirit [thumos] is the capacity by which we love
1328a07 p.168 22583 The guardians should not be harsh to strangers, as no one should behave like that
1328a27 p.169 22584 A community should all share to some extent in something like land or food
1329a22 p.171 22585 Look at all of the citizens before judging a city to be happy
1330a08 p.419 2840 The whole state should pay for the worship of the gods
1332a38 p.429 2841 People become good because of nature, habit and reason
1332b04 p.178 22586 Only humans have reason
1332b10 p.430 2842 Men learn partly by habit, and partly by listening
1334b16 p.182 22587 Understanding is the aim of our nature
1335b24 p.443 2844 Abortions should be procured before the embryo has acquired life and sensation
1337a21 p.189 22588 A city has a single end, so education must focus on that, and be communal, not private
1337a27 p.189 22589 Citizens do not just own themselves, but are also parts of the city
1338b01 p.457 2845 Free and great-souled men do not keep asking "what is the use of it?"
1339a20 p.462 2846 Music can mould the character to be virtuous (just as gymnastics trains the body)
1339a30 p.462 2847 The aim of serious childhood play is the amusement of the complete adult
1340a14 p.196 22590 Virtue is concerned with correct feelings
6.2 p.66 20092 One principle of liberty is to take turns ruling and being ruled
331BCE Categories
p.13 13121 Substance,Quantity,Quality,Relation,Place,Time,Being-in-a-position,Having,Doing,Being affected [Westerhoff]
p.16 16091 Is primary substance just an ultimate subject, or some aspect of a complex body? [Gill,ML]
p.26 16140 Secondary substances do have subjects, so they are not ultimate in the ontology [Frede,M]
p.42 3311 The categories (substance, quality, quantity, relation, action, passion, place, time) peter out inconsequentially [Benardete,JA]
p.50 16154 Aristotle gave up his earlier notion of individuals, because it relied on universals [Frede,M]
p.51 3315 Aristotle denigrates the category of relation, but for modern absolutists self-relation is basic [Benardete,JA]
p.56 16155 Aristotle promoted the importance of properties and objects (rather than general and particular) [Frede,M]
p.71 12349 Only what can be said of many things is a predicable [Wedin]
p.110 11280 Primary being is 'that which lies under', or 'particular substance' [Politis]
p.178 10965 In earlier Aristotle the substances were particulars, not kinds [Lawson-Tancred]
p.188 16116 Aristotle derived categories as answers to basic questions about nature, size, quality, location etc. [Gill,ML]
p.190 8287 Earlier Aristotle had objects as primary substances, but later he switched to substantial form [Lowe]
p.207 11286 Primary being must be more than mere indeterminate ultimate subject of predication [Politis]
p.453 12361 Primary substances are ontological in 'Categories', and explanatory in 'Metaphysics' [Wedin]
§7 p.312 21345 Aristotle said relations are not substances, so (if they exist) they must be accidents [Heil]
01a20 p.4 11032 Some things said 'of' a subject are not 'in' the subject
01b10 p.4 11033 Predications of predicates are predications of their subjects
01b16 p.4 11034 The differentiae of genera which are different are themselves different in kind
01b25 p.5 11035 There are ten basic categories for thinking about things
02a11 p.5 11036 A 'primary' substance is in each subject, with species or genera as 'secondary' substances
02b02 p.6 11037 Colour must be in an individual body, or it is not embodied
02b29 p.7 11038 We call them secondary 'substances' because they reveal the primary substances
02b29-37 p.94 12351 Genus and species are substances, because only they reveal the primary substance [Wedin]
03a04 p.8 12350 Things are called 'substances' because they are subjects for everything else
03b10 p.9 11039 A primary substance reveals a 'this', which is an individual unit
03b18 p.10 11837 Some predicates signify qualification of a substance, others the substance itself
03b33 p.10 1694 Substances have no opposites, and don't come in degrees (including if the substance is a man)
04a10/20 p.11 11040 A single substance can receive contrary properties
04b20 p.12 11041 Some quantities are discrete, like number, and others continuous, like lines, time and space
04b33 p.13 11042 Parts of a line join at a point, so it is continuous
08b23 p.24 1695 Without extensive examination firm statements are hard, but studying the difficulties is profitable
12b01 p.35 11043 It is not possible for fire to be cold or snow black
13a35 p.36 1696 Change goes from possession to loss (as in baldness), but not the other way round
13b36 p.38 1697 The contrary of good is bad, but the contrary of bad is either good or another evil
14a06 p.38 1698 Both sides of contraries need not exist (as health without sickness, white without black)
14a29 p.39 11044 One is prior to two, because its existence is implied by two
14a32 p.39 1699 A thing is prior to another if it implies its existence
14b12 p.39 18366 Of interdependent things, the prior one causes the other's existence
14b18 p.40 18367 A true existence statement has its truth caused by the existence of the thing
15a13 p.41 1700 There are six kinds of change: generation, destruction, increase, diminution, alteration, change of place
Ch.8 p.537 16739 Four species of quality: states, capacities, affects, and forms [Pasnau]
331BCE Sophistical Refutations
165a01 p.13 2675 Reasoning is a way of making statements which makes them lead on to other statements
165b01 p.15 2676 Didactic argument starts from the principles of the subject, not from the opinions of the learner
165b03 p.15 2677 Dialectic aims to start from generally accepted opinions, and lead to a contradiction
165b15 p.17 2674 Competitive argument aims at refutation, fallacy, paradox, solecism or repetition
176a08 p.95 16967 'Are Coriscus and Callias at home?' sounds like a single question, but it isn't
179a01 p.117 16149 Generic terms like 'man' are not substances, but qualities, relations, modes or some such thing
179a37 p.121 11840 Only if two things are identical do they have the same attributes
331BCE Topics
100a25 p.273 12259 Reasoning is when some results follow necessarily from certain claims
100a30 p.273 12260 Dialectic starts from generally accepted opinions
101b18 p.279 12261 Differentia are generic, and belong with genus
102a18 p.283 12262 An 'idion' belongs uniquely to a thing, but is not part of its essence
102a32 p.283 12263 'Genus' is part of the essence shared among several things
102b07 p.285 12264 An 'accident' is something which may possibly either belong or not belong to a thing
103a20 p.289 12265 All water is the same, because of a certain similarity
103a24-33 p.291 12266 'Same' is mainly for names or definitions, but also for propria, and for accidents
103b20 p.293 12267 There are ten categories: essence, quantity, quality, relation, place, time, position, state, activity, passivity
105a15 p.303 12271 Induction is the progress from particulars to universals
108b05 p.327 12272 We describe the essence of a particular thing by means of its differentiae
108b30 p.329 12273 Unit is the starting point of number
109b17 p.335 12274 Begin examination with basics, and subdivide till you can go no further
117a03 p.391 12275 We value friendship just for its own sake
117a36 p.393 12276 Justice and self-control are better than courage, because they are always useful
118b07 p.401 12277 Friendship is preferable to money, since its excess is preferable
121a18 p.425 12278 'Being' and 'oneness' are predicated of everything which exists
122b17 p.435 12279 The differentia indicate the qualities, but not the essence
128a24 p.477 12280 Genus gives the essence better than the differentiae do
128b17 p.481 12281 Man is intrinsically a civilized animal
129a27 p.485 12282 An individual property has to exist (in past, present or future)
132a12 p.507 12283 In definitions the first term to be assigned ought to be the genus
141a36 p.575 12284 Everything that is has one single essence
145b17 p.69 11261 Puzzles arise when reasoning seems equal on both sides
149b24 p.633 12285 The definition is peculiar to one thing, not common to many
150a19 p.637 13269 In the case of a house the parts can exist without the whole, so parts are not the whole
152a02 p.649 12286 If two things are the same, they must have the same source and origin
152a36 p.653 12287 Two identical things have the same accidents, they are the same; if the accidents differ, they're different
152b32 p.655 12288 Numerical sameness and generic sameness are not the same
153a19 p.657 12289 The genera and the differentiae are part of the essence
153b30 p.663 12290 Destruction is dissolution of essence
154a11 p.665 12291 There can't be one definition of two things, or two definitions of the same thing
155a03 p.671 12292 Definitions are easily destroyed, since they can contain very many assertions
157a25 p.687 12293 We say 'so in cases of this kind', but how do you decide what is 'of this kind'?
330BCE On Interpretation
p.12 22272 Aristotle's later logic had to treat 'Socrates' as 'everything that is Socrates' [Potter]
p.19 2337 For Aristotle meaning and reference are linked to concepts [Putnam]
16a03-08 p.43 13763 Spoken sounds vary between people, but are signs of affections of soul, which are the same for all
17a01 p.46 1701 A prayer is a sentence which is neither true nor false
19a25 p.53 1702 Things may be necessary once they occur, but not be unconditionally necessary
19a30 p.53 1703 It is necessary that either a sea-fight occurs tomorrow or it doesn't, though neither option is in itself necessary
19a31 p.13 21593 In talking of future sea-fights, Aristotle rejects bivalence [Williamson]
19a33 p.53 1704 Statements are true according to how things actually are
19a39 p.53 1705 It doesn't have to be the case that in opposed views one is true and the other false
21a31 p.59 1706 Non-existent things aren't made to exist by thought, because their non-existence is part of the thought
23a18 p.64 1707 Maybe necessity and non-necessity are the first principles of ontology
23a31 p.65 1708 In "Callias is just/not just/unjust", which of these are contraries?
Ch.12-13 p.62 9405 Square of Opposition: not both true, or not both false; one-way implication; opposite truth-values
Ch.12a p.7 9728 Modal Square 1: □P and ¬◊¬P are 'contraries' of □¬P and ¬◊P [Fitting/Mendelsohn]
Ch.12b p.7 9729 Modal Square 2: ¬□¬P and ◊P are 'subcontraries' of ¬□P and ◊¬P [Fitting/Mendelsohn]
Ch.12c p.7 9730 Modal Square 3: □P and ¬◊¬P are 'contradictories' of ¬□P and ◊¬P [Fitting/Mendelsohn]
Ch.12d p.7 9731 Modal Square 4: □¬P and ¬◊P are 'contradictories' of ¬□¬P and ◊P [Fitting/Mendelsohn]
Ch.12e p.7 9732 Modal Square 5: □P and ¬◊¬P are 'subalternatives' of ¬□¬P and ◊P [Fitting/Mendelsohn]
Ch.12f p.7 9733 Modal Square 6: □¬P and ¬◊P are 'subalternatives' of ¬□P and ◊¬P [Fitting/Mendelsohn]
330BCE works
p. 11150 It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain an idea without accepting it
p.7 8660 There are potential infinities (never running out), but actual infinity is incoherent [Friend]
p.17 6559 Aristotle never actually says that man is a rational animal [Fogelin]
p.18 11240 The notion of analytic truth is absent in Aristotle [Politis]
p.18 11239 The notion of a priori truth is absent in Aristotle [Politis]
p.26 1575 For Aristotle logos is essentially the ability to talk rationally about questions of value [Roochnik]
p.27 11243 Aristotelian explanations are facts, while modern explanations depend on human conceptions [Politis]
p.51 8200 Aristotelian definitions aim to give the essential properties of the thing defined
p.62 3320 Aristotle's standard analysis of species and genus involves specifying things in terms of something more general [Benardete,JA]
p.71 5991 For Aristotle, knowledge is of causes, and is theoretical, practical or productive [Code]
p.95 1589 Aristotle is the supreme optimist about the ability of logos to explain nature [Roochnik]
p.96 19693 There is practical wisdom (for action), and theoretical wisdom (for deep understanding) [Whitcomb]
p.133 4730 For Aristotle, the subject-predicate structure of Greek reflected a substance-accident structure of reality [O'Grady]
p.151 16111 Aristotle wants to fit common intuitions, and therefore uses language as a guide [Gill,ML]
p.157 4385 Aristotelian definition involves first stating the genus, then the differentia of the thing [Urmson]
p.162 13276 The unmoved mover and the soul show Aristotelian form as the ultimate mereological atom [Koslicki]
p.172 13277 The 'form' is the recipe for building wholes of a particular kind [Koslicki]
p.173 23312 Aristotle is a rationalist, but reason is slowly acquired through perception and experience [Frede,M]
p.188 3037 Aristotle said the educated were superior to the uneducated as the living are to the dead [Diog. Laertius]
p.193 13282 Aristotle relativises the notion of wholeness to different measures [Koslicki]
p.235 12058 Aristotle's matter can become any other kind of matter [Wiggins]
p.311 23300 Aristotle and the Stoics denied rationality to animals, while Platonists affirmed it [Sorabji]
p.372 12000 Aristotle regularly says that essential properties explain other significant properties [Kung]
1 p.4 16971 Plato says sciences are unified around Forms; Aristotle says they're unified around substance [Moravcsik]
Frag 10 p.11 22729 The concepts of gods arose from observing the soul, and the cosmos [Sext.Empiricus]
329BCE De Anima
p.17 5507 Aristotle led to the view that there are several souls, all somewhat physical [Martin/Barresi]
p.33 2683 Aristotle has a problem fitting his separate reason into the soul, which is said to be the form of the body [Ackrill]
p.124 17711 Our minds take on the form of what is being perceived [Mares]
402b18 p.536 16646 To understand a triangle summing to two right angles, we need to know the essence of a line
402b25 p.536 16647 Demonstration starts from a definition of essence, so we can derive (or conjecture about) the properties
403a08- p.128 1710 Emotion involves the body, thinking uses the mind, imagination hovers between them
405b14 p.136 1714 Mind involves movement, perception, incorporeality
407b20 p.96 1514 Early thinkers concentrate on the soul but ignore the body, as if it didn't matter what body received the soul
408a15 p.145 1717 If the soul is composed of many physical parts, it can't be a true unity
408b12 p.146 1718 Does the mind think or pity, or does the whole man do these things?
411b10 p.153 1721 What unifies the soul would have to be a super-soul, which seems absurd
412a20 p.157 12086 Psuché is the form and actuality of a body which potentially has life
412b05 p.157 13275 The soul and the body are inseparable, like the imprint in some wax
412b19 p.556 16752 Sight is the essence of the eye, fitting its definition; the eye itself is just the matter
413b27 p.160 1724 Perception necessitates pleasure and pain, which necessitates appetite
415b09 p.561 16754 The soul is the cause or source of movement, the essence of body, and its end
417a04 p.169 1725 Why can't we sense the senses? And why do senses need stimuli?
417b28 p.171 1726 We may think when we wish, but not perceive, because universals are within the mind
418a15 p.172 1727 Some objects of sensation are unique to one sense, where deception is impossible
418a24 p.172 1728 Many objects of sensation are common to all the senses
425a20 p.190 1729 We perceive number by the denial of continuity
425b07 p.191 1730 Why do we have many senses, and not just one?
426b18 p.194 1732 Sense organs aren't the end of sensation, or they would know what does the sensing
427b32 p.198 1733 Thinking is not perceiving, but takes the form of imagination and speculation
428-432 p.330 23307 Aristotle makes belief a part of reason, but sees desires as separate [Sorabji]
428b18 p.589 16723 Perception of sensible objects is virtually never wrong
430a01 p.203 5051 The intellect has potential to think, like a tablet on which nothing has yet been written
431a10 p.208 4376 Pleasure and pain are perceptions of things as good or bad
431a18 p.208 1734 In moral thought images are essential, to be pursued or avoided
431b22 p.210 1735 In a way the soul is everything which exists, through its perceptions and thoughts
433a12- p.214 1738 Practical reason is based on desire, so desire must be the ultimate producer of movement
433b24 p.216 1739 If all movement is either pushing or pulling, there must be a still point in between where it all starts
434a29 p.218 1740 Nature does nothing in vain
328BCE Prior Analytics
p.2 3300 Aristotle's logic is based on the subject/predicate distinction, which leads him to substances and properties [Benardete,JA]
p.10 18896 Aristotle places terms at opposite ends, joined by a quantified copula [Sommers]
p.11 22271 Aristotle was the first to use schematic letters in logic [Potter]
p.31 11060 Aristotelian syllogisms are three-part, subject-predicate, existentially committed, with laws of thought [Hanna]
p.34 18909 Aristotelian sentences are made up by one of four 'formative' connectors [Engelbretsen]
p.35 18911 Linguistic terms form a hierarchy, with higher terms predicable of increasing numbers of things [Engelbretsen]
p.39 8079 Aristotelian logic has two quantifiers of the subject ('all' and 'some') [Devlin]
p.42 8080 Aristotelian identified 256 possible syllogisms, saying that 19 are valid [Devlin]
p.140 13912 Aristotle replace Plato's noun-verb form with unions of pairs of terms by one of four 'copulae' [Engelbretsen/Sayward]
p.353 13819 Aristotle's said some Fs are G or some Fs are not G, forgetting that there might be no Fs [Bostock]
24a16 p.1 11149 Affirming/denying sentences are universal, particular, or indeterminate
24b18 p.2 11148 Deduction is when we suppose one thing, and another necessarily follows
29b29-35 p.13 9403 There are three different deductions for actual terms, necessary terms and possible terms
30a15 p.13 14641 A deduction is necessary if the major (but not the minor) premise is also necessary
Ch.1 p.3 8071 Aristotle listed nineteen valid syllogisms (though a few of them were wrong) [Devlin]
327BCE Posterior Analytics
p.15 12072 For Aristotle knowledge is explanatory, involving understanding, and principles or causes [Witt]
p.23 12073 'Episteme' means grasping causes, universal judgments, explanation, and teaching [Witt]
p.160 23309 Aristotle's concepts of understanding and explanation mean he is not a pure empiricist [Frede,M]
p.196 17310 Aristotle gets asymmetric consequence from demonstration, which reflects real causal priority [Koslicki]
p.342 12357 Explanation and generality are inseparable [Wedin]
p.348 21359 Aristotle doesn't actually apply his theory of demonstration to his practical science [Leroi]
p.365 11994 Aristotelian essences are properties mentioned at the starting point of a science [Kung]
71a14 p.1 12363 Everything is either asserted or denied truly
71b10 p.2 12364 We understand a thing when we know its explanation and its necessity
71b17 p.2 12365 We can know by demonstration, which is a scientific deduction leading to understanding
71b22 p.2 1667 Premises must be true, primitive and immediate, and prior to and explanatory of conclusions
71b30 p.3 12366 We only understand something when we know its explanation
72a05 p.3 12367 What is most universal is furthest away, and the particulars are nearest
72a14 p.3 12368 Negation takes something away from something
72a17 p.2 1668 An axiom is a principle which must be understood if one is to learn anything
72a22 p.4 12369 A unit is what is quantitatively indivisible
72a30 p.4 1669 The foundation or source is stronger than the thing it causes
72b04 p.4 1670 When you understand basics, you can't be persuaded to change your mind
72b09 p.5 1671 Sceptics say justification is an infinite regress, or it stops at the unknowable
72b16 p.5 1672 Maybe everything could be demonstrated, if demonstration can be reciprocal or circular
72b19 p.5 12370 Some understanding, of immediate items, is indemonstrable
73a24 p.6 12371 A demonstration is a deduction which proceeds from necessities
73a35 p.7 12372 The essence of a triangle comes from the line, mentioned in any account of triangles
73b33 p.8 12373 Something holds universally when it is proved of an arbitrary and primitive case
74b05- p.10 10918 Demonstrative understanding rests on necessary features of the thing in itself
75a13 p.11 12374 Demonstrations must be necessary, and that depends on the middle term
75a30 p.12 12375 Whatever holds of a kind intrinsically holds of it necessarily
76a25 p.14 1673 Knowledge proceeds from principles, so it is hard to know if we know
76b12 p.15 1674 All demonstration is concerned with existence, axioms and properties
76b23- p.419 13004 Aristotle's axioms (unlike Euclid's) are assumptions awaiting proof [Leibniz]
77a05 p.16 1675 Separate Forms aren't needed for logic, but universals (one holding of many) are essential
77a23 p.17 12376 Demonstrations by reductio assume excluded middle
79a08 p.21 12377 Mathematics is concerned with forms, not with superficial properties
79a24 p.22 12378 The reason why is the key to knowledge
81a37 p.135 16725 Some knowledge is lost if you lose a sense, and there is no way the knowledge can be replaced
83a34 p.31 1677 We can forget the Forms, as they are irrelevant, and not needed in giving demonstrations
85b24 p.37 12148 Demonstrations are syllogisms which give explanations
85b25 p.37 1678 Universals give better explanations, because they are self-explanatory and primitive
86a30 p.39 1679 Universal demonstrations are about thought; particular demonstrations lead to perceptions
86a35 p.39 1680 Demonstration is better with fewer presuppositions, and it is quicker if these are familiar
87a36 p.41 1681 Units are positionless substances, and points are substances with position
87b28 p.42 12379 You cannot understand anything through perception
88a05 p.43 1683 We learn universals from many particulars
88a06 p.43 12380 Universals are valuable because they make the explanations plain
88a29 p.44 1684 Two falsehoods can be contrary to one another
88b32 p.45 12381 What is necessary cannot be otherwise
89a07 p.45 1685 No one has mere belief about something if they think it HAS to be true
89b24 p.48 1686 What we seek and understand are facts, reasons, existence, and identity
90a15 p.49 12382 What it is and why it is are the same; screening defines and explains an eclipse
90b05 p.49 12145 Definitions are of what something is, and that is universal
90b17 p.50 12146 Definitions recognise essences, so are not themselves essences
90b25 p.50 12147 The principles of demonstrations are definitions
90b30 p.50 12383 There must be definitions before demonstration is possible
92a30 p.54 1687 Why are being terrestrial and a biped combined in the definition of man, but being literate and musical aren't?
92b14 p.55 1688 Properties must be proved, but not essence; but existents are not a kind, so existence isn't part of essence
94a21 p.59 1689 Explanation is of the status of a thing, inferences to it, initiation of change, and purpose
94b38 p.61 1690 A stone travels upwards by a forced necessity, and downwards by natural necessity
96b03 p.64 17039 The predicates of a thing's nature are necessary to it
96b16 p.65 1691 Aim to get definitions of the primitive components, thus establishing the kind, and work towards the attributes
97a23 p.66 12384 Definition by division needs predicates, which are well ordered and thorough
97b07-14 p.67 9066 You can define objects by progressively identifying what is the same and what is different
97b37 p.68 1692 If you shouldn't argue in metaphors, then you shouldn't try to define them either
99b09 p.72 12385 Are particulars explained more by universals, or by other particulars?
99b35- p.73 1693 Animals may have some knowledge if they retain perception, but understanding requires reasons to be given
100a05 p.73 9067 Many memories of the same item form a single experience
100a12 p.73 9068 Perception creates primitive immediate principles by building a series of firm concepts
100a15- p.74 9069 A perception lodging in the soul creates a primitive universal, which becomes generalised
100b04 p.74 9070 We learn primitives and universals by induction from perceptions
81b22 p.35 18910 To seek truth, study the real connections between subjects and attributes
Bk I.2 p.130 11283 There is pure deductive reasoning, and explanatory demonstration reasoning [Politis]
Bk II.2 p.35 12075 An Aristotelian definition is causal [Witt]
324BCE Metaphysics
p.5 12345 In 'Metaphysics' Z substantial primacy (as form) is explanatory rather than ontological [Wittgenstein]
p.35 16095 Some forms, such as the Prime Mover, are held by Aristotle to exist without matter [Gill,ML]
p.66 12348 There are four kinds of being: incidental, per se, potential and actual, and being as truth [Wittgenstein]
p.92 11199 Aristotelian essence underlies behaviour, or underlies definition, or is the source of existence [Aquinas]
p.106 12080 Essence is not all the necessary properties, since these extend beyond the definition [Witt]
p.128 22154 For Aristotle bivalence is a feature of reality [Boulter]
p.158 12339 Aristotle removes ontology from mathematics, and replaces the true with the beautiful [Badiou]
p.187 15107 Aristotle doesn't see essential truths or essential properties as necessary [Koslicki]
p.610 16778 Mature Aristotle sees organisms as the paradigm substances [Pasnau]
p.712 12304 Aristotelian essence is retained with identity through change, and bases our scientific knowledge [Copi]
0980a p.4 543 All men long to understand, as shown by their delight in the senses
0980a22 p.15 12038 Translate as 'humans all desire by nature to understand' (not as 'to know') [Annas]
0980b28 p.4 11245 Many memories make up a single experience
0981a p.4 9088 Skill comes from a general assumption obtained from thinking about similar things
0981a p.5 544 Experience knows particulars, but only skill knows universals
0981a p.5 546 It takes skill to know causes, not experience
0981a p.5 545 It is not much help if a doctor knows about universals but not the immediate particular
0981b p.5 547 The ability to teach is a mark of true knowledge
0982a p.8 548 Knowledge chosen for its own sake, rather than for results, is wisdom
0982a02 p.6 11242 Wisdom is knowledge of principles and causes
0982a20 p.8 11241 Wise men aren't instructed; they instruct
0983a p.10 549 All philosophy begins from wonder, either at the physical world, or at ideas
0983a25 p.12 11247 To know a thing is to know its primary cause or explanation
0988b23- p.61 11256 Materialists cannot explain change [Politis]
0993b p.43 559 Even people who go astray in their opinions have contributed something useful
0993b4 p.27 1576 If each of us can give some logos about parts of nature, our combined efforts can be impressive
0995a p.48 560 Mathematical precision is only possible in immaterial things
0995a27- p.57 11258 We must start with our puzzles, and progress by solving them, as they reveal the real difficulty
0995b p.58 561 Is there cause outside matter, and can it be separated, and is it one or many?
0996a18-b26 p.83 11262 Aporia 1: is there one science of explanation, or many? [Politis]
0996b26-997a15 p.83 11263 Aporia 2: Does one science investigate both ultimate and basic principles of being? [Politis]
0997a p.62 562 Axioms are the underlying principles of everything, and who but the philosopher can assess their truth?
0997a15-25 p.84 11264 Aporia 3: Does one science investigate all being, or does each kind of being have a science? [Politis]
0997a25-34 p.84 11265 Aporia 4: Does metaphysics just investigate pure being, or also the characteristics of being? [Politis]
0997a34-998a19 p.84 11266 Aporia 5: Do other things exist besides what is perceptible by the senses? [Politis]
0998a20-b13 p.85 11267 Aporia 6: Are the basic principles of a thing the kinds to which it belongs, or its components? [Politis]
0998b13-999a23 p.86 11268 Aporia 7: Is a thing's kind the most general one, or the most specific one? [Politis]
0999a p.67 566 If nothing exists except individuals, how can there be a science of infinity?
0999a24-b24 p.86 11269 Aporia 8: Are there general kinds, or merely particulars? [Politis]
0999b24-1000a04 p.86 11270 Aporia 9: Is there one principle, or one kind of principle? [Politis]
0999b33 p.68 12074 The one in number just is the particular
1 Intro p.13 16090 Being must be understood with reference to one primary sense - the being of substance [Gill,ML]
1000a05-1001a03 p.87 11271 Aporia 10: Do perishables and imperishables have the same principle? [Politis]
1001a04--b25 p.87 11272 Aporia 11: Are primary being and unity distinct, or only in the things that are? [Politis]
1001b26-1002b11 p.88 11273 Aporia 12: Do mathematical entities exist independently, or only in objects? [Politis]
1002b12-32 p.88 11274 Aporia 13: Are there kinds, as well as particulars and mathematical entities? [Politis]
1002b32-1003a05 p.88 11275 Aporia 14: Are ultimate causes of things potentialities, or must they be actual? [Politis]
1003a05-17 p.89 11276 Aporia 15: Are the causes of things universals or particulars? [Politis]
1003a08 p.76 11385 Universal principles are not primary beings, but particular principles are not universally knowable
1003b07 p.81 568 Some things exist as substances, others as properties of substances
1003b19 p.81 569 If substance is the basis of reality, then philosophy aims to understand substance
1003b28 p.82 570 Nothing is added to a man's existence by saying he is 'one', or that 'he exists'
1004a04 p.82 12347 The immediate divisions of that which is are genera, each with its science
1004b p.83 571 Is Socrates the same person when standing and when seated?
1004b p.84 572 Philosophy has different powers from dialectic, and a different life from sophistry
1005a p.86 573 The axioms of mathematics are part of philosophy
1005b19 p.88 6561 A thing cannot be both in and not-in the same thing (at a given time)
1006a p.89 574 Not everything can be proven, because that would lead to an infinite regress
1006b33 p.92 11281 We cannot say that one thing both is and is not a man
1008b p.97 575 If one error is worse than another, it must be because it is further from the truth
1009b p.99 576 If the majority had diseased taste, and only a few were healthy, relativists would have to prefer the former
1010b p.102 581 Dreams aren't a serious problem. No one starts walking round Athens next morning, having dreamt that they were there!
1011a p.104 583 The starting point of a proof is not a proof
1011a p.105 585 If relativism is individual, how can something look sweet and not taste it, or look different to our two eyes?
1011a p.105 584 If truth is relative it is relational, and concerns appearances relative to a situation
1011b p.107 586 Falsity says that which is isn't, and that which isn't is; truth says that which is is, and that which isn't isn't
1011b13 p.149 1601 The most certain basic principle is that contradictories can't be true at the same time
1011b13 p.152 1602 For Aristotle predication is regulated by Non-Contradiction, because underlying stability is essential [Roochnik]
1011c p.127 19165 Aristotle's truth formulation concerns referring parts of sentences, not sentences as wholes [Davidson]
1013b p.115 588 We exercise to be fit, but need fitness to exercise
1015b03 p.120 12611 Necessity makes alternatives impossible
1015b05- p.292 12878 Wholes are continuous, rigid, uniform, similar, same kind, similar matter [Simons]
1015b14 p.121 12612 Some things have external causes of their necessity; others (the simple) generate necessities
1016b03 p.123 13272 Things are one to the extent that they are indivisible
1016b30 p.124 590 Things are one numerically in matter, formally in their account, generically in predicates, and by analogy in relations
1017a13-23 p.126 11299 Substance [ousia] is the subject of predication and cause [aitia?] of something's existence
1017a21-35 p.91 11194 Being is either what falls in the categories, or what makes propositions true [Aquinas]
1017a22- p.127 12060 Essence (fixed by definition) is also 'ousia', so 'ousia' is both ultimate subject, and a this-thing
1019a04 p.131 11154 Prior things can exist without posterior things, but not vice versa
1019a18 p.131 15777 A 'potentiality' is a principle of change or process in a thing
1019a27 p.132 15778 Things are destroyed not by their powers, but by their lack of them
1019b26 p.133 15779 Possibility is when the necessity of the contrary is false
1019b31 p.134 15780 Potentiality in geometry is metaphorical
1020a09 p.134 13273 Pluralities divide into discontinous countables; magnitudes divide into continuous things
1021b p.139 591 Excellence is a sort of completion
1023a24 p.145 13274 The contents of an explanatory formula are parts of the whole
1024a01-5 p.146 15852 A 'whole' (rather than a mere 'sum') requires an internal order which distinguishes it
1024b01 p.147 12355 'Plane' is the genus of plane figures, and 'solid' of solids, with differentiae picking out types of corner
1027b22 p.163 10913 Truth is a matter of asserting correct combinations and separations
1027b27 p.163 10914 Simple and essential truth seems to be given, with further truth arising in thinking
1028a33-6 p.12 11234 The three main candidates for primary being are particular, universal and essence; essence is the answer [Politis]
1028a36 p.168 11384 We know something when we fully know what it is, not just its quality, quantity or location
1028b p.168 592 The baffling question of what exists is asking about the nature of substance
1028b25- p.110 11279 Primary being is either universals, or the basis of predication, or essence [Politis]
1028b30 p.174 10941 A substance is what-it-is-to-be, or the universal, or the genus, or the subject of saying
1029a p.174 10962 It is unclear whether Aristotle believes in a propertyless subject, his 'ultimate matter' [Lawson-Tancred]
1029a01 p.174 12061 Substance (ousia) may well be, most fully, the primary subject of predication
1029a10 p.175 10942 If you extract all features of the object, what is left over?
1029a10 p.175 595 It is matter that turns out to be substance [ousia]
1029a20 p.785 16590 Matter is neither a particular thing nor a member of a determinate category
1029a27 p.175 11290 Matter is not substance, because substance needs separability and thisness
1029b02 p.176 11289 Understanding moves from the less to the more intelligible
1029b13 p.178 11291 A thing's essence is its intrinsic nature
1029b36 p.174 11288 Things are predicated of the basic thing, which isn't predicated of anything else
1030a p.178 10964 Having an essence is the criterion of being a substance [Lawson-Tancred]
1030a02 p.177 10963 A thing's essence is what is mentioned in its definition [Lawson-Tancred]
1030a02 p.179 10943 Essence only belongs to things whose account is a definition
1030a06 p.179 11292 Things have an essence if their explanation is a definition
1030a08 p.180 10944 A definition must be of something primary
1030a22 p.180 10945 Some philosophers say that in some qualified way non-existent things 'are'
1030b12 p.181 10946 Existence requires thisness, as quantity or quality
1030b20 p.183 12352 Whiteness can only belong to man because an individual like Callias happens to be white
1030b28 p.183 10947 Whiteness can be explained without man, but femaleness cannot be explained without animal
1030b34 p.184 596 Only substance [ousias] admits of definition
1031a12 p.184 11153 A definition is an account of a what-it-was-to-be-that-thing
1031a30 p.186 10948 Forms are said to be substances to which nothing is prior
1031b08 p.186 16105 We know a thing when we grasp its essence
1032a05 p.188 10949 Primary things just are what-it-is-to-be-that-thing
1032a33 p.190 10950 Things are produced from skill if the form of them is in the mind
1032b01 p.190 11285 The form of a thing is its essence and its primary being
1032b30 p.793 16575 Something must pre-exist any new production
1033a08 p.192 10951 The statue is not called 'stone' but 'stoney'
1033b p.195 597 Is there a house over and above its bricks?
1033b32 p.195 10952 Unusual kinds like mule are just a combination of two kinds
1034b20 p.201 10953 The parts of a definition are isomorphic to the parts of the entity
1034b20-1037b p.427 12360 Definitions need the complex features of form, and don't need to mention the category [Wedin]
1034b24 p.201 10954 It is unclear whether acute angles are prior to right angles, or fingers to men
1035b27 p.204 16106 Generalities like man and horse are not substances, but universal composites of account and matter
1036a09 p.204 10955 Matter is perceptible (like bronze) or intelligible (like mathematical objects)
1036a28 p.207 11383 A definition is of the universal and of the kind
1036b01 p.207 10956 If we only saw bronze circles, would bronze be part of the concept of a circle?
1036b20 p.208 10957 The material element may be essential to a definition
1037a01 p.208 12301 Every distinct thing has matter, as long as it isn't an essence or a Form
1037a11 p.209 10958 Perhaps numbers are substances?
1037a22 p.209 16107 Sometimes parts must be mentioned in definitions of essence, and sometimes not
1037a29 p.210 10959 The substance is the form dwelling in the object
1037b10 p.212 10960 If we define 'man' as 'two-footed animal', why does that make man a unity?
1037b30 p.212 10961 Definition by division is into genus and differentiae
1038a05- p.213 12356 If the genus is just its constitutive forms (or matter), then the definition is the account of the differentiae
1038b05 p.216 16142 A substrate is either a 'this' supporting qualities, or 'matter' supporting actuality
1038b10 p.216 11379 Substance is not a universal, as the former is particular but a universal is shared
1038b1-15 p.158 12093 Substance is unified and universals are diverse, so universals are not substance [Witt]
1038b14 p.216 11380 Two things with the same primary being and essence are one thing
1038b25 p.217 16143 It is absurd that a this and a substance should be composed of a quality
1038b31 p.217 16144 Genera are not substances, and do not exist apart from the ingredient species
1039a01 p.217 16145 Predications only pick out kinds of things, not things in themselves
1039b30 p.223 12311 Particulars are not definable, because they fluctuate
1040a13 p.223 17040 If I define you, I have to use terms which are all true of other things too
1040a33- p.224 16094 You can't define particulars, because accounts have to be generalised
1040b27 p.226 12094 No universals exist separately from particulars
1041a p.226 599 We may have to postulate unobservable and unknowable substances
1041a05-b36 p.421 12359 'Categories' answers 'what?' with species, genus, differerentia; 'Met.' Z.17 seeks causal essence [Wedin]
1041a12 p.228 16134 We can't understand self-identity without a prior grasp of the object
1041a28 p.228 16135 Real enquiries seek causes, and causes are essences
1041b08 p.228 11296 The explanation is what gives matter its state, which is the form, which is the substance
1041b16 p.229 16136 A syllable is something different from its component vowels and consonants
1041b16-19 p.811 15840 If a syllable is more than its elements, is the extra bit also an element?
1041b27 p.229 12362 A thing's substance is its primary cause of being
1041b31 p.229 15853 A true substance is constituted by some nature, which is a principle
1042a p.233 600 Elements and physical objects are substances, but ideas and mathematics are not so clear
1042a p.234 601 Substance must exist, because something must endure during change between opposites
1043a16 p.814 16753 Giving the function of a house defines its actuality
1045a p.248 603 How is man a unity of animal and biped, especially if the Forms of animal and of biped exist?
1045a17 p.249 16108 If men exist by participating in two forms (Animal and Biped), they are plural, not unities
1045a24 p.249 16109 Things are a unity because there is no clash between potential matter and actual shape/form
1045b04 p.249 12098 An essence causes both its own unity and its kind
1045b06 p.253 16152 Other types of being all depend on the being of substance
1045b07 p.250 16110 If partaking explains unity, what causes participating, and what is participating?
1045b19 p.250 16085 Primary matter and form make a unity, one in potentiality, the other in actuality
1045b24 p.250 16086 Objects lacking matter are intrinsic unities
1046a10 p.254 16113 Potentiality is a principle of change, in another thing, or as another thing
1046b28 p.258 11938 The Megarans say something is only capable of something when it is actually doing it
1047a10 p.259 15766 Megaran actualism is just scepticism about the qualities of things
1047a15 p.259 15767 Megaran actualists prevent anything from happening, by denying a capacity for it to happen!
1047a30 p.260 15768 An actuality is usually thought to be a process
1047b05 p.261 15769 Anything which is possible either exists or will come into existence
1048a08 p.264 14543 When a power and its object meet in the right conditions, an action necessarily follows
1048a18 p.264 14544 Potentialities are always for action, but are conditional on circumstances
1048a33 p.267 15770 Some things cannot be defined, and only an analogy can be given
1049a09 p.272 16118 Nature is an active principle of change, like potentiality, but it is intrinsic to things
1049a25 p.271 15771 Primary matter is what characterises other stuffs, and it has no distinct identity
1050a16 p.274 15772 A thing's active function is its end
1050b p.276 605 The Forms have to be potentialities, not actual knowledge or movement
1050b05 p.275 15773 Actualities are arranged by priority, going back to what initiates process
1051a29 p.279 15774 We recognise potentiality from actuality
1051b10 p.281 15775 Truth-thinking does not make it so; it being so is what makes it true
1051b30 p.282 10916 Truth is either intuiting a way of being, or a putting together
1051b34 p.282 15776 There is only being in a certain way, and without that way there is no being
1052a12 p.282 10915 The truth or falsity of a belief will be in terms of something that is always this way not that
1052a20 p.286 17838 Things may be naturally unified because they involve an indivisible process
1052a24 p.286 16508 Things are more unified if the unity comes from their own nature, not from external force
1052a28 p.286 17839 Some things are unified by their account, which rests on a unified thought about the thing
1052a30 p.286 17840 A unity may just be a particular, a numerically indivisible thing
1052a31 p.286 17841 The formal cause may be what unifies a substance
1052a35 p.286 17842 Indivisibility is the cause of unity, either in movement, or in the account or thought
1052b21 p.287 17843 The idea of 'one' is the foundation of number
1052b35 p.288 17844 The unit is stipulated to be indivisible
1053b p.290 607 None of the universals can be a substance
1054a03 p.291 17845 If only rectilinear figures existed, then unity would be the triangle
1054a16 p.292 17846 The essence of a single thing is the essence of a particular
1054a35 p.294 17847 You are one with yourself in form and matter
1054b06 p.294 17848 Things such as two different quadrangles are alike but not wholly the same
1054b26 p.295 17849 For two things to differ in some respect, they must both possess that respect
1055b p.298 608 There is no middle ground in contradiction, but there is in contrariety
1056b16 p.304 17850 Each many is just ones, and is measured by the one
1057a04 p.304 17851 Number is plurality measured by unity
1059a p.317 609 Philosophy is a kind of science that deals with principles
1059a05 p.314 17852 A thing has a feature necessarily if its denial brings a contradiction
1060a p.322 610 The world can't be arranged at all if there is nothing eternal and separate
1061a p.325 9792 Mathematicians study quantity and continuity, and remove the perceptible features of things
1061a/b p.325 9793 Mathematics studies abstracted relations, commensurability and proportion
1065b p.338 613 Even if the world is caused by fate, mind and nature are still prior causes
1065b30- p.336 12309 There cannot be a science of accidentals, but only of general truths
1069a p.356 615 The Pre-Socratics were studying the principles, elements and causes of substance
1069b p.358 616 It doesn't explain the world to say it was originally all one. How did it acquire diversity?
1071a27 p.366 16156 Individuals within a species differ in their matter, form and motivating cause
1071b p.369 617 It is hard to see how either time or movement could come into existence or be destroyed
1071b p.369 618 There is no point at all in the theory of Forms unless it contains a principle that produces movement
1072a p.373 619 Something which both moves and is moved is intermediate, so it follows that there must be an unmoved mover
1072b p.374 620 The first mover is necessary, and because it is necessary it is good
1072b p.374 621 Contemplation is a supreme pleasure and excellence
1073a05 p.375 622 There must a source of movement which is eternal, indivisible and without magnitude
1073a34 p.377 12097 There are as many eternal unmovable substances as there are movements of the stars
1074b p.382 623 It is readily agreed that thinking is the most godlike of things in our experience
1074b p.383 624 Absolute thinking is the thinking of thinking
1075a p.385 625 Is excellence separate from things, or part of them, or both?
1075a p.386 627 If everything is made of opposites, are the opposed things made of opposites?
1075a p.386 628 Not everything is composed of opposites; what, for example, is the opposite of matter?
1075a p.386 629 Is the good a purpose, a source of movement, or a pure form?
1075a p.386 626 Everything is arranged around a single purpose
1075b p.387 632 Why are some things destructible and others not?
1075b p.387 633 If you accept Forms, you must accept the more powerful principle of 'participating' in them
1075b p.388 634 Pure Forms and numbers can't cause anything, and especially not movement
1077b p.399 9075 If health happened to be white, the science of health would not study whiteness
1077b31 p.398 13738 It is a simple truth that the objects of mathematics have being, of some sort
1078a p.399 9791 Science is more accurate when it is prior and simpler, especially without magnitude or movement
1078a p.399 9076 Mathematics studies the domain of perceptible entities, but its subject-matter is not perceptible
1078a p.400 9077 Mathematicians suppose inseparable aspects to be separable, and study them in isolation
1078a p.400 636 Beauty involves the Forms of order, symmetry and limit, which can be handled mathematically
1078a p.400 635 The good is found in actions, but beauty can exist without movement
1079a p.402 640 All attempts to prove the Forms are either invalid, or prove Forms where there aren't supposed to be any
1079a p.402 641 Are there forms for everything, or for negations, or for destroyed things?
1079b p.405 642 What possible contribution can the Forms make to perceptible entities?
1079b28 p.406 9483 Forms have to be their own paradigms, which seems to fuse the paradigm and the copy
1080a01 p.406 643 How can the Forms both be the substance of things and exist separately from them?
1080b16 p.409 17858 Pythagoreans say the whole universe is made of numbers
1081a24 p.411 17859 Units came about when the unequals were equalised
1082 p.91 4470 Aristotle is not asserting facts about the location of properties, but about their ontological status [Moreland]
1082a16 p.413 17860 Things are unified by contact, mixture and position
1082a18 p.413 17861 Two men do not make one thing, as well as themselves
1082b29 p.414 645 If two is part of three then numbers aren't Forms, because they would all be intermingled
1082b32 p.414 646 When we count, are we adding, or naming numbers?
1086a p.424 647 There is a confusion because Forms are said to be universal, but also some Forms are separable and particular
1086b p.425 649 The acquisition of scientific knowledge is impossible without universals
1086b36 p.427 11386 Demonstrations about particulars must be about everything of that type
1087a12 p.428 12095 Knowledge of potential is universal and indefinite; of the actual it is definite and of individuals
980a28- p.689 23310 Animals live by sensations, and some have good memories, but they don't connect experiences
980b p.163 23311 Aristotle sees reason as much more specific than our more everyday concept of it [Frede,M]
Bk 01.2 p.4 11228 Wisdom seeks explanations, causes, and reasons why things are as they are [Politis]
Bk 04 p.89 7935 There cannot be uninstantiated properties [Macdonald,C]
Bk 06 p.778 22171 If only natural substances exist, science is first philosophy - but not if there is an immovable substance
Bk 06.6 p.241 12868 Ultimate matter is discredited, as Aristotle merged substratum of change with bearer of properties [Simons]
Bk 12 p.281 11387 The main characteristic of the source of change is activity [energeia] [Politis]
book p.3 16084 Is a primary substance a foundation of existence, or the last stage of understanding? [Gill,ML]
book p.26 16147 In 'Metaphysics' substantial forms take over from objects as primary [Frede,M]
book p.29 11244 Metaphysics is the science of ultimate explanation, or of pure existence, or of primary existence [Politis]
change p.76 16159 For animate things, only the form, not the matter or properties, must persist through change [Frede,M]
defs p.109 12081 Aristotle's definitions are not unique, but apply to a range of individuals [Witt]
defs p.207 11287 Essence is what is stated in the definition [Politis]
ess p.3 12068 Standardly, Aristotelian essences are taken to be universals of the species [Witt]
ess p.3 12071 Essences are not properties (since those can't cause individual substances) [Witt]
ess p.3 12069 Essence is the cause of individual substance, and creates its unity [Witt]
ess p.3 12070 Individual essences are not universals, since those can't be substances, or cause them [Witt]
ess p.52 11251 Plato says changing things have no essence; Aristotle disagrees [Politis]
ess p.129 12084 Essential form is neither accidental nor necessary to matter, so it appears not to be a property [Witt]
ess p.143 12088 Aristotelian essence is not universal properties, but individual essence [Witt]
ess p.179 12099 Aristotelian essences are causal, not classificatory [Witt]
ess p.187 15108 Aristotle's says necessary truths are distinct and derive from essential truths [Koslicki]
ess p.213 16117 The hallmark of an artefact is that its active source of maintenance is external [Gill,ML]
ess p.215 11294 Aristotle says changing, material things (and not just universals) have an essence [Politis]
ess p.228 11298 Are essences actually universals? [Politis]
ess p.241 11378 How a thing is generated does not explain its essence [Politis]
ess p.369 11998 Aristotle does not accept individual essences; essential properties are always general [Kung]
God p.42 16099 The traditional view of Aristotle is God (actual form) at top and prime matter (potential matter) at bottom [Gill,ML]
God p.49 7603 God is not a creator (involving time and change) and is not concerned with the inferior universe [Armstrong,K]
God p.94 16165 For Aristotle God is defined in an axiom, for which there is no proof [Frede,M]
hylom p.9 16088 Aristotle's solution to the problem of unity is that form is an active cause or potentiality or nature [Gill,ML]
hylom p.126 12083 Aristotle's essence explains the existence of an individual substance, not its properties [Witt]
hylom p.238 12062 Aristotle's form improves on being non-predicable as a way to identify a 'this' [Wiggins]
hylom p.242 16119 Aristotle's cosmos is ordered by form, and disordered by matter [Gill,ML]
id p.78 16160 For Aristotle, things are not made individual by some essential distinguishing mark [Frede,M]
id p.189 12101 Aristotle wants definition, not identity, so origin is not essential to him [Witt]
id p.218 11295 There is no being unless it is determinate and well-defined [Politis]
id p.348 13735 Aristotle discusses fundamental units of being, rather than existence questions [Schaffer,J]
kind p.35 11246 Aristotelian explanations mainly divide things into natural kinds [Politis]
kind p.49 16153 Aristotle distinguishes two different sorts of generality - kinds, and properties [Frede,M]
kind p.121 12353 Species and genera are largely irrelevant in 'Metaphysics' [Wedin]
logic p.125 11282 Aristotle does not take the principle of non-contradiction for granted [Politis]
matter p.23 16092 In Aristotle, bronze only becomes 'matter' when it is potentially a statue [Gill,ML]
matter p.36 12299 Aristotle had a hierarchical conception of matter [Fine,K]
matter p.36 12300 Aristotle's conception of matter applies to non-physical objects as well as physical objects [Fine,K]
matter p.42 16098 I claim that Aristotle's foundation is the four elements, and not wholly potential prime matter [Gill,ML]
matter p.46 15954 Aristotle may only have believed in prime matter because his elements were immutable [Alexander,P]
matter p.77 12077 Aristotle's matter is something that could be the inner origin of a natural being's behaviour [Witt]
matter p.193 12103 Matter is secondary, because it is potential, determined by the actuality of form [Witt]
matter p.376 12001 Aristotle says matter is a lesser substance, rather than wholly denying that it is a substance [Kung]
ousia p.10 11231 'Ousia' is 'primary being' not 'primary substance' [Politis]
ousia p.11 11232 Primary being ('proté ousia') exists in virtue of itself, not in relation to other things [Politis]
ousia p.12 11233 In Aristotle, 'proté ousia' is 'primary being', and 'to hupokeimenon' is 'that which lies under' (or 'substance') [Politis]
ousia p.26 16148 Aristotle moved from realism to nominalism about substances [Frede,M]
ousia p.58 12076 Substance is prior in being separate, in definition, and in knowledge [Witt]
ousia p.101 12079 Substance is distinct being because of its unity [Witt]
ousia p.167 16112 A substance is a proper subject because the matter is a property of the form, not vice versa [Gill,ML]
ousia p.215 11293 Non-primary beings lack essence, or only have a derived essence [Politis]
ousia p.228 11297 Primary being is both the essence, and the subject of predication [Politis]
partic p.74 16158 Form and matter may not make up a concrete particular, because there are also accidents like weight [Frede,M]
partic p.153 12091 If definition is of universals, many individuals have no definition, and hence no essence [Witt]
partic p.154 12092 Aristotle claims that the individual is epistemologically prior to the universal [Witt]
partic p.251 11382 Aristotle takes essence and form as a particular, not (as some claim) as a universal, the species [Politis]
potent p.149 12090 Actual knowledge is of the individual, and potential knowledge of the universal [Witt]
props p.60 7686 For Aristotle, there are only as many properties as actually exist [Jacquette]
props p.80 16161 Properties are just the ways in which forms are realised at various times [Frede,M]
props p.187 15109 The 'propriae' or 'necessary accidents' of a thing are separate, and derived from the essence [Koslicki]
props p.196 11188 The Aristotelian view is that the essential properties are those that sort an object [Marcus (Barcan)]
props p.369 11999 Essential properties explain in conjunction with properties shared by the same kind [Kung]
props p.377 12002 Aristotle doesn't think essential properties are those which must belong to a thing [Kung]
subst p.192 11284 It is wrong to translate 'ousia' as 'substance' [Politis]
Theta p.173 16114 Active 'dunamis' is best translated as 'power' or 'ability' (rather than 'potentiality') [Gill,ML]
univs p.169 12096 Universals are indeterminate and only known in potential, because they are general [Witt]
Z p.89 16163 Aristotle says that the form is what makes an entity what it is [Frede,M]
Z p.90 16164 Forms of sensible substances include unrealised possibilities, so are not fully actual [Frede,M]
Z.13 p.26 16141 In 'Met.' he says genera can't be substances or qualities, so aren't in the ontology [Frede,M]
Z.3 p.39 16096 Statues depend on their bronze, but bronze doesn't depend on statues [Gill,ML]
Z.3 p.41 16097 To be a subject a thing must be specifiable, with some essential properties [Gill,ML]
Z.3 p.83 16103 A subject can't be nothing, so it must qualify as separate, and as having a distinct identity [Gill,ML]