Question 2:
In his Aristotle’s Categories, he presents the thesis, “if the primary substances did not exist, neither could any of the other things exist (2b7-8).” By this, Aristotle means that there are two categories of substances--primary substances and secondary substances. Readers must keep in mind, however, that the qualifiers of primary and secondary were only added for clarification purposes. The term I will soon define as primary substances is what Aristotle is referring to when he says substances. Therefore, the following is the best way to rationalize his thesis that if substances didn’t exist then nothing would exist.
Aristotle believes that primary substances cannot be derived from anything nor can they be found in anything; they …show more content…
For example, the big bang had to be caused by something but the explanation eludes us. A person or thing needed to change in order for the Big Bang to happen but human’s may never know what or who caused it. Likewise, if you look at Aristotle’s four types of aition, they are occurrences that must take place for the object at hand to exist. Let us examine some of the forms of aition and determine which word is more appropriate. Firstly, the material aition of something is the thing that allows the object to exist. For instance, the material aition of the table is the wood. Is the wood the cause or the explanation of the table? According to both colloquial English and Merriam Webster, the wood is the cause, or, the reason for the condition the wood found itself in--not the explanation, which is defined as the act of showing the reason for something. Without the existence of the wood, the table wouldn’t exist, connoting a causal relationship. Yet, without an explanation of how the table came to exist, the table would still exist. Therefore, aition means cause in this case. Secondly, the formal aition of something can also be defined as the plan or blueprint. When a house is built, the blueprint is the cause, or reason, that the rooms are the way they are. A blueprint can also be an explanation, because the homeowner can refer back to it to check dimensions or describe the layout to a
In his Aristotle’s Categories, he presents the thesis, “if the primary substances did not exist, neither could any of the other things exist (2b7-8).” By this, Aristotle means that there are two categories of substances--primary substances and secondary substances. Readers must keep in mind, however, that the qualifiers of primary and secondary were only added for clarification purposes. The term I will soon define as primary substances is what Aristotle is referring to when he says substances. Therefore, the following is the best way to rationalize his thesis that if substances didn’t exist then nothing would exist.
Aristotle believes that primary substances cannot be derived from anything nor can they be found in anything; they …show more content…
For example, the big bang had to be caused by something but the explanation eludes us. A person or thing needed to change in order for the Big Bang to happen but human’s may never know what or who caused it. Likewise, if you look at Aristotle’s four types of aition, they are occurrences that must take place for the object at hand to exist. Let us examine some of the forms of aition and determine which word is more appropriate. Firstly, the material aition of something is the thing that allows the object to exist. For instance, the material aition of the table is the wood. Is the wood the cause or the explanation of the table? According to both colloquial English and Merriam Webster, the wood is the cause, or, the reason for the condition the wood found itself in--not the explanation, which is defined as the act of showing the reason for something. Without the existence of the wood, the table wouldn’t exist, connoting a causal relationship. Yet, without an explanation of how the table came to exist, the table would still exist. Therefore, aition means cause in this case. Secondly, the formal aition of something can also be defined as the plan or blueprint. When a house is built, the blueprint is the cause, or reason, that the rooms are the way they are. A blueprint can also be an explanation, because the homeowner can refer back to it to check dimensions or describe the layout to a