Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Aristotle and the Metaphysics

[Pages:358]Routledge Philosophy Guide Book to

Aristotle and the Metaphysics

`This is an excellent book, written with great lucidity and engaging the reader directly with the problems of Aristotle's Metaphysics... The book reads with ease, even at the most difficult of stages. I found it positively enjoyable to read.'

Mary Margaret McCabe, Kings College, London

`[This book] is well written and philosophically acute. It will prove a most worthwhile addition to the series, and will be helpful for undergraduates and graduates taking options in Aristotle's Metaphysics.'

David Charles, Oxford University

Aristotle is perhaps the most important figure in Western philosophy and his Metaphysics is a benchmark in the history of philosophy.

Aristotle and the Metaphysics introduces and assesses:

? Aristotle's life and the background to the Metaphysics ? The ideas and text of the Metaphysics ? The continuing importance of Aristotle's work to philosophy.

Vasilis Politis is lecturer of philosophy at Trinity College Dublin.

Routledge Philosophy Guidebooks

EDITED BY TIM CRANE AND JONATHAN WOLFF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

Aristotle and the Metaphysics Vasilis Politis Rousseau and the Social Contract Christopher Bertram Plato and the Republic, Second edition Nickolas Pappas Husserl and the Cartesian Meditations A.D.Smith Kierkegaard and Fear and Trembling John Lippitt Descartes and the Meditations Gary Hatfield Hegel and the Philosophy of Right Dudley Knowles Nietzsche on Morality Brian Leiter Hegel and the Phenomenology of Spirit Robert Stern Berkeley and the Principles of Human Knowledge Robert Fogelin Aristotle on Ethics Gerard Hughes Hume on Religion David O'Connor Leibniz and the Monadology Anthony Savile The Later Heidegger George Pattison Hegel on History Joseph McCarney Hume on Morality James Baillie Hume on Knowledge Harold Noonan Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason Sebastian Gardner Mill on Liberty Jonathan Riley Mill on Utilitarianism Roger Crisp Wittgenstein and the Philosophical Investigations Marie McGinn Spinoza and the Ethics Genevieve Lloyd Heidegger on Being and Time Stephen Mulhall Locke on Government D, A.Lloyd Thomas Locke on Human Understanding E.J.Lowe

Routledge Philosophy Guide Book to

Aristotle and the Metaphysics

Vasilis Politis

LONDON AND NEW YORK

First published 2004 by Routledge

11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge

29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.

"To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge's collection of thousands of eBooks please go to eBookstore.tandf.co.uk."

? 2004 Vasilis Politis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,

mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission

in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from

the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Politis, Vasilis.

Routledge philosophy guidebook to Aristotle and the Metaphysics/Vasilis Politis p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Aristotle--Metaphysics. 2. Metaphysics.

I. Title: Aristotle and the Metaphysics. II. Series: Routledge Philosophy Guidebooks. B424. P65 2004 110 22 2003058658

ISBN 0-203-64742-4 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-67345-X (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-25147-8 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-25148-6 (pbk)

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

x

1 Aristotle's Metaphysics

1

1 What is the Metaphysics About? The Question, `What is Being?' 1

2 Sources of the Question, `What is Being?'

4

3 A Central Distinction in the Metaphysics: Being in General

9

versus Primary Being (prt ousia)

4 Three Candidates for Primary Being: The Particular; the

12

Universal; and the Essence

5 Does Aristotle Assume Essentialism in the Metaphysics?

16

6 The Structure and Unity of the Metaphysics

19

7 About this Companion to the Metaphysics

21

2 Metaphysics as the Science of the Ultimate Explanations of 23 All Things (Book I)

1 Metaphysics as the Science of the Ultimate Explanations and

23

Principles of All Things

2 How Explanatory Knowledge Differs from Sense Perception and 31 Experience

3 Aristotle's General Conception of Explanations and Explanatory 38 Knowledge

i The search for explanations and what it is based on

38

ii The nature and requirements of explanations

42

iii The relation of metaphysics to the other sciences

48

vi

4 The Theory of the Four Basic Explanations and Causes of

50

Changing Things

i A summary of the theory

50

ii Aristotle's conception of matter as potentiality

55

iii Aristotle's review of his predecessors regarding the four basic

61

causes

3 Aristotle's Method in Metaphysics (Book III)

64

1 Aristotle's Method of Searching in Metaphysics: The Method

64

Based on Aporiai

2 The Source of the Aporiai in Metaphysics

75

3 The List of Aporiai and How they Structure the Metaphysics 79

4 A Brief Review of the Fifteen Aporiai

83

4 Metaphysics as the Science of Being Qua Being. Primary

90

Being versus Non-Primary Being (Books IV. 1?2 and VI.1)

1 Metaphysics as the Science of Being Qua Being

90

2 The Problem of How There Can Be a Science of Being Qua

94

Being; and the Solution in Terms of the Distinction Between

Primary Being and Non-primary Being

3 How Aristotle Introduces the Distinction Between Primary Being 103 and Non-primary Being

4 Primary Being as the Ultimate Subject of Predication: The

109

Theory of the Categories

5 Is Metaphysics About All Things, About Primary Being, Or

118

About God?

5 The Defence of the Principle of Non-Contradiction (Book 122 IV. 3?6, esp. 3?4)

1 Aristotle's Characterization of the Principle of Non-contradiction 122 (PNC)

2 Aristotle's Overall Aim in Considering PNC

126

3 Why PNC Cannot Itself be Demonstrated

128

4 Aristotle's Conception of PNC as a Metaphysical Principle

132

vii

5 Is PNC Transcendental, i.e. is It True of Things Because it is 135 True of Thought?

6 How Can One Deny PNC?

138

7 The Consequences of Denying PNC: It is Impossible to Think and 146 Speak About Things

8 The Defence of PNC and the Defence of the View That Things 150 Have an Essence

9 Does Aristotle Succeed in Showing That There Are No True 153 Contradictions?

6 The Response to Phenomenalism and Relativism (Book

157

IV. 5?6)

1 How Phenomenalism and Relativism Present a Challenge to 157 Aristotle's Defence of the Principle of Non-contradiction Conceived as a Metaphysical Principle

2 The Characterization of Phenomenalism and Relativism

162

3 The Aim of Considering Phenomenalism and Relativism

166

4 The Relation Between Phenomenalism, Relativism, and the

169

Denial of PNC

i General

169

ii Tracing the source of phenomenalism and of the denial of PNC 172

iii A central consequence of phenomenalism and the denial of PNC: 179 relativism

5 How Far Does Aristotle Succeed in Defending PNC Conceived as 183 a Metaphysical Principle?

7 The Search for Primary Being (Book VII)

190

1 The Question at the Centre of the Metaphysics: `What is

190

Primary Being?' (Prt Ousia, Often Simply Ousia) (VII. 1?2)

2 Initial Suggestions and Candidates for What Primary Being May 195 Turn Out to be (VII. 1)

3 Three Main Candidates for Primary Being: The Ultimate

198

Subject of Predication; the Universals; and the Essence (VII. 3)

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