Aristotle
out by the language of familiar life, with little or no attempt to
penetrate, by philosophic analysis, to the _rationale_ even of these
common distinctions. Such an analysis would have shewn the
enumeration to be both redundant and defective. Some objects are
omitted, and others repeated several times under different heads."
(Compare the remarks of the Stoic commentators, and Porphyry, Schol.
p. 48, b. 10 Br.: [Greek: a)thetou=ntes tê\n diai/resin ô(s polla\
pariei=san kai\ mê\ perilamba/nousan, ê)\ kai\ pa/lin pleona/zousan.]
And Aristotle himself observes that the same predicates might be
ranked often under more than one head.) "That could not be a very
comprehensive view of the nature of Relation, which could exclude
action, passivity, and local situation from that category. The same
objection applies to the categories Quando (or position in time), and
Ubi (or position in space); _while the distinction between the latter
and Situs ([Greek: Kei=sthai]) is merely verbal_. The incongruity of
erecting into a _summum genus_ the tenth Category is manifest. On the
other hand, the enumeration takes no notice of any thing but
Substances and Attributes. In what Category are we to place
sensations, or any other feelings and states of mind? as hope, joy,
fear; sound, smell, taste; pain, pleasure; thought, judgment,
conception, and the like? Probably all these would have been placed
by the Aristotelian school in the Categories of Actio and Passio; and
the relation of such of them as are active, to their objects, and of
such of them as are passive, to their causes, would have been rightly
so placed; but the things themselves, the feelings or states of mind,
wrongly. Feelings, or states of consciousness, are assuredly to be
counted among realities; but they cannot be reckoned either among
substances or among attributes." Among the many deficiencies of the
Aristotelian Categories, as a complete catalogue, there is none more
glaring than the imperfect conception of [Greek: Pro/s ti] (the
Relative), which Mr. Mill here points out. But the Category [Greek:
Kei=sthai] (badly translated by commentators _Situs_, from which
Aristotle expressly distinguishes it, Categor. p. 6, b. 12: [Greek:
to\ de\ a)nakei=sthai ê)\ e(sta/nai ê)\ kathê=sthai au)ta\ me\n ou)k
ei)si\ the/seis]) appears to be hardly open to Mr. Mill's remark,
that it is only verbally distinguished from [Greek: Pou=], _Ubi_.
[Greek: Kei=sthai] is intended to mean _posture_, _attitude_, &c. It
is a reply to the question, In what posture is Sokrates? Answer.--He
is lying down, standing upright, kneeling, [Greek: pu\x protei/nôn],
&c. This is quite different from the question, Where is Sokrates? In
the market-place, in the palæstra, &c. [Greek: Kei=sthai] (as
Aristotle himself admits, Categ. p. 6, b. 12) is not easily
distinguished from [Greek: Pro/s ti]: for the abstract and general
word [Greek: _the/sis_] (_position_) is reckoned by Aristotle under
Greek: Pro/s ti], though the _paronyma_ [Greek: a)nakei=sthai,
e(sta/nai, kathê=sthai] are affirmed not to be [Greek: the/seis], but
to come under the separate Category [Greek: _Kei=sthai_]. But [Greek:
Kei=sthai] is clearly distinguishable from [Greek: Pou=] _Ubi_.
Again, to Mr. Mill's question, "In what Category are we to place
sensations or other states of mind--hope, fear, sound, smell, pain,
pleasure, thought, judgment," &c.? Aristotle would have replied (I
apprehend) that they come under the Category either of _Quale_ or of
_Pati_--[Greek: Poio/têtes] or [Greek: Pa/thê]. They are attributes
or modifications of Man, Kallias, Sokrates, &c. If the condition of
which we speak be temporary or transitory, it is a [Greek: pa/thos],
and we speak of Kallias as [Greek: pa/schôn ti]; if it be a durable
disposition or capacity likely to pass into repeated manifestations,
it is [Greek: poio/tês], and we describe Kallias as [Greek: poio/s
tis] (Categ. p. 9, a. 28-p. 10 a. 9). This equally applies to mental
and bodily conditions ([Greek: o(moi/ôs de\ tou/tois kai\ kata\ tê\n
psuchê\n pathêtikai\ poio/têtes kai\ pa/thê le/getai.]--p. 9, b. 33).
The line is dubious and difficult between [Greek: pa/thos] and
[Greek: poio/tês], but one or other of the two will comprehend all
the mental states indicated by Mr. Mill. Aristotle would not have
admitted that "feelings are to be counted among realities," except as
they are now or may be the feelings of Kallias, Sokrates, or some
other _Hic Aliquis_--one or many. He would consider feelings as
attributes belonging to these [Greek: Prô=tai Ou)si/ai]; and so in
fact Mr. Mill himself considers them (p. 83), after having specified
the Mind (distinguished from Body or external object) as the
Substance to which they belong.
Mr. Mill's classification of Nameable Things is much better and more
complete than the Aristotelian Categories, inasmuch as it brings into
full prominence the distinction between the subjective and objective
points of view, and, likewise, the all-pervading principle of
Relativity, which implicates the two; whereas, Aristotle either
confuses the one with the other, or conceives them narrowly and
inadequately. But we cannot say, I think, that Aristotle, in the
Categories, assigns no room for the mental states or elements. He has
a place for them, though he treats them altogether objectively. He
takes account of _himself_ only as an object--as one among the
[Greek: prô=tai ou)si/ai], or individuals, along with Sokrates and
Kallias.]
The most capital distinction, however, which is to be found among the
Categories is that of Essence or Substance from all the rest. This is
sometimes announced as having a standing _per se_; as not only
logically distinguishable, but really separable from the other nine,
if we preserve the Aristotelian list of ten,[106] or from the other
three, if we prefer the reduced list of four. But such real
separation cannot be maintained. The _Prima Essentia_ (we are told)
is indispensable as a Subject, but cannot appear as Predicate; while
all the rest can and do so appear. Now we see that this definition is
founded upon the function enacted by each of them in predication, and
therefore presupposes the fact of predication, which is in itself a
Relation. The Category of Relation is thus implied, in declaring what
the First Essence is, together with some _predicabilia_ as
correlates, though it is not yet specified what the _predicabilia_
are. But besides this, the distinction drawn by Aristotle, between
First and Second Essence or Substance, abolishes the marked line of
separation between Substance and Quality, making the former shade
down into the latter. The distinction recognizes a more or less in
Substance, which graduation Aristotle expressly points out, stating
that the Species is _more_ Substance or Essence, and that Genus
_less_ so. We see thus that he did not conceive Substance (apart from
attributes) according to the modern view, as that which exists
_without_ the mind (excluding _within_ the mind or _relation_ to the
mind); for in that there can be no graduation. That which is without
the mind, must also be within; and that which is within must also be
without; the subject and the object correlating. This implication of
within and without understood, there is then room for graduation,
according as the one or the other aspect may be more or less
prominent. Aristotle, in point of fact, confines himself to the
mental or logical work of predication, to the conditions thereof, and
to the component terms whereby the mind accomplishes that act. When
he speaks of the First Essence or Substance, without the Second, all
that he can say about it positively is to call it _Unum numero_ and
indivisible:[107] even thus, he is compelled to introduce unity,
measure, and number, all of which belong to the two Categories of
Quantity and Relation; and yet still the First Essence or Substance
remains indeterminate. We only begin to determine it when we call it
by the name of the Second Substance or Essence; which name connotes
certain attributes, the attributes thus connoted being of the essence
of the Species; that is, unless they be present, no individual would
be considered as belonging to the Species, or would be called by the
specific name.[108] When we thus, however, introduce attributes, we
find ourselves not merely in the Category of _Substantia_
(_Secunda_), but also in that of _Qualitas_. The boundary between
_Substantia_ and _Qualitas_ disappears; the latter being partially
contained in the former. The Second Substance or Essence includes
attributes or Qualities belonging to the Essence. In fact, the Second
Substance or Essence, when distinguished from the First, is both here
and elsewhere characterized by Aristotle, as being not Substance at
all, but Quality,[109] though when considered as being in implication
with the First, it takes on the nature of Substance and becomes
substantial or essential Quality. The Differentia belongs thus both
to Substance and to Quality (_quale quid_), making up as complement
that which is designated by the specific name.[110]
[Footnote 106: Aristotle sometimes speaks of it as [Greek:
chôristo/n], the other Categories being not [Greek: chôrista/]
(Metaphys. Z. p. 1028, a. 34). It is not easy, however, always to
distinguish whether he means by the term [Greek: chôrista\]
"_sejuncta re_", or "_sejuncta notione solâ_." See Bonitz ad
Metaphysic. ([Greek: D]. p. 1017), p. 244.]
[Footnote 107: Categor. p. 3, b. 12: [Greek: a)/tomon ga\r kai\ e(\n
a)rithmô=| to\ dêlou/meno/n e)stin.] Compare Metaphysic. N. p. 1087,
b. 33; p. 1088, a. 10.]
[Footnote 108: Hobbes says:--"Now that accident (_i.e._ attribute)
for which we give a certain name to any body, or the accident which
denominates its Subject, is commonly called the Essence thereof; as
rationality is the essence of a man, whiteness of any white thing,
and extension the essence of a body" (Hobbes, Philosophy, ch. viii.
s. 23). This topic will be found discussed, most completely and
philosophically, in Mr. John Stuart Mill's System of Logic, Book I.
ch. vi. ss. 2-3; ch. vii. s. 5.]
[Footnote 109: Categor. p. 3, b. 13: [Greek: e)pi\ de\ tô=n deute/rôn
ou)siô=n phai/netai me\n o(moi/ôs tô=| schê/mati tê=s prosêgori/as
to/de ti sêmai/nein, o(/tan ei)/pê| a)/nthrôpon ê)\ zô=on, ou) mê\n
a)lêthe/s ge, a)lla\ ma=llon _poio/n ti sêmai/nei--poia\n ga/r tina
ou)si/an_ sêmai/nei] (b. 20).
Metaphysic. Z. p. 1038, b. 35: [Greek: phanero\n o(/ti ou)the\n tô=n
katho/lou u(parcho/ntôn ou)si/a e)sti/, kai\ o(/ti ou)the\n sêmai/nei
tô=n koinê=| katêgoroume/nôn to/de ti, a)lla\ toio/nde.] Compare
Metaphys. M. p. 1087, a. 1; Sophistic. Elench. p. 178, b. 37; 179, a.
9.
That which is called [Greek: prô/tê ou)si/a] in the Categoriæ is
called [Greek: tri/tê ou)si/a] in Metaphys. [Greek: Ê]. p. 1043, a.
18. In Ethic. Nikom. Z. p. 1143, a. 32, seq., the _generalissima_ are
called [Greek: prô=ta], and particulars are called [Greek:
e)/schata]. Zell observes in his commentary (p. 224), "[Greek: ta\
e)/schata] sunt res singulæ, quæ et ipsæ sunt extremæ, ratione mentis
nostræ, ab universis ad singula delabentis." Patricius remarks upon
the different sense of the terms [Greek: Prô/tê Ou)si/a] in the
Categoriæ and in the De Interpretatione (Discuss. Peripatetic. p.
21).]
[Footnote 110: Metaphysic. [Greek: D]. p. 1020, b. 13: [Greek:
schedo\n dê\ kata\ du/o tro/pous le/goit' a)\n to\ poio/n, kai\
tou/tôn e(/na to\n kuriô/taton; prô/tê me\n ga\r poiotê\s ê( tê=s
ou)si/as diaphora/.] Compare Physic. v. p. 226, a. 27. See
Trendelenburg, Kategorienlehre, pp. 56, 93.
The remarks of the different expositors (contained in Scholia, pp.
52, 53, 54, Brand.), are interesting upon the ambiguous position of
Differentia, in regard to Substance and Quality. It comes out to be