Aristotle
_Diversum_; the same as those enumerated in the Platonic Sophistes.
He does not admit _Quantum_, _Quale_, or _Ad Aliquid_, to be _Prima
Genera_; still less the other Aristotelian Categories. Moreover, he
insists emphatically on the distinction between the intelligible and
the sensible world, which distinction he censures Aristotle for
neglecting. His five _Genera_ he applies directly and principally to
the intelligible world. For the sensible world he admits ultimately
five Catgories; _Substantia_ or _Essentia_ (though he conceives this
as fluctuating between Form, Matter, and the Compound of the two),
_Ad Aliquid_, _Quantum_, _Quale_, _Motus_. But he doubts whether
_Quantum_, _Quale_, and _Motus_, are not comprehended in _Ad
Aliquid_.[137] He considers, moreover, that Sensible Substance is not
Substance, properly speaking, but only an imitation thereof; a
congeries of non-substantial elements, qualities and matter.[138]
Dexippus,[139] in answering the objections of Plotinus, insists much
on the difference between Aristotle's point of view in the Categoriæ,
in the Physica, and in the Metaphysica. In the Categoriæ, Aristotle
dwells mainly on sensible substances (such as the vulgar understand)
and the modes of naming and describing them.
[Footnote 136: Plotinus, Ennead. vi. 2, 8, 14, 16.]
[Footnote 137: Plotinus, Ennead. vi. 3. 3. [Greek: ê)\ kai\ tau=ta
ei)s ta\ pro/s ti; periektiko\n ga\r ma=llon.] His idea of Relation
is more comprehensive than that of Aristotle, for he declares that
terms, propositions, discourse, &c., are [Greek: pro/s ti; kath' o(\
sêmantika/] (vi. 3. 19).]
[Footnote 138: Ibid. vi. 3. 8-15.]
[Footnote 139: The second and third books of Dexippus's Dialogue
contain his answers to many of the objections urged by Plotinus.
Aristotle, in the Categoriæ (Dexippus says), accommodates himself
both to the received manner of speaking and to the simple or ordinary
conception of [Greek: ou)si/a] entertained by youth or
unphilosophical men--[Greek: ou)/te ga\r peri\ tô=n o)/ntôn, ou)/te
peri\ tô=n genô=n tê=s prô/tês ou)si/as nu=n au)tô=| pro/keitai
le/gein; stocha/zetai ga\r tô=n ne/ôn toi=s a(plouste/rois
e)pakolouthei=n duname/nôn] (p. 49). Compare also pp. 50-54, where
Dexippus contrasts the more abstruse handling which we read in the
Physica and Metaphysica, with the more obvious and unpretending
thoughts worked out by Aristotle in the Categoriæ. Dexippus gives an
interesting piece of advice to his pupil, that he should vary his
mode of discussing these topics, according as his companions are
philosophical or otherwise--[Greek: e)gô\ me\n ou)=n, ô)= kale\
ka)gathe\ Se/leuke, dogmatikô/teron pro\s Plôti=non a)pantô=, su\
de/, e)pei\ bathu/terai/ pôs ei)si\n ai( lu/seis au(=tai, pro\s me\n
tou=s e)k philosophi/as o(rmôme/nous tai=s toiau/tais a)pantê/sesi
chrô=, pro\s de\ tou\s o)li/ga e)pistame/nous tô=n dogma/tôn tai=s
prochei/rois chrô= dialu/sesin, e)kei=no le/gôn, _o(/ti peri\ po/da
poiei=sthai e)/thos ta\s a)kroa/seis A)ristote/lei;_ dio\ kai\ nu=n
ou)de\n e)/xôthen e)peisa/gei tô=n a)nôte/rô keime/nôn
philosophêma/tôn], &c. (pp. 50, 51).]
Galen also recognizes five Categories; but not the same five as
Plotinus. He makes a new list, formed partly out of the Aristotelian
ten, partly out of the Stoic four:--[Greek: Ou)si/a, poso/n, poio/n,
_pro/s ti_, pro/ ti pô\s e)/chon].[140]
[Footnote 140: Schol. ad Categor. p. 49 a. 30.]
. . . . . .
The latter portion of this Aristotelian treatise, on the Categories
or Predicaments, consists of an Appendix, usually known under the
title of 'Post-Predicamenta;'[141] wherein the following terms or
notions are analysed and explained--_Opposita_, _Prius_, _Simul_,
_Motus_, _Habere_.
[Footnote 141: Andronikus and other commentators supposed the
Post-Predicamenta to have been appended to the Categoriæ by some
later hand. Most of the commentators dissented from this view. The
distinctions and explanations seem all Aristotelian.]
Of _Opposita_, Aristotle reckons four modes, analogous to each other,
yet not different species under the same genus:[142]--1.
_Relative-Opposita_--_Relatum_ and _Correlatum_. 2. _Contraria_.
3. _Habitus_ and _Privatio_. 4. _Affirmatio_ and _Negatio_.
[Footnote 142: Categ. p. 11, b. 16: [Greek: peri\ de\ tô=n
a)ntikeime/nôn, posachô=s ei)/ôthen a)ntikei=sthai r(ête/on.] See
Simpl. in Schol. p. 81, a. 37-b. 24. Whether Aristotle reckoned
[Greek: ta\ a)ntikei/mena] a true genus or not, was debated among the
commentators. The word [Greek: posachô=s] implies that he did not;
and he treats even the term [Greek: e)nanti/a] as a [Greek:
pollachô=s lego/menon], though it is less wide in its application
than [Greek: a)ntikei/mena], which includes _Relata_ (Metaphys. I. p.
1055, a. 17). He even treats [Greek: ste/rêsis] as a [Greek:
pollachô=s lego/menon] (p. 1055, a. 34).
[Greek: Ai( a)ntithe/seis te/ssares], the four distinct varieties of
[Greek: ta\ a)ntikei/mena] are enumerated by Aristotle in various
other places:--Topic. ii. p. 109, b. 17; p. 113, b. 15; Metaphys. I.
p. 1055, a. 38. In Metaphys. [Greek: D]. p. 1018, a. 20, two other
varieties are added. Bonitz observes (ad Metaph. p. 247) that
Aristotle seems to treat this quadripartite distribution of
_Opposita_, "tanquam certum et exploratum, pariter ac causarum
numerum," &c.]
These four modes of opposition have passed from the Categoriæ of
Aristotle into all or most of the modern treatises on Logic. The
three last of the four are usefully classed together, and illustrated
by their contrasts with each other. But as to the first of the four,
I cannot think that Aristotle has been happy in the place which he
has assigned to it. To treat _Relativa_ as a variety of _Opposita_,
appears to me an inversion of the true order of classification;
placing the more comprehensive term in subordination to the less
comprehensive. Instead of saying that Relatives are a variety of the
Opposite, we ought rather to say that Opposites are varieties of the
Relative. We have here another proof of what has been remarked a few
pages above; the narrow and inadequate conception which Aristotle
formed of his _Ad Aliquid_ or the Relative; restricting it to cases
in which the describing phrase is grammatically elliptical.[143] The
three classes last-mentioned by Aristotle (1. _Contraria_, 2.
_Habitus_ and _Privatio_, 3. _Affirmatio_ and _Negatio_) are truly
_Opposita_; in each there is a different mode of opposition, which it
is good to distinguish from the others. But the _Relatum_ and its
_Correlatum_, as such, are not necessarily _Opposite_ at all; they
are compared or conceived in conjunction with each other; while a
name, called relative, which connotes such comparison, &c., is
bestowed upon each. _Opposita_ fall under this general description,
as parts (together with other parts not _Opposita_) of a larger
whole. They ought properly to be called _Opposite-Relativa_: the
phrase _Relative-Opposita_, as applied to Relatives generally, being
discontinued as incorrect.[144]
[Footnote 143: Categ. p. 11, b. 24.
Ammonius and Simplikius inform us that there was much debate among
the commentators about these four alleged varieties of [Greek:
a)ntikei/mena]; also, that even Aristotle himself had composed a
special treatise (not now extant), [Greek: Peri\ tô=n
A)ntikeime/nôn], full of perplexing [Greek: a)pori/ai], which the
Stoics afterwards discussed without solving (Schol. p. 83, a. 15-48).
Herminus and others seem to have felt the difficulty of calling all
Relatives [Greek: a)ntikei/mena]; for they admitted that the
antithesis between the Relative and its Correlate was of gentler
character, not conflicting, but reciprocally sustaining. Alexander
ingeniously compared _Relatum_ and its _Correlatum_ to the opposite
rafters of a roof, each supporting the other ([Greek: malakô/tera
kai\ ê(=tton macho/mena e)n toi=s a)ntikeime/nois, ô(s _ kai\
a)mphiba/lesthai ei) ei)si\n a)ntikei/mena sô/zonta a)/llêla;_ a)lla\
tou=to me\n dei/knusin A)le/xandros o(/ti a)ntikei/mena, o(\s kai\
ta\ labdoeidê= xu/la paradei=gma lamba/nei], &c., Schol. p. 81, b.
32; p. 82, a. 15, b. 20). This is an undue enlargement of the meaning
of _Opposita_, by taking in the literal material sense as an adjunct
to the logical. On the contrary, the Stoics are alleged to have
worked out the views of Aristotle about [Greek: e)nanti/a], but to
have restricted the meaning of [Greek: **a)ntikei/mena] to
contradictory opposition, _i. e._ to Affirmative and Negative
Propositions with the same subject and predicate (Schol. p. 83, b.
11; p. 87, a. 29). In Metaphysica, A. 983, a. 31, Aristotle calls the
final cause ([Greek: to\ ou(= e(/neka kai\ ta)gatho/n) tê\n
a)ntikeime/nên ai)ti/an] to the cause (among his four), [Greek: to\
**o(/then ê( ki/nêsis]. This is a misleading phrase; the two
are not opposed, but mutually implicated and correlative.]
[Footnote 144: See the just and comprehensive definition of Relative
Names given by Mr. John Stuart Mill, in his System of Logic, Book I.
chap. ii. § 7, p. 46.
After reading that definition, the inconvenience of ranking Relatives
as a species or variety of Opposites, will be seen at once.]
From _Opposita_ Aristotle passes to _Prius_ and _Simul_; with the
different modes of each.[145] _Successive_ and _Synchronous_, are the
two most general classes under which facts or events can be cast.
They include between them all that is meant by Order in Time. They
admit of no definition, and can be explained only by appeal to
immediate consciousness in particular cases. Priority and
Simultaneity, in this direct and primary sense, are among the
clearest and most impressive notions of the human mind. But Aristotle
recognizes four additional meanings of these same words, which he
distinguishes from the primary, in the same way as he distinguishes
(in the ten Categories) the different meanings of _Essentia_, in a
gradually descending scale of analogy. The secondary _Prius_ is that
which does not reciprocate according to the order of existence with
its _Posterius_; where the _Posterius_ presupposes the _Prius_, while
the _Prius_ does not presuppose the _Posterius_: for example, given
two, the existence of one is necessarily implied; but given one, the
existence of two is not implied.[146] The tertiary _Prius_ is that
which comes first in the arrangements of science or discourse: as, in
geometry, point and line are prior as compared with the diagrams and
demonstrations; in writing, letters are prior as compared with
syllables; in speeches, the proem is prior as compared with the
exposition. A fourth mode of _Prius_ (which is the most remote and
far-fetched) is, that the better and more honourable is _prius
naturâ_. Still a fifth mode is, when, of two Relatives which
reciprocate with each other as to existence, one is cause and the
other effect: in such a case, the cause is said to be prior by nature
to the effect.[147] For example, if it be a fact that Caius exists,
the proposition "Caius exists," is a true proposition; and _vice
versâ_, if the proposition "Caius exists" is a true proposition, it
is a fact that Caius exists. But though from either **of these you
can infer the other, the truth of the proposition is the effect, and
not the cause, of the reality of the fact. Hence it is correct to say
that the latter is _prius naturâ_, and the former _posterius naturâ_.
[Footnote 145: Categ. p. 14, a. 26, seq.]
[Footnote 146: Ibid. p. 14, a. 29, seq. This second mode of _Prius_
is entitled by Alexander (see Schol. (ad Metaphys. [Greek: D].) p.
707, b. 7, Brandis) [Greek: pro/teron tê=| phu/sei]. But Aristotle
does not so call it here; he reserves that title for the fourth and
fifth modes.
It appears that debates, [Greek: Peri\ Prote/rou kai\ U(ste/rou] were