第16章

Thingsaresaidto’be’(1)inanaccidentalsense，(2)bytheir

ownnature。

(1)Inanaccidentalsense，e。g。wesay’therighteousdoeris

musical’，and’themanismusical’，and’themusicianisaman’，

justaswesay’themusicianbuilds’，becausethebuilderhappensto

bemusicalorthemusiciantobeabuilder；forhere’onethingis

another’means’oneisanaccidentofanother’。Sointhecaseswe

havementioned；forwhenwesay’themanismusical’and’themusician

isaman’，or’hewhoispaleismusical’or’themusicianispale’，

thelasttwomeanthatbothattributesareaccidentsofthesame

thing；thefirstthattheattributeisanaccidentofthatwhichis，

while’themusicalisaman’meansthat’musical’isanaccidentof

aman。(Inthissense，too，thenot-paleissaidtobe，becausethat

ofwhichitisanaccidentis。)Thuswhenonethingissaidinan

accidentalsensetobeanother，thisiseitherbecausebothbelong

tothesamething，andthisis，orbecausethattowhichtheattribute

belongsis，orbecausethesubjectwhichhasasanattributethatof

whichitisitselfpredicated，itselfis。

(2)Thekindsofessentialbeingarepreciselythosethatare

indicatedbythefiguresofpredication；forthesensesof’being’are

justasmanyasthesefigures。Since，then，somepredicatesindicate

whatthesubjectis，othersitsquality，othersquantity，others

relation，othersactivityorpassivity，othersits’where’，othersits

’when’，’being’hasameaningansweringtoeachofthese。Forthereis

nodifferencebetween’themanisrecovering’and’theman

recovers’，norbetween’themaniswalkingorcutting’and’theman

walks’or’cuts’；andsimilarlyinallothercases。

Again，’being’and’is’meanthatastatementistrue，’not

being’thatitisnottruebutfalses-andthisalikeinthecaseof

affirmationandofnegation；e。g。’Socratesismusical’meansthat

thisistrue，or’Socratesisnot-pale’meansthatthisistrue；but

’thediagonalofthesquareisnotcommensuratewiththeside’means

thatitisfalsetosayitis。

Again，’being’and’thatwhichis’meanthatsomeofthe

thingswehavementioned’are’potentially，othersincomplete

reality。Forwesaybothofthatwhichseespotentiallyandofthat

whichseesactually，thatitis’seeing’，andbothofthatwhichcan

actualizeitsknowledgeandofthatwhichisactualizingit，thatit

knows，andbothofthattowhichrestisalreadypresentandofthat

whichcanrest，thatitrests。Andsimilarlyinthecaseof

substances；wesaytheHermesisinthestone，andthehalfofthe

lineisintheline，andwesayofthatwhichisnotyetripethat

itiscorn。Whenathingispotentialandwhenitisnotyetpotential

mustbeexplainedelsewhere。

Wecall’substance’(1)thesimplebodies，i。e。earthandfireand

waterandeverythingofthesort，andingeneralbodiesandthethings

composedofthem，bothanimalsanddivinebeings，andthepartsof

these。Allthesearecalledsubstancebecausetheyarenot

predicatedofasubjectbuteverythingelseispredicatedofthem-(2)

Thatwhich，beingpresentinsuchthingsasarenotpredicatedofa

subject，isthecauseoftheirbeing，asthesoulisofthebeingof

ananimal-(3)Thepartswhicharepresentinsuchthings，limiting

themandmarkingthemasindividuals，andbywhosedestructionthe

wholeisdestroyed，asthebodyisbythedestructionoftheplane，as

somesay，andtheplanebythedestructionoftheline；andingeneral

numberisthoughtbysometobeofthisnature；forifitis

destroyed，theysay，nothingexists，anditlimitsallthings-(4)The

essence，theformulaofwhichisadefinition，isalsocalledthe

substanceofeachthing。

Itfollows，then，that’substance’hastwosenses，(A)ultimate

substratum，whichisnolongerpredicatedofanythingelse，and(B)

thatwhich，beinga’this’，isalsoseparableandofthisnatureis

theshapeorformofeachthing。

’Thesame’means(1)thatwhichisthesameinanaccidental

sense，e。g。’thepale’and’themusical’arethesamebecausetheyare

accidentsofthesamething，and’aman’and’musical’becausetheone

isanaccidentoftheother；and’themusical’is’aman’becauseit

isanaccidentoftheman。(Thecomplexentityisthesameaseither

ofthesimpleonesandeachoftheseisthesameasit；forboth

’theman’and’themusical’aresaidtobethesameas’themusical

man’，andthisthesameasthey。)Thisiswhyallofthese

statementsaremadenotuniversally；foritisnottruetosaythat

everymanisthesameas’themusical’(foruniversalattributes

belongtothingsinvirtueoftheirownnature，butaccidentsdonot

belongtotheminvirtueoftheirownnature)；butofthe

individualsthestatementsaremadewithoutqualification。For

’Socrates’and’musicalSocrates’arethoughttobethesame；but

’Socrates’isnotpredicableofmorethanonesubject，andtherefore

wedonotsay’everySocrates’aswesay’everyman’。

Somethingsaresaidtobethesameinthissense，others(2)

arethesamebytheirownnature，inasmanysensesasthatwhichis

onebyitsownnatureisso；forboththethingswhosematterisone

eitherinkindorinnumber，andthosewhoseessenceisone，are

saidtobethesame。Clearly，therefore，samenessisaunityofthe

beingeitherofmorethanonethingorofonethingwhenitistreated

asmorethanone，ie。whenwesayathingisthesameasitself；for

wetreatitastwo。

Thingsarecalled’other’ifeithertheirkindsortheirmatters

orthedefinitionsoftheiressencearemorethanone；andin

general’other’hasmeaningsoppositetothoseof’thesame’。

’Different’isapplied(1)tothosethingswhichthoughother

arethesameinsomerespect，onlynotinnumberbuteitherinspecies

oringenusorbyanalogy；(2)tothosewhosegenusisother，andto

contraries，andtoanthingsthathavetheirothernessintheir

essence。

Thosethingsarecalled’like’whichhavethesameattributesin

everyrespect，andthosewhichhavemoreattributesthesamethan

different，andthosewhosequalityisone；andthatwhichshares

withanotherthingthegreaternumberorthemoreimportantofthe

attributes(eachofthemoneoftwocontraries)inrespectofwhich

thingsarecapableofaltering，islikethatotherthing。Thesenses

of’unlike’areoppositetothoseof’like’。

Theterm’opposite’isappliedtocontradictories，andto

contraries，andtorelativeterms，andtoprivationandpossession，

andtotheextremesfromwhichandintowhichgenerationand

dissolutiontakeplace；andtheattributesthatcannotbepresentat

thesametimeinthatwhichisreceptiveofboth，aresaidtobe

opposed，-eitherthemselvesoftheirconstituents。Greyandwhite

colourdonotbelongatthesametimetothesamething；hencetheir

constituentsareopposed。

Theterm’contrary’isapplied(1)tothoseattributesdiffering

ingenuswhichcannotbelongatthesametimetothesamesubject，(2)

tothemostdifferentofthethingsinthesamegenus，(3)tothemost

differentoftheattributesinthesamerecipientsubject，(4)to

themostdifferentofthethingsthatfallunderthesamefaculty，(5)

tothethingswhosedifferenceisgreatesteitherabsolutelyorin

genusorinspecies。Theotherthingsthatarecalledcontraryare

socalled，somebecausetheypossesscontrariesoftheabovekind，

somebecausetheyarereceptiveofsuch，somebecausetheyare

productiveoforsusceptibletosuch，orareproducingorsuffering

them，orarelossesoracquisitions，orpossessionsorprivations，

ofsuch。Since’one’and’being’havemanysenses，theotherterms

whicharederivedfromthese，andtherefore’same’，’other’，and

’contrary’，mustcorrespond，sothattheymustbedifferentforeach

category。

Theterm’otherinspecies’isappliedtothingswhichbeingof

thesamegenusarenotsubordinatetheonetotheother，orwhich

beinginthesamegenushaveadifference，orwhichhaveacontrariety

intheirsubstance；andcontrariesareotherthanoneanotherin

species(eitherallcontrariesorthosewhicharesocalledinthe

primarysense)，andsoarethosethingswhosedefinitionsdifferin

theinfimaspeciesofthegenus(e。g。manandhorseareindivisiblein

genus，buttheirdefinitionsaredifferent)，andthosewhichbeing

inthesamesubstancehaveadifference。’Thesameinspecies’hasthe

variousmeaningsoppositetothese。

Thewords’prior’and’posterior’areapplied(1)tosomethings

(ontheassumptionthatthereisafirst，i。e。abeginning，ineach

class)becausetheyarenearersomebeginningdeterminedeither

absolutelyandbynature，orbyreferencetosomethingorinsome

placeorbycertainpeople；e。g。thingsarepriorinplacebecause

theyarenearereithertosomeplacedeterminedbynature(e。g。the

middleorthelastplace)，ortosomechanceobject；andthatwhichis

fartherisposterior-Otherthingsarepriorintime；somebybeing

fartherfromthepresent，i。e。inthecaseofpastevents(forthe

TrojanwarispriortothePersian，becauseitisfartherfromthe

present)，othersbybeingnearerthepresent，i。e。inthecaseof

futureevents(fortheNemeangamesarepriortothePythian，ifwe

treatthepresentasbeginningandfirstpoint，becausetheyare

nearerthepresent)-Otherthingsarepriorinmovement；forthat

whichisnearerthefirstmoverisprior(e。g。theboyispriortothe

man)；andtheprimemoveralsoisabeginningabsolutely-Othersare

priorinpower；forthatwhichexceedsinpower，i。e。themore

powerful，isprior；andsuchisthataccordingtowhosewillthe

other-i。e。theposterior-mustfollow，sothatifthepriordoesnot

setitinmotiontheotherdoesnotmove，andifitsetsitin

motionitdoesmove；andherewillisabeginning-Othersarepriorin

arrangement；thesearethethingsthatareplacedatintervalsin

referencetosomeonedefinitethingaccordingtosomerule，e。g。in

thechorusthesecondmanispriortothethird，andinthelyrethe

secondloweststringispriortothelowest；forintheonecasethe

leaderandintheotherthemiddlestringisthebeginning。

These，then，arecalledpriorinthissense，but(2)inanother

sensethatwhichispriorforknowledgeistreatedasalso

absolutelyprior；ofthese，thethingsthatarepriorindefinitiondo

notcoincidewiththosethatarepriorinrelationtoperception。

Forindefinitionuniversalsareprior，inrelationtoperception

individuals。Andindefinitionalsotheaccidentispriortothe

whole，e。g。’musical’to’musicalman’，forthedefinitioncannot

existasawholewithoutthepart；yetmusicalnesscannotexistunless

thereissomeonewhoismusical。

(3)Theattributesofpriorthingsarecalledprior，e。g。

straightnessispriortosmoothness；foroneisanattributeofaline

assuch，andtheotherofasurface。

Somethingsthenarecalledpriorandposteriorinthissense，

others(4)inrespectofnatureandsubstance，i。e。thosewhichcanbe

withoutotherthings，whiletheotherscannotbewithoutthem，-a

distinctionwhichPlatoused。(Ifweconsiderthevarioussensesof

’being’，firstlythesubjectisprior，sothatsubstanceisprior；

secondly，accordingaspotencyorcompleterealityistakeninto

account，differentthingsareprior，forsomethingsarepriorin

respectofpotency，othersinrespectofcompletereality，e。g。in

potencythehalflineispriortothewholeline，andthepartto

thewhole，andthemattertotheconcretesubstance，butincomplete

realitytheseareposterior；foritisonlywhenthewholehasbeen

dissolvedthattheywillexistincompletereality。)Inasense，

therefore，allthingsthatarecalledpriorandposteriorareso

calledwithreferencetothisfourthsense；forsomethingscan

existwithoutothersinrespectofgeneration，e。g。thewhole

withouttheparts，andothersinrespectofdissolution，e。g。thepart

withoutthewhole。Andthesameistrueinallothercases。