ARISTOTLE'S THEORY OF PREDICATION PHILO S Ο PHI A ANTIQUA A SERIES OF STUDIES ON ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY FOUNDED BY J. H. WASZINK| AND W.J. VERDENIUSf EDITED BY J. MANSFELD, D.T. RUNIA J.C.M. VAN WINDEN VOLUME LXXXIV ALLAN T. BÄCK ARISTOTLE'S THEORY OF PREDICATION '68^ ARISTOTLE'S THEORY OF PREDICATION BY ALLAN T. BÄCK /6 8^' BRILL LEIDEN · BOSTON · KÖLN 2000 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publicarion Data Bäck, Allen. Aristode's theory of predication / by Allan T. Bäck, ρ cm.—(Philosophia antiqua, ISSN 0079-1687; v. 84) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9004117199 (alk. paper) 1. Aristode. 2. Predicate (Logic) I. Tide: Theory of predication. Π. Tide. ΙΠ. Series. B491.P73 B33 2000 160'.92—dc20 00-029768 CIP Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufiiahme Bäck, Allan: Aristode's theory of predication / by Allan T. Bäck. - Leiden ; Boston ; Köln : Brill, 2000 (Philosophia antiqua ; Vol. 84) ISBN 90-04-11719-9 ISSN 0079-1687 ISBN 90 04 11719 9 © Copyright 2000 by Koninkltjke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910 DanversMA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Preface xi Notation and Conventions xiv Introduction 1 Statement of the Aspect Theory of Predication 2 Modern Qualms 4 Chapter One The Linguistic Evidence 11 The Relevance of Ordinary Greek Usage 12 The Grammar of Predication 15 The Aspect Theory in Arabic 19 The Meaning of'Be' in Greek 22 The Aspect Theory in Greek 29 Chapter Two Aristotle's Precursors 31 Parmenides: Is or Is Not 31 Plato: Not Being Is 37 Types of Predication in the Sophist 40 Plato on the Structure of a Statement 48 Physics 1 52 Summary 58 Chapter Three Aristotle on the Uses of 'Be' in Greek 59 Being is Said in Many Ways 59 Aristotle's Lexicon for Being 62 Being Per Accidens 65 Being Per Se 70 An Aporetic Interlude 74 The Alethic Sense 82 The Problematic Sense 84 The Predicates of Matter 87 Conclusions 96 Chapter Four The Statement 98 The Nature of a Statement 100 The Bipartite Analysis 102 The Fundamental Form of Statements 106 The Tripartite Analysis 114 The Relation Between the Bipartite and the Tripartite Analyses 116 The'Υπάρχει Construction 124 Conclusions 130 Chapter Five The Categories as Predicates 132 The Ten Categories 133 The Categories as Signs of Beings 137 The Ontological Square 143 Differentiae and Propria 151 Existence and Essence 158 Essence and Definition 162 Chapter Six Type of Predication 166 Accidental and Essential Predication 166 Singular and Universal Predication 172 Comparison with Modern Logic 178 Unnatural Predication 185 Complex Predication 195 Aspects of Aspects 197 Chapter Seven Negations 199 Indefinite Names and Verbs 200 Denials 207 Simple Denials 209 Metathetic Denials 218 Squares of Opposition 223 Conclusions 226 Chapter Eight Inference 228 The Antepredicamental Rule 228 Subalternation 239 Conversion 245 The Syllogism 252 The Fallacy of Accident 256 The Fallacy of Secundum Quid et Simpliciter 260 Conclusions 263 Chapter Nine Consequences 264 The Aspect Theory 264 The Aspect Theory as an Interpretation of Aristotle 265 A Single Science of'Is' 269 Later Developments 271 Brentano 307 Evaluation of the Aspect Theory 310 The Recurrence of the Aspect Theory 316 Bibliography 321 Index 339 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Of course, I have benefited from all those who have written and discussed predication. I thank the following people for particular comments: Patricia Curd, L. M. De Rijk, Daniel Graham, Michael Ferejohn, Michael Frede, Mushin Mahdi, Parviz Morewedge, A. P. D. Mourelatos, May Sim, Anne and Owen Smith, Robin Smith, Hermann Weidemann. I also gratefully acknowledge the receipt of a Forschungspreis from the Humboldt Stiftung and the kind support of Klaus Jacobi and Ignacio Angelelli. Special thanks to Barbara Kegerreis for her library work and to Gail Hirsch and Gera van Bedaf for putting up with me and the manuscript.