Substance in Aristotle's Metaphysics Zeta PDF
Preview Substance in Aristotle's Metaphysics Zeta
Substance in Aristotle’s Metaphysics Zeta Norman O. Dahl Substance in Aristotle’s Metaphysics Zeta Norman O. Dahl Substance in Aristotle’s Metaphysics Zeta Norman O. Dahl Emeritus Professor, University of Minnesota Mill Creek, WA, USA ISBN 978-3-030-22160-7 ISBN 978-3-030-22161-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22161-4 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub- lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institu- tional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To Pat A cknowledgments G. E. L. Owen first introduced me to the intricacies of Metaphysics Zeta. I am grateful to him for that and for his encouragement to pursue my early interest in ancient philosophy. Work on this book has taken place over a number of years. Earlier drafts of parts of it were presented at a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute on Aristotle’s Metaphysics, Biology and Ethics at the University of New Hampshire, a Metaphysical Society of America Conference on Aristotle’s Metaphysics, an annual meeting of the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy, a Meeting of the Minnesota Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy, to philosophy departments at East Carolina University and the University of California, Davis, to upper division and graduate courses at the University of Minnesota, and at a meeting of a graduate seminar on Aristotle’s Metaphysics at the University of Washington. I am grateful to all those who commented on my work on those occasions. At various times, research on the topic of this book was supported by research grants and a sabbatical leave fellowship from the University of Minnesota, and by a John Dolan Memorial Research Grant, all of which I thankfully acknowledge. In the years I have been working on this book, I have benefitted from the comments of John Bruss, Shane Drefciniski, Gene Garver, Kevin Falvey, Edward Halper, William Hanson, David Keyt, Frank Lewis, John Malcolm, Carol Mickett, Einar Molvar, Del Reed, Deborah Roberts, Paul Teng, and Michael Woods. There are also those to whom I owe special thanks. Aryeh Kosman was gracious enough to spend a number of occa- sions talking with me about the details of Z.6 and Z.13, conversations that vii viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS were of considerable benefit to me. Sandra Peterson first encouraged me to pursue my work on Zeta and, over the years, has provided both encour- agement and valuable comments on drafts of chapters of this book. I owe a special debt to Marc Cohen. For a number of years, he has been a careful and valuable critic of my work, and he was kind enough to read a com- pletely revised second draft of this book. His comments significantly improved what I had written and saved me from a number of mistakes. I also owe a special debt to Betty Belfiore for her help in translating the Greek in Zeta and for her encouragement and comments on a number of drafts of chapters of this book. Finally, I owe an incalculable debt to my wife, Pat, for her love and support throughout our over 56 years of marriage. I have been given permission to reprint a large part of the content of four of my previously published articles, permission which I gratefully acknowledge. ‘Two Kinds of Essence in Aristotle: A Pale Man is Not the Same as His Essence,’ Philosophical Review, (1997), 106, 233–265, granted by Duke University Press. ‘On Substance Being the Same as Its Essence in Metaphysics Z.6: The Pale Man Argument,’ Journal of the History of Philosophy, (1999), 37, 1–29, copyright © 1999 by Journal of History of Philosophy, Inc., granted by John Hopkins University Press. ‘On Substance Being the Same as Its Essence in Metaphysics vii.6: The Argument About Platonic Forms,’ Ancient Philosophy, (2003), 23, 153–179, and ‘Substance, Sameness and Essence in Metaphysics vii.6,’ Ancient Philosophy, (2007), 27, 107–126, both granted by Mathesis Publications. w A P c orks of ristotle And lAto ited And A bbreviAtions Work Abbreviation Aristotle, Categories Cat Aristotle, De Anima Aristotle, De Interpretatione Aristotle, De Motu Animalium Aristotle, De Sophisticus Elenchis SE Aristotle, Metaphysics Meta Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics NE Aristotle, On Generation and Corruption Aristotle, Parts of Animals Aristotle Physics Aristotle, Posterior Analytics Post Analytics Aristotle, Topics Plato, Parmenides Plato, Phaedo Plato, Republic Plato, Sophist Plato, Timaeus ix c ontents 1 Introduction 1 2 Background Considerations 5 3 The Categories View of Basic Constituents 17 4 Two New Candidates for Basic Constituents 37 5 The Metaphysics and Metaphysics Zeta 59 6 Z.1, Substantial Forms or Individual Composites as Basic Constituents 67 7 Z.3, The Rejection of Matter 81 8 Z.4–5, Essence 99 9 Z.6 and the Pale Man Argument 123 10 Z.6 and the Argument About Platonic Forms 151 xi xii CONTENTS 11 Z.6 and the Regress Argument 185 12 Z.7–9, The Reintroduction of Matter and Form 199 13 Z.10–11, Does Form Have Matter as Part of It? 211 14 The Universal as Substance: Z.13 1038b8–1039a3— Problems of Interpretation 243 15 The Universal as Substance: 1038b8–1039a3—Solutions to the Problems 269 16 The Universal as Substance: Z.13–16—An Aporia and What Follows 289 17 Z.17, A Fresh Start 315 18 Conclusion 325 Index 339 Index Locorum 349
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