Priority in Aristotle's Metaphysics / Michail Peramatzis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Peramatzis, Michail M., 1975- author.

Series:

Oxford Aristotle studies.

Oxford Aristotle studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Aristotle. Metaphysics.

Aristotle.

Priority (Philosophy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 328 pages).

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The idea that some parts of reality are fundamental and others derivative was an important one in Aristotle's philosophical system, and is now again of interest in philosophy. Peramatzis presents an account of priority relations in Aristotle's metaphysics, and draws out their continuing philosophical significance.

Contents:

1.Introduction

1.1.Preliminaries

1.2.Priority in Definition: Form, Matter, and Compound

1.3.Ontological Priority in `Being What Something Essentially Is'

1.4.Aristotelian Method and Methodological Neutrality

pt. I Definitional Priority: Form, Matter, and Compound

2.Definitional Priority and Definitionally Primary Items

2.1.Priority in Definition or in Account

2.2.Separation in Definition and the Asymmetry of Definitional Priority

2.3.Transitivity

2.4.Irreflexivity and Fundamentally Primary Items

2.5.Form as Definitionally Primary

2.6.Can Definitionally Posterior Items Be Indefinable?

2.7.Important Consequences

3.Matter within a Form's Essence?

3.1.Preliminary Remarks

3.2.An Important Distinction

3.3.The Dominant Question of Metaphysics Z.10-11

3.4.Initial Examples of Metaphysics Z.10 and Different Types of Matter

3.5.The End of Metaphysics Z.11 and the `Matter of Form' (Metaphysics [MARC+45].24)

4.Natural Form, Mathematical Form, and Platonist Errors

4.1.Hyper-Materiality and Hyper-Formality

4.2.Abstractability, Separability, and Definitional Independence (Physics B.2)

4.3.What Natural Forms Are Not Like (I): Forms Studied by Subordinate Mathematical Sciences (Posterior Analytics A.13)

4.4.What Natural Forms Are Not Like (II): Mathematical Abstractions in Thought (Physics B.2, 193b31-5)

4.5.What Natural Forms Are Not Like (III): Platonist Forms

4.6.Platonist Forms and Change (Metaphysics A.9 and Z.8)

4.7.Concluding Note on Mathematical Versus Natural Form (De Anima A.1)

5.Natural Forms as Essentially Matter- and Change-Involving

5.1.Why is Hyper-Formality Mistaken? (Metaphysics Z.11)

5.2.Matter, Change, and the Case of the Soul (Metaphysics E.1 and De Anima A.1)

5.3.Formal and Material Parts of a Form's Essence: Intra-Definiens Priority of Form over Matter? (Physics B.2)

5.4.The Inextricability of Formal and Material Parts of a Form's Essence (Sophistici Elenchi 31)

5.5.Interim Conclusions

6.Material and Change-Related Features of a Natural Form's Essence

6.1.The Necessary and Causal Link between Matter and Change

6.2.What Kind of Matter Accounts for Natural Change?

6.3.Material and Change-Related Parts in a Natural Form's Essence

6.4.The Explanatory Role of Material and Change-Related Features within a Natural Form's Essence (De Anima A.4)

6.5.Conclusion: Metaphysics and the Study of Matter and Change (Metaphysics Z.11)

7.Essentially Enmattered Form as Prior to Matter: A Modest Proposal

7.1.Biting the Bullet

7.2.Pragmatic or Interest-Relative Views

7.3.Two Objects

Two Definitions

7.4.`Matter' as an Ambiguous Term

7.5.Proximate and Remote Types of Matter

7.6.Reclaiming the Form's Priority over Matter: The Basics

7.7.Definitional Models of Priority

7.8.Determining the Prior and Posterior Relata: The Causal-Explanatory Model Introduced

7.9.Filling in the Gaps: Specifying the Posterior Relata as Explananda

7.10.Conclusion: Dissecting the Definiens

pt. II Ontological Priority

8.Priority in Nature or in Substance

8.1.The Neutral Formulation of the Independence Claim [IC]

8.2.More on the Distinction between Existing and Being What Something Is

8.3.Interim Conclusions

9.Platonist Ontological Priority

9.1.The Discussion of Platonist Priority in the Eudemian Ethics

9.2.Platonist and Aristotelian Ontological Priority

9.3.Appendix: Separation and Priority

10.Evidence for Priority in Being [PIB] in Metaphysics [MARC+45].11

10.1.Prior Subjects and Prior Substances

10.2.Ways of Being and Ways of Being Ontologically Prior

10.3.Priority in Potential Being or Destruction and Actual Being or Generation

10.4.Interim Conclusions

11.The Ontological Priority of Particular Substances

11.1.Primary Substances of the Categories and Metaphysics Z.1

11.2.How not to Understand the Priority of Particular Substances

11.3.Subjecthood, and the Ontological Priority of Particular Substances as [PIB]

11.4.Conclusion

11.5.Appendix: Metaphysics Z.1 and Priority `in Time'

12.Definitional and Ontological Priority [PIB]

12.1.Aristotle's Distinction between `Priority in Account' and `Priority in Substance' (Metaphysics M.2)

12.2.Metaphysics M.2 and the Claim of Form to both Priority Conditions

12.3.What Is it for a Form to Be `Prior in Account'? (Metaphysics H.1 & Physics B.1)

12.4.Ontological Priority [PIB] as Grounding `Real' Definitional Priority

13.Test Cases for Ontological Priority [PIB]

13.1.Right/Acute Angles (Metaphysics Z.10)

13.2.Actual Being as Ontologically Prior to Potential Being (Metaphysics [MARC+4B].8)

13.3.Substance and Form as Actual Being

Matter as Potential Being

13.4.Generalizability of [PIB] (I): Capacity Possession and Exercise

13.5.Generalizability of [PIB] (II): Capacities and Their Exercise

13.6.Generalizability of [PIB] (III): Perishable Things and Eternal Actual Beings

13.7.Conclusion: The Unity of Metaphysics [MARC+4B].8

14.Conclusion: Further Problems and Some Suggestions

14.1.Substancehood, and the Status of Priority

14.2.Essential Interdependence and `Parts' of the Form's Essence

14.3.The Scope of Ontological Priority and `Particular versus Universal Form'

14.4.Ontological Priority and Modality.

Notes:

Index nominum unnumbered.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [320]-323) and indexes.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-283-42270-0

9786613422705

0-19-161825-X

OCLC:

922970823