Daily Aristotle

A man and his portrait share the name animal but not the account of it. Aristotle sorts words by ten things they can point to, then argues one mark belongs to ousia alone: staying one thing while taking opposites in turn.

The reading distinguishes namesakes, true namesakes, and things named after, then separates what is said of a subject from what is present in one. It lays out the ten kinds a single word can point to and examines ousia, ranking primary and second ousiai and finding its proper mark in holding opposites through change.

Terms in today's reading — psuche: the life in a living thing — what animates it · ousia: substance — what a thing most truly is

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A mountain counts as small and a millet-seed as large, because great and small are never said of a thing on its own. Aristotle sorts quantities from relatives, then asks whether a hand or head is ever said of something else.

Aristotle divides quantity into discrete and continuous, into parts with position and without, and argues quantity has no contrary and admits equal and unequal rather than more and less. He then turns to relatives, testing which correlates turn back on each other and whether any ousia is said in relation to something else.

Terms in today's reading — ousia: substance — what a thing most truly is · hexis: a settled state — a disposition worn into the character

Glossary and more: DailyAristotle.com

A picture of a man and a real man share the name animal but not the definition. From namesakes Aristotle builds to ousia in its fullest sense: this man here, on which everything else depends, alone able to hold opposites by changing itself.

Aristotle distinguishes namesakes, true namesakes, and things named after something, then sorts things by whether they are said of a subject or present in one. He lays out the ten categories and defines ousia in its primary and secondary senses, ending with what belongs to ousia alone: receiving contraries by changing itself.

Terms in today's reading — psuche: the life in a living thing — what animates it · ousia: substance — what a thing most truly is

Glossary and more: DailyAristotle.com