This volume presents fourteen new essays by leading figures in the fields of ancient philosophy and contemporary metaphysics, discussing Aristotle's theory of the unity of substances. This topic remains at the centre of metaphysical enquiry. The contributors examine the nature of essences, how they differ from other components of substance, and how they are related to these other components. The central questions discussed here are: What does Aristotle mean by 'potentiality' and 'actuality'? How do these concepts explicate matter and form, and how are they related to the actuality of substance? What is the role of matter and form in accounting for the unity, identity, and individuation of substances? These questions are crucial to an understanding of the unity of composite substances and their identity over time. The aim of the volume is both exegetical and philosophical: to address central issues in Aristotle's Metaphysics, and to stimulate further investigation of the problems and controversies that arise from these.
| ISBN | 0199244413 | | Pages | 392 | | ISBN13 | 9780199244416
(What's this?) | | Weight (grammes) | 560 | | Publisher | Oxford University Press | | Published in | Oxford | | Imprint | Clarendon Press | | Height (mm) | 234 | | Format | Paperback | | Width (mm) | 154 | | Publication date | 05 Apr 2001 | | Spine width (mm) | 23 | | DEWEY | 110 | | Academic level | Professional / Scholarly | | DEWEY edition | DC21 | |
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Introduction; 1. THE IDENTITY OF COMPOSITE SUBSTANCE; 1. A Puzzle Concerning Matter and Form; 2. Aristotle on Identity; 3. Individuals and Individuation in Aristotle; 2. THE UNITY OF COMPOSITE SUBSTANCE; 4. Matter and Form: Unity, Persistence, and Identity; 5. Substantial Holism; 6. Parts, Compounds, and Substantial Unity; 3. THE POTENTIAL AND THE ACTUAL; 7. Aristotle's Notion of Potentiality in Metaphysics Theta; 8. The Activity of Being in Aristotle's Metaphysics; 9. The Priority of Actuality in Aristotle; 10. Essences, Powers, and Generic Propositions; 4. MATTER AND FORM; 11. Aristotle on the Relation between a Thing and its Matter; 12. The Essence of a Human Being and the Individual Soul in Metaphysics Z and H; 13. The Definition of Generated Composites in Aristotle's Metaphysics; 5. PRINCIPLES OF ARISTOTLE'S METAPHYSICS; 14. Aristotle's Conception of Metaphysics as a Science; Bibliography, Index Locorum, General Index
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