more on this theme     |     more from this thinker

Single Idea 5107

[filed under theme 19. Language / C. Assigning Meanings / 3. Predicates ]

Full Idea

The categories of predication are substance, quality, place, relation, quantity and action or affection.

Gist of Idea

Predicates are substance, quality, place, relation, quantity and action or affection

Source

Aristotle (Physics [c.337 BCE], 225b06)

Book Ref

Aristotle: 'Physics', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [OUP 1996], p.121

A Reaction

A note says this omits time from the 'familiar list' of eight predicates.

The 94 ideas from 'Physics'

22929 Aristotle's infinity is a property of the counting process, that it has no natural limit [Aristotle, by Le Poidevin]
22930 Lengths do not contain infinite parts; parts are created by acts of division [Aristotle, by Le Poidevin]
11255 In feature-generation the matter (such as bronze) endures, but in generation it doesn't [Aristotle, by Politis]
16972 The four explanations are the main aspects of a thing's nature [Aristotle, by Moravcsik]
11254 Matter is potentiality [Aristotle, by Politis]
11250 Four Explanations: the essence and form; the matter; the source; and the end [Aristotle, by Politis]
12045 Aristotle's four 'causes' are four items which figure in basic explanations of nature [Aristotle, by Annas]
17464 When Aristotle's elements compound they are stable, so why would they ever separate? [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry on Aristotle]
11252 The 'form' of a thing explains why the matter constitutes that particular thing [Aristotle, by Politis]
11253 A 'material' cause/explanation is the form of whatever is the source [Aristotle, by Politis]
22885 For Aristotle time is not a process but a means for measuring processes [Aristotle, by Bardon]
5080 We know a thing if we grasp its first causes, principles and basic elements [Aristotle]
9071 We first sense whole entities, and then move to particular parts of it [Aristotle]
13270 Are a part and whole one or many? Either way, what is the cause? [Aristotle]
16644 The features of a thing (whether quality or quantity) are inseparable from their subjects [Aristotle]
5082 Reason grasps generalities, while the senses grasp particulars [Aristotle]
16104 Unity of the form is just unity of the definition [Aristotle]
16172 Substance is not predicated of anything - but it still has something underlying it, that originates it [Aristotle]
16173 Coming to be is by shape-change, addition, subtraction, composition or alteration [Aristotle]
16174 A nature is related to a substance as shapeless matter is to something which has a shape [Aristotle]
16623 We only infer underlying natures by analogy, observing bronze of a statue, or wood of a bed [Aristotle]
5083 Do things come to be from what is, or from what is not? Both seem problematical. [Aristotle]
16574 Coming-to-be may be from nothing in a qualified way, as arising from an absence [Aristotle]
16762 Matter desires form, as female desires male, and ugliness desires beauty [Aristotle]
17041 Natural objects include animals and their parts, plants, and the simple elements [Aristotle]
17042 Natural things are their own source of stability through change [Aristotle]
5084 A thing's nature is what causes its changes and stability [Aristotle]
17043 Form, not matter, is a thing's nature, because it is actual, rather than potential [Aristotle]
9787 Scientists must know the essential attributes of the things they study [Aristotle]
9788 Mathematicians study what is conceptually separable, and doesn't lead to error [Aristotle]
9789 You can't abstract natural properties to make Forms - objects and attributes are defined together [Aristotle]
9790 Geometry studies naturally occurring lines, but not as they occur in nature [Aristotle]
5085 'Nature' refers to two things - form and matter [Aristotle]
5086 The nature of a thing is its end and purpose [Aristotle]
5087 A thing's purpose is ambiguous, and from one point of view we ourselves are ends [Aristotle]
8331 To know something we need understanding, which is grasp of the primary cause [Aristotle]
8332 The four causes are the material, the form, the source, and the end [Aristotle]
20042 We assign the cause of someone's walking when we say why they are doing it [Aristotle]
13106 Maybe there is no pure chance; a man's choices cause his chance meetings [Aristotle]
13107 Causes produce a few things in their own right, and innumerable things coincidentally [Aristotle]
13108 Chance is a coincidental cause among events involving purpose and choice [Aristotle]
13109 Chance is inexplicable, because we can only explain what happens always or usually [Aristotle]
13110 Intrinsic cause is prior to coincidence, so nature and intelligence are primary causes, chance secondary [Aristotle]
16968 There are as many causes/explanations as there are different types of why-question [Aristotle]
16969 Science refers the question Why? to four causes/explanations: matter, form, source, purpose [Aristotle]
16970 A thing's form and purpose are often the same, and form can be the initiator of change too [Aristotle]
17262 Aristotle's formal and material 'becauses' [aitiai] arguably involve grounding [Aristotle, by Correia/Schnieder]
5089 Nature has purpose, and aims at what is better. Is it coincidence that crops grow when it rains? [Aristotle]
5091 Teeth and crops are predictable, so they cannot be mere chance, but must have a purpose [Aristotle]
5092 Nature is a principle of change, so we must understand change first [Aristotle]
5093 Continuity depends on infinity, because the continuous is infinitely divisible [Aristotle]
16115 Change is the implied actuality of that which exists potentially [Aristotle]
20063 Motion fulfils potentiality [Aristotle]
16656 The separation from here to there is not the same as the separation from there to here [Aristotle]
5095 The heavens seem to be infinite, because we cannot imagine their end [Aristotle]
16691 A day, or the games, has one thing after another, actually and potentially occurring [Aristotle]
18090 Without infinity time has limits, magnitudes are indivisible, and numbers come to an end [Aristotle]
5097 If everything has a place, this causes an infinite regress, because each place must have place [Aristotle]
16791 There is no whole except for the parts [Aristotle]
5098 Place is not shape, or matter, or extension between limits; it is the limits of a body [Aristotle]
5099 The universe as a whole is not anywhere [Aristotle]
22956 How can time exist, when it is composed of what has ceased to be and is yet to be? [Aristotle]
5102 If all of time has either ceased to exist, or has not yet happened, maybe time does not exist [Aristotle]
16693 Time has parts, but the now is not one of them, and time is not composed of nows [Aristotle]
22957 We can't tell whether the changing present moment is one thing, or a succession of things [Aristotle]
22958 Nows can't be linked together, any more than points on a line [Aristotle]
22916 Unlike time, change goes at different rates, and is usually localised [Aristotle, by Le Poidevin]
5103 Time is not change, but requires change in our minds to be noticed [Aristotle]
20920 If there were many cosmoses, each would have its own time, giving many times [Aristotle]
8590 Time does not exist without change [Aristotle]
5104 Time is an aspect of change [Aristotle]
22959 Time is not change, but the number we associate with change [Aristotle]
22960 The sophists thought a man in the Lyceum is different from that man in the marketplace [Aristotle]
22961 The present moment is obviously a necessary feature of time [Aristotle]
22962 Two is the least number, but there is no least magnitude, because it is always divisible [Aristotle]
22963 We measure change by time, and time by change, as they are interdefined [Aristotle]
22964 Change only exists in time through its being temporally measure [Aristotle]
22965 Time measures rest, as well as change [Aristotle]
5105 The incommensurability of the diagonal always exists, and so it is not in time [Aristotle]
22966 The present moment is a link (of past to future), and also a limit (of past and of future) [Aristotle]
5106 Would there be time if there were no mind? [Aristotle]
22967 It is unclear whether time depends on the existence of soul [Aristotle]
22968 Circular motion is the most obvious measure of time, and especially the celestial sphere [Aristotle]
9974 Ten sheep and ten dogs are the same numerically, but it is not the same ten [Aristotle]
5107 Predicates are substance, quality, place, relation, quantity and action or affection [Aristotle]
5108 Is ceasing-to-be unnatural if it happens by force, and natural otherwise? [Aristotle]
18833 A continuous line cannot be composed of indivisible points [Aristotle]
5110 Goodness is when a thing (such as a circle) is complete, and conforms with its nature [Aristotle]
5111 All moral virtue is concerned with bodily pleasure and pain [Aristotle]
5113 Nothing natural is disorderly, because nature is responsible for all order [Aristotle]
5114 If movement can arise within an animal, why can't it also arise in the universe? [Aristotle]
5116 When there is unnatural movement (e.g. fire going downwards) the cause is obvious [Aristotle]
5117 Heavy and light are defined by their tendency to move down or up [Aristotle]
5119 The source of all movement must be indivisible and have no magnitude [Aristotle]