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Single Idea 16149

[from 'Sophistical Refutations' by Aristotle, in 9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 10. Essence as Species ]

Full Idea

'Man', and every generic term, denotes not an individual substance but a quality or relation or mode or something of the kind.

Gist of Idea

Generic terms like 'man' are not substances, but qualities, relations, modes or some such thing

Source

Aristotle (Sophistical Refutations [c.331 BCE], 179a01)

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'Sophistical Refutations, On the Cosmos etc (III)', ed/tr. Forster,E.S. /Furley,D.J. [Harvard Loeb 1955], p.117


A Reaction

This is Aristotle's denial that species constitutes the essence of anything. I take 'man' to be a categorisation of individuals, and is ontologically nothing at all in its own right.