Aristotle’s two accounts of relatives in Categories 7

Duncombe, Matthew

Abstract

At Categories 7, 6a36-7 Aristotle defines relatives (R1), but at 8a13-28 worries that the definition may include some substances. Aristotle introduces a second account of relatives (R2, at 8a31-2) to solve the problem. Recent commentators have held that Aristotle intends to solve the extensional adequacy worry by restricting the extension of relatives. That is, R2 counts fewer items as relative than R1. However, this cannot explain Aristotle’s attitude to relatives, since he immediately returns to using R1. I propose a non-extensional reading. R1 and R2 do not specify different sets of relatives, but rather different ways to understand each relative.

Citation

Duncombe, M. (2015). Aristotle’s two accounts of relatives in Categories 7. Phronesis, 60(4), 436-461. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685284-12341292

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 24, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Sep 11, 2015
• Publication Date: Sep 11, 2015
• Deposit Date: Sep 11, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 28, 2019
• Print ISSN: 0031-8868
• Electronic ISSN: 1568-5284
• Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 60
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 436-461
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/15685284-12341292
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1120358
• Publisher URL: https://brill.com/abstract/journals/phro/60/4/article-p436_4.xml
• Related Public URLs: https://philpapers.org/rec/DUNATA
• Contract Date: Nov 23, 2018