Aristotle's Metaphysics
INTRODUCTION
Metaphysics is the fundamental part of any philosophical system. As a result, a philosopher is original only when his metaphysics is original. Regarding Aristotle, one cannot but believe that in the field of metaphysics the ancient Greek philosopher brought something new to metaphysics. For this reason, one cannot talk of metaphysics without studying the metaphysics of Aristotle. This is paper will focus on Aristotle’s metaphysics.
LIFE AND WORK
Aristotle (b. 384 – d. 322 BCE), was a Greek philosopher, logician, and scientist. Along with his teacher Plato, Aristotle is generally regarded as one of the most influential ancient thinkers in a number of philosophical fields, especially in metaphysics. Aristotle was born in Stagira in northern Greece, and his father was a court physician to the king of Macedon. As a young man he studied in Plato's Academy in Athens. After Plato's death he left Athens but later returned to form his own school the lyceum. It might be worthwhile to mention that Aristotle never used the word metaphysics. It was used by Andronicus of Rhode while he was editing some of Aristotle works. He gave the title “those that came after physics” thus metaphysics.
Aristotle's Metaphysics
Aristotle’s Metaphysics is divided into fourteen books, which are usually named after the first thirteen letters of the Greek alphabet. The books, in order, are Alpha, Alpha the Lesser, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda, Mu, and Nu.[1] Though all fourteen books treat certain common themes, many of them are independent of all the others. Scholars believe that the Metaphysics is really a compilation of a number of Aristotle’s writings that later editors grouped together. Aristotle himself did not use the term metaphysics. It was first used by Andronicles of Rhodes while he was editing Aristotle work. He called it those that came after physics thus “metaphysics”. (Wikipedia)
Aristotle in his work on metaphysics, described the subject matter of metaphysics as the study of ‘first philosophy’, or ‘the study of being qua being’, or ‘wisdom’, or ‘theology’.[2] According to marc Cohen in his work ‘Aristotle’s metaphysics’, he describes Aristotle’s philosophy as
Aristotle's description ‘the study of being qua being’ is frequently and easily misunderstood, for it seems to suggest that there is a single (albeit special) subject matter — being qua being — that is under investigation. But Aristotle's description does not involve two things — (1) a study and (2) a subject matter (being qua being) — for he did not think that there is any such subject matter as ‘being qua being’. Rather, his description involves three things: (1) a study, (2) a subject matter (being), and (3) a manner in which the subject matter is studied (qua being).[3]
From this statement, one can deduce that metaphysic studies’ being as being that is being in its entirety. An option which some scholars have raised is that Natural science also studies being. It is true that natural science also studies being but not as being qua being but as being insofar as it is subject to change. That is, while other sciences investigate limited aspects of being, metaphysics investigates being itself. The study of being qua being amounts to the search into first principles and causes these lead Aristotle to discover the unmoved mover. And so, sometimes, he also call metaphysics the study of theology.
Aristotle’s Categories
To understand Aristotle’s metaphysics especially his doctrine on substance and essence, there is need to understand his logic. Aristotle’s logic is termed categories. Categories are ways in which we think about things and how they relate to each other. There are according to Aristotle ten categories namely; substance, quantity, quality, relation, place, time, passion, state, action and position. These are ways of describing the relationship between things. Of the ten categories, only substance exists on its own and not in another. While the other existence or inhere in the substance. This doctrine he clearly defined in his doctrine of substance and accidents.
Substance
The Categories leads us to the study of substance which Aristotle wrote extensively on in his work. In Z.1, Aristotle tells us that the question “What is being?” amounts to this question:
“What is substance (ousia)?”[4] Substance is anything which existence in itself and not in another. In the words of Aristotle, a substance is “that of which everything else is predicated, while it is itself not predicated of anything else”[5] Accident on the other hand, does not exist on its own but inhere in another which is the substance. Both substance and accidents are subject to change. When an accident changes, like a thing changing colour, it is called accidental change and when it is the substance itself that undergoes a changes, it is called substantial change. Richard McKeon puts it rightly in one of his works, ‘in The Basic Works of Aristotle’ saying;
According to Aristotle, the being of any individual thing is primarily defined by what it is, i.e. by its substance…Substance constitutes the reality of individual things. The substance of each individual thing is the particular nature of that thing. The substance of each individual thing is that which does not belong to other individual things, while the universal (principle or element) of an individual thing is that which belongs to many individual things.
Aristotle differentiates between three kinds of substances, according to whether or not change can occur in their actual or potential being. The first two kinds of substances are physical (or material), and are ‘movable’ or ‘changeable.’ These physical substances are capable of changing, or of being changed. They may be either: 1) perishable, or 2) imperishable (i.e. eternal). The third kind of substance is non-physical, non-material, eternal, ‘immovable,’ and 'unchangeable.' Non-material substances may include: 1) mathematical objects (such as numbers), and 2) Ideas.[6]
The doctrine of substance and accident necessarily leads to that of matter and form. Every material being is made up of matter and form. The form is the essential part of a thing, what makes a thing what it is. While matter is that which limits the form. Being indeterminate, it can assume the form of anything and becomes the form of what it receives. For example when matter receives the form of a pencil, it become a pencil. When it receives the form of an iron, it becomes an iron. Thus, matter is completely indeterminate it cannot exist without the form and forms cannot exist without it. Aristotle went further to identify another principle in beings which further follows from the fact that beings are composed of matter and form.
[1] Cohen, S. Marc, "Aristotle's Metaphysics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2009 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2009/entries/aristotle-metaphysics.
[2] Marc C. S., "Aristotle's Metaphysics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2009 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2009/entries/aristotle-metaphysics/>.
[3] Ibid
[4] ibid
[5] Ibid
[6] Aristotle. "Metaphysica," translated by W.D. Ross, in The Basic Works of Aristotle. Edited by Richard McKeon. New York: Random House, 1941. Retrieved June 5, 2011 from http://www.angelfire.com/md2/timewarp/firstphilosophy.html
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