METAPHYSIC(V) TERMS

One of the major works of Aristotle and in the history of philosophy is "Metaphysics". This is a compilation and contains 14 books. Each of them might be read independently from each other and discussed separately. I find all of them interesting, but in the fifth book (V) Aristotle introduces main terms that describe the substance of knowledge. All of them with definitions are collected here.

Introduction

Terms to be discussed:

• Beginning
• Cause
• Element
• Nature
• Necessary
• One
• Being
• To be & Is
• Substance
• The same
• Opposite
• Contrary
• Prior & Posterior
• Potency
• Impotence
• Quantity
• Quality
• Relative
• Perfect / Complete
• Limit
• That in virture of which
• Disposition
• Having
• Affection
• Privation
• To have
• To be from something
• Part
• Whole
• Multilated
• Genus / Race
• False
• Accident

Definitions

Beginning

- part of a thing from which one may begins; ex: a line or a journey has one beginning here, and another one at the opposite side.

Cause

- the material/substance from which thing exists, comes into being; ex: the wood is the material of a table.

Element

- the indivisible into categories and anything else unit which is the base of a thing; ex: the sound is the element of our speech, but words are not the elements of the text, because the word itself is already the text.

Nature / "Physis"

- the genesis of growing things, that immanent thing from which a growing thing begins to grow.

Necessary

- that without which life is impossible; ex: respiration and food are necessary for animals.

One

- something single in a accidental or in a absolute sence.

Being

- accidental being, absolute being.

To be & Is

- mean that something is TRUE, and in case of NOT to be that something is FALSE.

Substance

- simple bodies that can represent something in groups, but can be divided into groups themselves.

The same

- accidentally the same; ex: "white" and "cultured" are the same because they are accidents of the same subject, and the "man" is the same as "cultured" because one is the accident of the other.

Opposite

- is applied to contradiction, contraries, relative terms, privation, state, extremes; generation != destruction.

Contrary

- attributes, generically different and which can't be applied at the same time to the same thing.

Prior & Posterior

- in one sense something is nearer (absolutely or naturally) to the starting point than the other (might be applied to the TIME). Prior - something that happens before the target process, but posterior - something that happens after the target process.

Potency / "Dynamis"

- the source of motion or change which is in something other than the thing changed. ex: the sunlight for the flower in the morning.

Impotence

- the potency privation, abolition of the potency. ex: midnight light power is not enough for the flower to start opening.

Quantity

- something that is divisible into parts. Group of units. ex: puzzles, the heap of stones.

Quality

- the category difference, differentia of the essence. The man is an animal of a certain quality.

Relative

- something that is relative to others in a countable manner (countable even in terms of space of real numbers). ex: two is relative to four as 0.5.

Perfect or Complete

- outside of which it is impossible to find even a single one of its parts. Doctor or musician is complete == they are absolute professionals and can be more skilled than they already are.

Limit

- part of each thing and the first point outside of which no part of a thing can be found. ex: the maximum possible number of push up you can do.

That in virtue of which

- the form of the essence of each individual thing or immediate substrate in which thing is naturally produced.

Disposition

- arrangement of that which has parts.

Having

- in essence of activity, the action or moving what someone has right now; in an essence of disposition, in virtue of which the thing which is disposed of is disposed well or badly.

Affection

- quality in virtue of which alteration is possible.

Privation

- thing does not possess an attribute that is a natural possession.

To have or possess

- direct in accordance with one's own nature or impulse; receptive material, something is present.

To be from something

- to come from something in respect of either of the primary genius or the ultimate species.

Part

- something which is taken from quantity.

Whole

- something which is not lacking parts of which it is called a natural whole.

Multilated

- something which has no part of itself and it cant be called a natural whole.

Genus / Race

- continuous generation of things of the same type; anything from which things derive their being as the prime mover of them into being.

False

- something that is not or cannot be substantiated.

Accident

- that which applies to something and is truly stated, but neither necessarily nor usually.

Further reading

My definitions was formulated by means of reading the book by myself + definitions from this source -> perseus.tufts.edu