Aristotle on Homonymy

230 Pages·2010·0.79 MB·English

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AristotleonHomonymy:DialecticandScience
In this book, Julie K. Ward examines Aristotle’s thought regarding
howlanguageinformsourviewsofwhatisreal.FirstsheplacesAris-
totle’stheoryinitshistoricalandphilosophicalcontextsinrelation
to Plato and Speusippus. Ward then explores Aristotle’s theory of
language as it is employed in several works, including Ethics, Topics,
Physics, and Metaphysics, so as to consider its relation to dialectical
practiceandscientificexplanationasAristotleconceivedit.
JulieK.WardisassociateprofessorofphilosophyatLoyolaUniversity,
Chicago.TheeditorofFeminismandAncientPhilosophyandco-editorof
PhilosophersonRace:CriticalEssays,shehasalsocontributedtoAncient
Philosophy,Polis,andHypatia.
i
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Aristotle on Homonymy
Dialectic and Science
JULIE K. WARD
LoyolaUniversity,Chicago
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LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Ward,JulieK.
Aristotleonhomonymy:dialecticandscience/JulieK.Ward.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindexes.
isbn978-0-521-87486-1(hardback)
1.Aristotle–Language. 2.Homonyms. I.Title.
b491.l3w37 2007
(cid:2)
121.68092–dc22 2006103393
isbn 978-0-521-87486-1hardback
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Contents
Acknowledgments page vii
Abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
1 TheTheoryofHomonymyinCategories1andItsPrecursors 9
1.0 Overview 9
1.1 HomonymyinCategories1 12
1.2 TheSpeusippeanAccountofHomonymy 18
1.3 ThePlatonicAntecedentsofAristotelianHomonymy 26
1.4 PlatonicEponymyandParticipation 27
1.5 PlatonicParticipation,Eponymy,andHomonymy 31
1.6 AristotleandPlatoonHomonymy 36
1.7 PlatonicInfluenceonAristotelianHomonymy 40
2 HomonymyintheTopics 43
2.0 TheAimsofDialectic 43
2.1 TheNatureofDialecticinTopics 48
2.2 HomonymyandTestingforNon-Synonymy 56
2.3 HomonymyandArgumentinTopicsAlpha15 64
2.4 ThePhilosophicalUsesofHomonymyinTopics 70
2.5 Conclusions 75
3 SystematicHomonymy 77
3.0 OverviewofCore-RelatedHomonymy 77
3.1 Aristotle’sCausalAccountofRelatedHomonymy 79
3.2 TheCausalAnalysesoftheHealthyandtheMedical 86
3.3 Core-DependentHomo¯nyma:TheHealthy 87
3.4 Core-DependentHomo¯nyma:TheMedical 91
3.5 TheSignificanceofCore-DependentHomo¯nyma 94
3.6 TheResultsofCausalAnalyses 98
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vi Contents
4 TheHomonymyofBeing 103
4.0 Introduction 103
4.1 TheHomonymyof Being:PreliminaryProblems 104
4.2 TheCategorialArgumentforHomonymyof Being 111
4.3 TheCategorialAccount:MetaphysicsZeta1andGamma2 112
4.4 AssessingtheNon-Univocityof Being 121
4.5 TheCausalAnalysisofCore-Dependence 128
4.6 TheSignificanceoftheHomonymyof Being 134
5 Physis,Philia,andHomonymy 137
5.0 Introduction 137
5.1 Physisin PhysisandMetaphysics 138
5.2 TheCore-Dependenceof Physis 143
5.3 TheCaseof Physis: PriorityinLogosandCausalRelation 144
5.4 ConclusionsaboutPhysis 146
5.5 PhiliaandHomonymy 149
5.6 PhiliaandCore-DependenceinEudemianEthicsEta2 151
5.7 PriorityinLogos:TheGood 156
5.8 PhiliaandCore-Dependence 160
6 HomonymyandScience 168
6.0 Introduction:DemonstrationandScience 168
6.1 HomonymyandtheScienceofBeingquaBeing 171
6.2 Homonymy:DefinitionandScientificInquiry 177
6.3 ProceduresofFramingDefinitions:PosteriorAnalytics
Beta13–14 187
6.4 Conclusion:TheResultsofHomonymyforScience 196
Afterword 201
Bibliography 207
IndexofPassages 215
GeneralIndex 219
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Acknowledgments
ThepresentbookhaditsorigininmanypuzzlesIencounteredaboutpros
henpredication.Theinitialstimulustopursuethesubjectareaarosefrom
anobservationbyAlanCodemanyyearsagototheeffectthatAristotledoes
not make precisely the same statements about pros hen and substance in
MetaphysicsZetaasinGamma.Atthetime,thefullcomplexityofAristotle’s
viewsonproshenandsystematichomonymyingeneralwereunknowntome,
andIbegantoinvestigatethetopic.Sometimelater,whileIwasworkingon
Aristotle’suseofproshen,SusanLevinsuggestedthatweconsiderwhether
thereweresimilaritiesbetweenproshenrelatednessandPlatoniceponymy.
Althoughinitiallythedifferencesbetweenthetwotheoriesseemedconsid-
erable, eventually certain points of similarity became more evident to me.
IwouldliketothankSusanformakingtheinitialsuggestionaswellasfor
giving me an opportunity to share her thoughts and work on the related
topic.
Someofmyearlyresearchonproshenwaspublishedinarticlesin1995
and1996,andIthanktheeditorsofAncientPhilosophyandApeironforper-
missiontousesomeofmyworkfromthesearticles.Otherrelatedresearch,
specificallyaboutthesystematicnatureofAristotle’sconceptofphysis,was
morerecentlypublishedinPolis(2005),andIwishtothanktheeditorfor
permissiontousepartofthismaterialaswell.
AnacademicleavefromLoyolaUniversityin2001–2enabledmetounify
theearlyresearchIhaddoneonproshenwiththemorerecentscholarlywork
onhomonymyincludingChristopherShields’1999bookonthetopic.Most
recently, Loyola University granted me funding for graduate assistance in
thefinalstagesofmanuscriptpreparation.Iwouldliketothanksomegradu-
atestudentswhoassistedinreadyingthemanuscript,specifically,Marjolein
Oele,JeanTan,andKirkShellko,aswellassomepastmembersofgraduate
seminarsconcernedwithproshen,especiallyColinAnderson,LauraHenge-
hold, Ryan Madison, Marjolein Oele, and Steve Werlin. The manuscript
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viii Acknowledgments
benefited from the critical comments provided by anonymous readers for
CambridgeUniversityPressandthesteadyguidancethroughoutbyeditor
BeatriceRehl.
Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to Ezio Vailati for his
advice and Elizabeth Ward for her support; both, perhaps, have learned
moreabouthomonymyandsynonymythantheycaredtoknow.
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List of Abbreviations
WorksofAristotle
An.Po. PosteriorAnalytics
An.Pr. PriorAnalytics
Cat. Categories
DA DeAnima
DeInt. DeInterpretatione
DePart.An. PartsofAnimals
EE EudemianEthics
EN NicomacheanEthics
GA GenerationofAnimals
Gen.Corr. DeGenerationeetCorruptione
HA HistoryofAnimals
Meta. Metaphysics
Meteor. Meteorologica
PA PartsofAnimals
Phys. Physics
PN ParvaNaturalia
Poet. Poetics
Rhet. Rhetoric
Soph.El. SophisticiElenchi
Top. Topics
WorksofPlato
Par. Parmenides
Phd. Phaedo
Rep. Republic
Soph. Sophist
Sym. Symposium
Tim. Timaeus
ix
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x Abbreviations
WorksbyOtherAuthors
DeNom.An. Cajetan,DeNomineAnalogia
InAr.Cat. Simplicius,CommentaryonAristotle,Categories
InAris.Meta. AlexanderofAphrodisias,CommentaryonAristotle,Meta-
physics
InAris.Top. AlexanderofAphrodisias,CommentaryonAristotle,Topics
Sum.Theol. Aquinas,SummaTheologica
Sentent. Aquinas,SententiarumLibriQuattuor
S.T. Cajetan, CommentaryonAquiras,SummaTheologica