Contemporary Aristotelian Metaphysics

Cover......Page 1
CONTEMPORARY ARISTOTELIAN METAPHYSICS......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
For Jonathan......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Contributors......Page 11
Preface......Page 13
Introduction......Page 15
CHAPTER 1 What is metaphysics?......Page 22
1.1 FOUNDATIONAL A IMS OF METAPHYSICS......Page 23
1.2 SUBJECT-MATTER......Page 27
1.3 GENERALITY......Page 30
1.4 EIDICITY......Page 33
1.5 TRANSPARENCY AND APRIORICITY......Page 36
1.6 THE POSSIBILITY OF METAPHYSICS......Page 38
2.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 40
2.2 SHOES AND SHIPS, AND SEALING WAX......Page 41
2.3 NATURALIZING ARISTOTELIAN METAPHYSICS......Page 46
2.4 THE METHODOLOGY OF ARISTOTELIAN METAPHYSICS......Page 51
3.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 58
3.2 THE PROBLEM......Page 61
3.3 TWO IRRELEVANT IDEAS......Page 62
3.4 QUANTIFICATION IN NATURAL LANGUAGE......Page 68
3.5 DOMAINS OF QUANTIFICATION AND UNIVERSES OF DISCOURSE......Page 71
3.6 EXISTENTIAL SENTENCES: ‘THERE’......Page 75
3.7 CONCLUSION: LOGIC AND ONTOLOGY......Page 77
4.1 THE QUANTIFICATION AND IDENTITY PRINCIPLES......Page 80
4.2 THE UNCOUNTABILITY THESIS......Page 81
4.3 PORTIONS OF STUFF......Page 85
4.4 ARGUMENTS FOR THE UNCOUNTABILITY OF PORTIONS......Page 88
4.5 THE COUNTABILITY OF PORTIONS......Page 91
4.6 NUMERICAL AND QUASINUMERICAL DESCRIPTIONS......Page 94
4.7 THE NUMBER OF THINGS......Page 95
5.1 METAPHYSICS AND CATEGORIES......Page 97
5.2 ONTOLOGICAL TAXONOMIES......Page 98
5.3 CONDITIONSON A PREDICATE’S PROPERLY\nEXPRESSING AN ONTOLOGICAL CATEGORY......Page 100
6.2 KINDS IN LOWE’S FOUR-CATEGORY ONTOLOGY......Page 108
6.3 DO LAWS REQUIRE KINDS?......Page 110
6.4 KINDS AS COMBINATIONS OF PROPERTIES......Page 113
6.5 THE INFERENCE PROBLEM......Page 115
6.6 CONCLUSION......Page 117
CHAPTER 7 Are four categories two too many?......Page 119
7.1 UNIVERSALS AS AN ACQUIRED TASTE......Page 121
7.2 WHAT ARE UNIVERSALS?......Page 123
7.3 WHAT UNIVERSALS ARE SAID TO BE......Page 124
7.4 UNIVERSALS AS EXPLANATORY......Page 128
7.5 DISPOSITIONALITY......Page 129
7.6 KINDS REAL AND NOMINAL......Page 132
7.7 THREE LITTLE PUZZLES......Page 134
7.8 ONE MORE SHOT AT UNIVERSALS......Page 135
8.1 FOUR CATEGORIES......Page 140
8.2 DISPUTES OVER CATEGORIES......Page 141
8.3 TWO KINDS OF CATEGORIES......Page 142
8.4 FACTORS: GROUNDS OF CATEGORIAL DISTINCTIONS......Page 143
8.5 SOME FACTORED ONTOLOGIES......Page 144
8.6 CATEGORIAL FLEXIBILITY......Page 146
8.7 THE NEED FOR MORE THAN FOUR CATEGORIES......Page 147
8.8 BASIC RELATIONS......Page 151
8.9 A VISION OF METAPHYSICS......Page 153
9.1 ARISTOTLE ON SUBSTANCE AND ONTOLOGICAL\nCATEGORIES......Page 154
9.2 ARISTOTLE’S ANALYSES OF SUBSTANCE......Page 156
9.3 ARISTOTELIAN AND NEO-ARISTOTELIAN\nTHEORIES OF SUBSTANCE......Page 158
9.4 CHISHOLM’S NEO-ARISTOTELIAN THEORY OF SUBSTANCE......Page 161
9.5 LOWE’S NEO-ARISTOTELIAN THEORY OF SUBSTANCE......Page 164
9.6 THE HOFFMAN/ROSENKRANTZ NEO-ARISTOTELIAN THEORY OF SUBSTANCE......Page 167
9.7 CONCLUSION......Page 169
CHAPTER 10 Developmental potential......Page 170
10.1 THE CONCEPT OF POTENTIAL......Page 172
10.2 DISPOSITIONAL CHARACTERIZATION......Page 174
10.3 PROBABILISTIC MODELLING OF MANIFESTATION......Page 177
10.5 DEFENCE AGAINST ATTACK......Page 181
10.6 IS DEVELOPMENTAL POTENTIAL IRREDUCIBLY PROBABILISTIC?......Page 184
11.1 LIFE’S ORIGIN, AND THE DIVISION BETWEEN LIFE AND NON-LIFE......Page 188
11.2 THE PERSISTENCE OF PATTERN IN SINGLE-CELLED ORGANISMS......Page 192
11.3 THE 4D PATTERN HYPOTHESIS......Page 194
11.4 CONCLUSION: GENETIC INFORMATION AND THE ROLE OF DNA......Page 198
12.1 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS......Page 201
12.2 FINE’S NON-MODAL CONCEPTION OF ESSENCE......Page 203
12.3 THE CAUSAL ROLE OF ESSENCES IN ARISTOTLE’S PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE......Page 209
12.3.1 Deduction, demonstration, and definition......Page 210
12.3.2 Aristotle’s explanatory method in biology......Page 215
12.3.2.1 Case-study: the multiple stomachs of camels......Page 216
12.3.2.2 Telos, matter, and habitat......Page 218
12.4 CONCLUSION......Page 220
13.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 221
13.2 THE REGRESS/CIRCULARITY OBJECTION......Page 222
13.3 GRAPH THEORY AND DIPERT’S DISCONTENTS......Page 224
13.4 ASYMMETRIC GRAPHS TO THE RESCUE?......Page 234
13.5 CONCLUSION......Page 241
14.1 CONSTITUENT VERSUS RELATIONAL ONTOLOGIES......Page 243
14.2 TROUBLES WITH TRANSCENDENTISM AND HYLEMORPHISM......Page 248
14.3 THE FOUR-CATEGORY ONTOLOGY......Page 252
14.4 THE FOUR-CATEGORY ONTOLOGY IS NOT A RELATIONAL ONTOLOGY......Page 254
14.5 THE FOUR-CATEGORY ONTOLOGY IS NOT A CONSTITUENT ONTOLOGY......Page 258
References......Page 263
Index......Page 273