Doing and Being: An Interpretation of Aristotle's Metaphysics Theta

Contents......Page 8
Acknowledgements......Page 13
I. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF METAPHYSICS THETA......Page 16
1.1 Introduction......Page 18
1.2 The Battle of the Gods and Giants......Page 21
1.3 Aristotelian Détente......Page 26
2.1 The Project......Page 34
2.2 The Indirect Strategy......Page 38
2.3 What’s to Come......Page 40
II. POWERS FOR ACTION AND PASSION......Page 46
3.1 ‘Power’ is Said in Many Ways......Page 48
3.2 Correlative Powers......Page 68
3.3 The Theory of Powers: Overview......Page 75
3.4 Objections......Page 76
4. Rational Powers (Theta 2)......Page 84
4.1 Setting the Stage......Page 85
4.2 One of One: Non-rational Powers......Page 88
4.3 One of Two: Rational Powers......Page 93
5. Powers and Possibilities: The Megarics (Theta 3)......Page 106
5.1 The Megaric View......Page 108
5.2 Aristotle Against the Megarics......Page 114
6.1 The Criterion of Possibility......Page 134
6.2 ‘Will Not’ and ‘Cannot’ (Theta 4)......Page 139
6.3 ‘Will Not’ and ‘Cannot’ in Plato’s Timaeus......Page 148
6.4 Four Varieties of Being Able......Page 150
7. The Exercise of Powers (Theta 5)......Page 154
7.1 Something Else in Control......Page 155
7.2 Desire......Page 158
7.3 Interlude: Non-rational Powers of Animate Creatures......Page 161
7.4 Necessity and Interference......Page 162
7.5 Looking Forward......Page 165
III. BEING-IN-ENERGEIA AND BEING-IN-CAPACITY......Page 168
8. Actuality, Activity, Ambiguity: Preliminary Considerations on Energeia......Page 170
8.1 Energeia as Activity and Actuality: The Traditional View......Page 171
8.2 The Traditional View Rejected......Page 173
8.3 A New Approach......Page 175
8.4 Orientation......Page 176
9.1 Introductory Lines......Page 184
9.2 Two Ways of Being......Page 186
9.3 Analogy: The Semantics of Energeia......Page 193
9.4 The Analogous Cases of Energeia......Page 204
9.5 Indirect Analogy......Page 221
9.6 The Infinite, the Void, and Such......Page 223
9.7 Remark: Substance and Energeia......Page 225
9.8 Energeia Contrasted with Actuality......Page 226
9.9 Energeia and Entelekheia......Page 233
10.1 The Passage in Itself......Page 236
10.2 The Manuscript Evidence......Page 241
10.3 The Passage in its Context......Page 242
10.4 The Passage and Other Passages......Page 244
11.1 The Aim of Theta 7......Page 246
11.2 An Example......Page 252
11.3 The Two Criteria and Two Questions......Page 257
11.4 Conclusion......Page 274
IV. THE PRIORITY AND SUPERIORITY OF ENERGEIA......Page 276
12.1 Introduction......Page 278
12.2 Motivating Substantivalism......Page 280
12.3 Rejecting Substantivalism......Page 283
12.4 Hierarchy and Ultimate Matter......Page 289
12.5 Ultimate Matter as Substance......Page 293
12.6 Conclusion......Page 298
13. The Priority of Energeia (Theta 8)......Page 300
13.1 Account and Knowledge......Page 301
13.2 Time and Genesis......Page 304
13.3 Being (and Form)......Page 308
14.1 The Significance of Theta 9......Page 340
14.2 Is Every Energeia Better Than its Capacity?......Page 345
14.3 The Definition of Badness......Page 347
14.4 Excellent Capacity......Page 348
14.5 Bad Things......Page 352
14.6 The Bad Itself......Page 359
14.7 Only Perfect Principles......Page 360
14.8 Speculations on Goodness......Page 362
14.9 Wisdom as a Science of Goodness......Page 364
Bibliography......Page 368
Index of Locorum......Page 372
R......Page 378
Z......Page 379
G......Page 380
P......Page 381
V......Page 382