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Audiobook edition · 1 h 37 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does a single word tell you about the things that exist?
In The Categories, Aristotle starts with words and asks how they point to things. A shared name does not always mean a shared meaning. From this small distinction, he builds a way to sort what we say about the world, placing individual things—a person or a horse—at the heart of his account.
This short treatise sorts what single words signify into ten basic headings. Aristotle examines substance, quantity, relation and quality, then turns to opposites and priority. The stakes are clear thinking: how do you distinguish a thing from its qualities, or what is said about it from what is in it? Expect close distinctions rather than a story or an argument about ethics.
What you’ll discover
- Names and their meanings See why things that share a name need not share the same meaning.
- The individual comes first Explore why Aristotle places this person or this horse before qualities and relations.
- Ten ways to classify Follow a compact framework for sorting what a single word can signify.
- Sharper distinctions between things Examine quantity, relation and quality through the different traits Aristotle assigns to each.
- Opposites and priority Move beyond the ten headings to explore four kinds of opposition and questions of priority.
Who will love it
For readers who love exploring the beginnings of Western logic and philosophy of language, and for students meeting Aristotle for the first time.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Words can share names but not meanings
- Some things are said of, some are in
- Individual things are the first substances
- Everything we say fits one of ten headings
- Quantity, relation and quality each have their own traits
- Opposites, priority and the book's long reach
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Categorías
by Aristóteles
Aristotle uses a single horse or person to explore what exists and how words relate to things.
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In short
The Categories is a short treatise by Aristotle, the Greek philosopher who taught in Athens in the fourth century BC. It is the first work in the collection of his logical writings that later scholars called the Organon, which means the tool.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Words can share names but not meanings
Aristotle opens with a point about language. Things can share a name in three ways, and he gives each a label. Things are homonymous when they have the same name but the definition of what it is to be them differs. A real man and a drawing of a man are both called an animal, but what makes each one so is quite different.
Things are synonymous when they share both the name and the definition. A man and an ox are both animals, and the account of what an animal is applies to each in the same way. Here the shared word really does mark a shared nature. This is the sense that matters most for classification, since a group is built from things that fit one definition.
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What is Aristotle's Categories about?
It is a short treatise on the basic kinds of things that can be said about anything. Aristotle sorts them into ten headings, led by substance, and explains how words, definitions and classes relate to individual things.
What are the ten categories of Aristotle?
They are substance, quantity, quality, relation, place, time, position, state, action and being acted upon. Each names a different way something can be said to be, such as what it is, how big, or where.
What is a primary substance in Aristotle?
A primary substance is an individual thing, such as one particular man or one horse. Aristotle holds that everything else, including species, qualities and sizes, depends on these individuals for its existence.
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