Aristotle

Aristotle uses logic to observe the art of poetry and give it credibility in society as an art form. Using many poetic references from his own day he masterfully defends the use of poetic voice and also gives the thinking behind it and what kind of creative genius it is. He next argues and defends the use of categories in human thinking. He shows that putting labels on the wonders around us help us to sort them out and remember them for what they really are and mean to us as a society.

The Categories is a text from Aristotle's Organon that enumerates all the possible kinds of things that can be the subject or the predicate of a proposition. They are "perhaps the single most heavily discussed of all Aristotelian notions". The work is brief enough to be divided, not into books as is usual with Aristotle's works, but into fifteen chapters. The Categories places every object of human apprehension under one of ten categories (known to medieval writers as the Latin term praedicamenta). Aristotle intended them to enumerate everything that can be expressed without composition or structure, thus anything that can be either the subject or the predicate of a proposition.

Metaphysics - Aristotle - Translated by W. D. Ross

The Categories is a text from Aristotle's Organon that enumerates all the possible kinds of things that can be the subject or the predicate of a proposition. They are "perhaps the single most heavily discussed of all Aristotelian notions". The work is brief enough to be divided, not into books as is usual with Aristotle's works, but into fifteen chapters. The Categories places every object of human apprehension under one of ten categories (known to medieval writers as the Latin term praedicamenta). Aristotle intended them to enumerate everything that can be expressed without composition or structure, thus anything that can be either the subject or the predicate of a proposition.

This new translation of Aristotle's Metaphysics in its entirety is a model of accuracy and consistency, presented with a wealth of annotation and commentary. Sequentially numbered endnotes provide the information most needed at each juncture, while a detailed Index of Terms guides the reader to places where focused discussion of key notions occurs.

The Categories is a text from Aristotle's Organon that enumerates all the possible kinds of things that can be the subject or the predicate of a proposition. They are "perhaps the single most heavily discussed of all Aristotelian notions." The work is brief enough to be divided, not into books as is usual with Aristotle's works, but into fifteen chapters. The Categories places every object of human apprehension under one of ten categories (known to medieval writers as the Latin term praedicamenta). Aristotle intended them to enumerate everything that can be expressed without composition or structure, thus anything that can be either the subject or the predicate of a proposition. The antepraedicamenta edit] The text begins with an explication of what is meant by "synonymous," or univocal words, what is meant by "homonymous," or equivocal words, and what is meant by "paronymous," or denominative (sometimes translated "derivative") words. It then divides forms of speech as being: Either simple, without composition or structure, such as "man," "horse," "fights," etc. Or having composition and structure, such as "a man fights," "the horse runs," etc. Only composite forms of speech can be true or false. Then, Aristotle discusses semantical relations to develop four types of a subject using the foundational relationship between being said "of" a subject and being present "in" present "in" does not define present as pieces to a whole, but rather existence contingent upon a subject] a subject. The four characterizations of a subject are understood whether a subject is said "of" (Universals), is not said "of" (Particulars), is present "in" (Accidental), is not present "in" (non-accidental). 3] In combination, a non-accidental, universals subject is referred to as Essential; where as a non-accidental, particulars subject is simply non-accidental. 4] The four characterizations create four classification permutations: 1. Accidental Universals - said "of" and present "in" - for example, while knowledge is present "in" the human mind, one can have the knowledge (said "of") of grammar. 2. Essential Universals - said "of" and not present "in" - refers to a general subject, but cannot be present "in" a unit of the subject; like man, horse, animal. 3. Accidental Particulars - not said "of" and present "in" - for example, a certain point of grammatical knowledge is present "in" a subject, but it cannot designate a subject. 4. Non-Accidental Particulars - not said "of" and not present "in" (defines Primary Substances - covered under Substances) - Aristotle views that which is individual and has the character of a unit is neither said "of" or present "in" of a subject.

Aristotle's Poetics is the earliest surviving work of dramatic theory and the first extant philosophical treatise to focus on literary theory. In it, Aristotle offers an account of what he calls "poetry" (a term which in Greek literally means "making" and in this context includes drama-comedy, tragedy, and the satyr play-as well as lyric poetry and epic poetry). Aristotle's Poetics (335 BC) is the earliest surviving work of dramatic theory and first extant philosophical treatise to focus on literary theory in the West. This has been the traditional view for centuries. However, recent work is now challenging whether Aristotle focuses on literary theory per se (given that not one poem exists in the treatise) or whether he focuses instead on dramatic musical theory that only has language as one of the elements. 4] In it, Aristotle offers an account of what he calls "poetry" (a term which in Greek literally means "making" and in this context includes drama - comedy, tragedy, and the satyr play - as well as lyric poetry and epic poetry). They are similar in the fact that they are all imitations but different in the three ways that Aristotle describes: Differences in music rhythm, harmony, metre and melody. Difference of goodness in the characters. Difference in how the narrative is presented: telling a story or acting it out. In examining its "first principles", Aristotle finds two: 1) imitation and 2) genres and other concepts by which that of truth is applied/revealed in the poesis. His analysis of tragedy constitutes the core of the discussion. 5] Although Aristotle's Poetics is universally acknowledged in the Western critical tradition, "almost every detail about his seminal work has aroused divergent opinions". 6] The work was lost to the Western world for a long time. It was available in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance only through a Latin translation of an Arabic version written by Averroes. Aristotle's work on aesthetics consists of the Poetics, Politics (Bk VIII) and Rhetoric. The Poetics is specifically concerned with drama. At some point, Aristotle's original work was divided in two, each "book" written on a separate roll of papyrus. Only the first part - that which focuses on tragedy and epic (as a quasi-dramatic art, given its definition in Ch 23) - survives. The lost second part addressed comedy. Some scholars speculate that the Tractatus coislinianus summarises the contents of the lost second book. The Arabic version of Aristotle's Poetics that influenced the Middle Ages was translated from a Greek manuscript dated to some time prior to the year 700. This manuscript, translated from Greek to Syriac, is independent of the currently-accepted 11th-century source designated Paris 1741. The Syriac-language source used for the Arabic translations departed widely in vocabulary from the original Poetics and it initiated a misinterpretation of Aristotelian thought that continued through the Middle Ages. Paris 1741 appears online at the Biblioth que nationale de France (National Library of France). Arabic scholars who published significant commentaries on Aristotle's Poetics included Avicenna, Al-Farabi and Averroes. 25] Many of these interpretations sought to use Aristotelian theory to impose morality on the Arabic poetic tradition. 26] In particular, Averroes added a moral dimension to the Poetics by interpreting tragedy as the art of praise and comedy as the art of blame. 27] Averroes' interpretation of the Poetics was accepted by the West, where it reflected the "prevailing notions of poetry" into the 16th century.