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The Keyterms

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The Meaning of Aristotle’s ‘Ontology’

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Abstract

The last sentence of the first chapter2 as well as the last sentence of the first paragraph of the second chapter 3 show in unequivocal language that Aristotle spoke here as a philosopher to philosophers, and that he spoke in a ‘philosophical attitude’ about a ‘philosophical subject-matter’. He therefore did not speak in what, following modern parlance, we shall call a ‘natural attitude’ 4 about a ’natural subject-matter’. Aristotle was very careful to set the life and activities of the philosopher 5 apart from the life and activities of other men 6, although he emphasized that every man could become a lover of wisdom - a philo-sophos 7. Yet, while ‘all men strive to see and know’8, such striving does not by itself bring about the actuality (ενέργεια) of the ‘theoretical life’ 9. The actuality of the theoretical life is clearly differentiated both from that of the life of mere empeiria 10 and from that of techne and episteme11. The man of techne and episteme is already a great deal advanced over the man of mere empeiria. He already ‘sees the differences’ (διαφοράς) by virtue of logos (λόγος) and (εϊδος); he directs his attention to ‘universals’ (καθόλου) rather than to singulars 12, and knows the ‘causes’ (αίτιαι). However, the actuality of his life is still fundamentally different from that of the man who ‘loves wisdom’ (φιλό-σοφος)13.

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References

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Authors
  1. Werner Marx
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© 1954 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Holland

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Marx, W. (1954). The Keyterms. In: The Meaning of Aristotle’s ‘Ontology’. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-9504-1_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-9504-1_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-011-8690-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-9504-1

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