Philosophy Test 1 REVIEW

• Matter

  The primary substance of a thing, which comes to be without qualification and persists in the result.
• The prime matter never exists in separation from a compound of matter and form.
• Form

  Is simply whatever is responsible for matter being 'shaped' into this kind of thing or that
• The form of different things is distinct and makes each thing who they are in a sense. Like a horse and human have forms that are unique from each other.
• We cannot imagine form, because of itself it has no extended shape, we can only imagine formed matter.
• Privation

  an explanatory principle by which accounts for change.

  The absence of a form in a suitable object.

  Ex: Privation ( Non-red) to Form ( red)
• Privations do not exist.
• Act

  The fully present realization or completion of potency
• Potency

  The capacity or aptitude in a being to receive some perfection or perform some action.

  It has potential to become something else.

  Ex: An acorn is potentially a fully grown oak tree.
• Act

  The fully present realization or completion of potency.

  The thing itself is actually becoming something else.

  Ex: The acorn grows into an actually tall tree.
• Substance

  An independently existing thing.

  Ex: an otter, tomato, the moon, cup
• What are the 10 categories of beings?

  1. Substance
  2. Quantity
  3. Quality
  4. Relation
  5. Where
  6. When
  7. Position
  8. Habit
  9. Action
  10. Passion
• We use the term "exists" in two ways: one way when we say it of a substance ( a T-shirt exists) and another when we say it of an accident (the blue of the T-shirt exists).
• Accidents are always connected to or stick to a substance.

  You cannot have a floating accident that is not of or in some substance.

  Each accident belongs to one substance.
• Quantity

  The being which follows upon the matter by which a substance is constituted.

  Two types: discrete and continuous
• Quality

  The beings that follow upon the form of a substance.

  They are features of a substance that cannot be seen as amounts.

  Four kinds of Qualities:

  Dispositions/stable dispositions

  Capacity or incapacity

  Sensible qualities

  Figure, form, shape
• Relation

  A being that inheres in one substance and orders it towards another. Relations are NOT between substances.
• One relation begins in one substance and terminates in another, and often vice versa.

  Examples of relation:

  being a sister, being a brother, being a friend, double, half, tall ( i.e. taller than)
• Where

  Substances are limited by place, and this limitation gives rise to the being of where as a feature of the substance.

  Examples:

  In Houston, on the Moon, in the United States, in my living room
• When

  Substances are limited by time, and this limitation gives rise to the being of when as a feature of the substance.

  Examples:

  In the springtime, in the afternoon, on Tuesday, at 4pm, at night
• Position

  A substance can remain itself but gain or lose a certain arrangement or ordering of its parts with respect to each other.

  These arrangements are beings that are features of the substance.

  Examples:

  Sitting, standing, recovery position, hunched over, in a pirouette
• Position example

  Book going from closed to open, gained the opened arrangement, lost the closed arrangement
• 'When' example

  Things are happening to a substance at a certain time.

  You lost 8am but gained 10:30pm, but you are still the same substance.
• Habit ( to have)

  Human beings operate in such a way that our use of tools comes to count as a new kind of being. An item becomes kind of like a part of us, some kind of temporary unity.

  We say, "I kicked the soccer ball" not "My shoe kicked the soccer ball"

  Examples:

  Wearing shoes, wearing a T-shirt, the horse being saddled
• Action

  Substances are agents in the sense that we act upon other substances. These actions that originate in us can be attributed to us ( they are features of us insofar as we are their source or cause, like verbs).

  Examples:

  Kicking, walking, thinking, running, picking up
• Passion

  Substances can also receive actions, and because these actions are received by the substance, they can be attributed to that substance. Examples:

  Being kicked, being picked up, being stitched up (by a doctor)
• Kicking the ball ( the action), the ball being kicked suffers the action ( being kicked is the passion)
• What were the two major questions the Pre-Socratics were asking?

  1. What is the basic stuff from which everything is made? 

  2. What is responsible for/allows for change? 
• Substratum

  If it is matter that persists, then a substantial change occurred

  Ex: Not ice cube (privation) to ice cube (form), what persisted?


  The matter, water is what persists, in that particular substance
• 6 types of change

  1. Generation
  2. Corruption
  3. Growth
  4. Dimunition
  5. Alteration
  6. Locomotion
• Accidental

  If it is the substance that persisted through the change, then an accidental change occurred.

  Ex: A not-hot cup (privation) to a hot cup (form), what persisted?

  The substratum (substance), which is the cup, persisted through the change.
• A human who is not patient ( privation ) to a human who is now patient ( form), what is the underlying sense and what type of change is this?

  The underlying sense is the substratum, the person, who persisted through the accidental change, which is alteration, since it is a change in quality (patience).
• A person who is not five feet (privation) to a person who is five feet (form), what is the underlying sense and what type of change is this?

  The underlying sense is the substance, the person, who persisted through the change, and this is an accidental change of growth, since the person has grown from a smaller height to now five feet.
• 6 marks of Substance

  1. Not predicable of a subject
  2. Not present in a subject
  3. Has no contrary
  4. Signifies an individual
  5. No single substance admits of varying degrees within itself
  6. Capable of admitting contraries while remaining (numerically) one
• 6 marks of a substance (1) Not predicable of a subject

  We speak in a subject-predicate manner, so the subject is a substance or accident, and the predicate is something else of the object.

  But in some cases, the substance cannot be in the predicate position. Example: Valid: "The T-shirt is red" ( Subject= T-shirt, which is the Substance) (Predicate= red, which is the accident)

  Not Valid: "The T-shirt is a Kaitlyn" ( The Subject is T-shirt, which is a substance, and the predicate is Kaitlyn, which is also a substance, so it is NOT valid)
• 6 marks of a substance (2) Not present in a subject

  Substances are not present in other substances.

  Cannot say, "The tree is in Jessica." There is no "tree" in "Jessica", these are both substances and overall, this doesn't make any sense. You also can't say "Jessica is a feature of tallness", this also wouldn't make sense.

  You can say, "Tallness is a feature of Jessica." since it speaks about a subject (Jessica) and predicate (Tallness).
• 6 marks of a substance (3) Has no contrary

  When it comes to talking about substance, we find that a substance does not exist in this sort of grouping where it has an opposite or contrary.

  Example: The contrary of Westin is not Anton or Mason, it's just not-Westin, since there is no contrary to a human being. The contrary of a ladybug is just not-ladybug.
• 6 marks of a substance (4) Signifies an individual

  Whenever we talk about a substance, we find that our language always indicates an individual. Example: If I say "rabbit" you know that I am talking about just one rabbit, whereas if I say "red" (an accident) you do not know if I am talking about all the instances of red or a single one.
• 6 marks of a substance (5) No single substance admits of varying degrees within itself

  Since substances have no contrary, they cannot have varying levels of themselves. For example, an accident can be more or less present in a subject, I can be more or less warm (accident) in a classroom on a hot afternoon, but I cannot be more or less myself. You can't be half-yourself today and more than half-yourself tomorrow.
• 6 marks of a substance (6) Capable of admitting contraries while remaining (numerically) one

  In one substance, you cannot have multiple accidents having contraries at the same time.

  For example, the heat itself in a substance cannot be hot and cold at the same time. However, a substance may be hot in one area and cold in a different area, at the same time.

  My left hand is cold and my right hand is hot, so I have two qualities of change, but I am still one person.