How Does Aristotle’s Categories Criticize the Theory of Forms?

Year 2023, Issue: 58, 111 - 133, 26.06.2023

Zeynep Duran

Abstract

Aristotle’s Categories posits two kinds of ontological predications and two corresponding distinctions of being. Aristotle distinguishes substances from nonsubstances by accidental predication (being in a subject), particulars from their universals by essential predication (being said-of a subject). These distinctions provide two fundamental principles regarding Aristotle’s ontology: (1) Being is said in many ways, and (2) being is always being something. In this respect, Categories has the claim of explaining both the essences and accidents of things and thereby solving the related problems of predication. Accordingly, although no direct reference can be found in the text itself, scholarly opinion has concluded Categories to offer two fundamental critiques of Platonic Forms: (1) The theory of Forms fails to explain the accidental features of things by assuming one kind of being, and (2) the theory of Forms fails to explain the essential natures of things because of its relational account of predication. This paper argues that the critical relationship between Categories and the Platonic Forms can be explicitly read in a passage in Book A of Aristotle’s Metaphysics (990b22-991a3). When considered in light of Alexander of Aphrodisias’ commentary on it in particular, one notices that the counterarguments directed against the theory of Forms in the passage assume the doctrine of categories and make precisely two criticisms as ascribed in the literature. Furthermore, one can infer from the passage some ontological difficulties that the Platonic Forms has to face while Categories avoids. This article aims to contribute to the scholarly idea of reading Categories against Plato’s theory of Forms by providing this passage as textual evidence. To this end, I will first explain Aristotle’s theory of predication as introduced in this treatise and then analyze the aforementioned passage.

Keywords

Categories, theory of Forms, Alexander of Aphrodisias, predication, substratum

Aristoteles’in Kategoriler’i Formlar Teorisini Nasıl Eleştirir

Abstract

Kategoriler’de, iki tür ontolojik yüklemleme ilişkisi ve karşılık gelen iki temel varlık ayrımı karşımıza çıkar. Aristoteles, bir taşıyıcı içinde olma ifadesiyle tözleri ilineklerden, bir taşıyıcı için söylenir olma ifadesiyle de tümelleri, özleri bakımından aynı olan tikellerinden ayırır. Anılan ayrımlar bize Aristoteles’in varlık görüşündeki iki temel prensibi verirler: Var olan çok anlamlıdır ve her zaman belirli bir şeydir. Bu bakımdan Kategoriler, şeylerin hem özlerini hem de ilineklerini açıklama ve böylece ilgili yüklemleme problemlerini çözme iddiasına sahiptir. Bu doğrultuda, metnin kendisinde doğrudan bir atıf bulunmasa da literatürde Kategoriler’in Platoncu formlara yönelik iki temel eleştiri getirdiği sonucuna varılır: (1) Formlar teorisi var olanları tek anlamlı varsayarak şeylerin ilineksel özelliklerini açıklamakta başarısız olur; (2) formlar teorisi ilişkisel bir yüklemleme modeli kabul ettiğinden şeylerin özlerini açıklamakta başarısız olur. Bu yazı, Kategoriler ve Platoncu formlar arasındaki bu eleştirel ilişkinin Metafizik’in A kitabında yer alan bir pasajda (990b22-991a3) açıkça görülebileceği iddiasını taşır. Bilhassa Afrodisyaslı Aleksandros’un şerhi ışığında ele alındığında, pasajda formlar teorisine yöneltilen karşıt argümanların kategoriler kuramını varsaydığı ve argümanlar ile tam da literatürde konu edilen iki eleştirinin yapıldığı görülür. Bunun devamı olarak pasajdan, Kategoriler’in kaçındığı fakat formlar teorisinin yüzleşmek zorunda olduğu bazı ontolojik zorlukları çıkarsamak da mümkündür. Bu yazı ile, anılan pasaj bir kanıt olarak sunulmakta ve böylece Kategoriler’de formlar teorisinin örtük bir eleştirisi bulunduğu yönündeki literatür okumalarına katkıda bulunulması amaçlanmaktadır. Bunun için önce Aristoteles’in bu metinde ortaya koyduğu yüklemleme kuramı açıklanmakta ve ardından anılan pasaj analiz edilmektedir.

Keywords

Kategoriler, formlar teorisi, Afrodisyaslı Aleksandros, yüklemleme, taşıyıcı

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