Week 3 Course Material

Course Slides and Readings

Before the third session, please read:

• The beginning of Book VII of Plato's Republic about "The Cave" up to the phrase, "I agree, he said, as far as I am able to understand you." The text can be found here.

• Aristotle's Categories, especially Parts 4-9, 14. The text can be found here.

• The preface and section 1.1 of the entry "Categories" in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Link to text here.

• The preface and sections 1 and 2.1 of the entry "Aristotle’s Categories" in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Link to text here.

• Aquinas's On the Principles of Nature, especially chapters 1-3. The text can be found here.

Further Reading

Optional Reading:

• Aristotle's Physics, Book Two. The text can be found here.

• Aquinas's On the Principles of Nature, chapters 4-6. The text can be found here.

Assignment

After the third session, please write 300 words in response to one of the following:

1. Describe the difference between Plato's and Aristotle's understanding of universals.

2. Using examples, describe each of the 10 categories of Aristotle.

3. In your opinion, did Aristotle intend his categories to describe only language and concepts or did he also intend to describe real being? Provide reasons for your answer.

4. Describe the difference between universal and particular.

5. What is the difference betwen a substance and an accident?

6. What is the difference between a primary (or first) and a secondary (or second) substance?

7. What is the "Third Man" argument used by Aristotle to critique Plato's doctrine of Ideas?

8. In what ways are genus and species alike? In what ways do they differ?

9. Explain why Plato is depicted as pointing up and Aristotle as pointing down in Raphael's School of Athens.

10. In the context of the 10 categories described by Aristotle, briefly explain what he means by saying "being is said in many ways."