7. The Ten Categories and Modes of Predication

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

• The Ten Categories (Predicaments): Aristotle’s enumeration of being’s highest genera
• Etymology and Courtroom Origins: ‘Category’ derives from Greek legal terminology meaning “to accuse” - one must say something of the accused
• Being is Not Univocal: Being is predicated equivocally by reason, not univocally like a true genus
• Individual Substance as Foundation: All other categories are distinguished by how they are predicated of or exist in individual substances (like Socrates, a horse, a cat)
• Modes of Predication and Modes of Being: The ways things are said of something are proportional to their modes of being
• Thomas’s Three-Fold Division: All predication of individual substances occurs in three ways
• Logic and Natural Philosophy as Preparatory Sciences: Both are necessary for wisdom, proceeding respectively by predication and by motion

Key Arguments #

Why Being Cannot Be a True Genus #

• Being is said of all things whatsoever that exist in any way
• But a true genus is said univocally of its species with one meaning that distinctly defines each
• Being is not said univocally; it means something different when applied to substance versus accident, to essence versus inherence
• Therefore, being must be divided into multiple highest genera (the ten categories), not treated as a single genus

The Three-Fold Division of Predication #

First Mode: Predication According to Essence

• When what is said of a subject pertains to its very nature or essence
• Examples: “Socrates is a man,” “Man is an animal,” “A champion is a horse,” “Tabitha is a cat”
• This constitutes the category of Substance (ousia)

Second Mode: Predication According to Inherence

• When something inheres in the subject but is not of its essence
• Divides into three sub-categories based on what grounds the accident:
  • On the side of matter: Quantity (how much, how many)
  • On the side of form: Quality (what kind, sensible or intelligible qualities)
  • With respect to another: Relation (double, half, father, greater)
• These are called “absolute” accidents (quantity, quality) and “relative” accidents (relation)

Third Mode: Predication According to Extrinsic Denomination

• When something outside the subject is said of it by denomination
• Examples: “Man is white” (named from whiteness which exists in him), “I am clothed” (denominated from clothing)
• Includes the remaining six categories: where, when, position, having, acting upon, undergoing
• This mode is found commonly in material things and especially in humans

Why Proportion Between Predication and Being #

• A proportion is a likeness of ratios (as 2 is to 3 as 4 is to 6)
• The ways one thing is predicated of another exist only in reason/mind
• Yet there is a real grounding in being: how things are said corresponds to how they actually exist
• When A is predicated of B, this reflects something about A’s actual mode of being in relation to B

The Primacy of Individual Substance #

• Everything else (universal substance, all accidents) is either said of individual substances or exists in them
• This is why the distinction between universal and singular substance, and between substance and accident, is presupposed to the distinction of the ten categories
• Individual substances like Socrates, Champion the horse, or Tabitha the cat are the foundation

Important Definitions #

• Category (κατηγορία): From Greek legal terminology; originally meant accusation. The ten supreme ways of saying something of something else. The ten highest genera of being.
• Substance (οὐσία): That which does not exist in a subject; what something is essentially; its nature or essence
• Accident: That which exists in another as in a subject; not part of the essence
• Individual Substance: Particular substances (Socrates, this horse, Tabitha) that are neither said of nor exist in anything else
• Universal Substance: What is said of individual substances (man, animal, horse, cat)
• Denomination (denominatio): Naming something from another thing with a different form. Example: from “geometry” comes “geometer,” from “music” comes “musician”
• Univocal Predication: Saying something of many with exactly one meaning
• Equivocal Predication by Reason: Saying something of many with different but ordered, related meanings (not by chance)
• Proportion (proportio): A likeness of ratios; as 2:3 :: 4:6
• Inherence: Existing in another; the way accidents exist in substances
• Relation (προς τι): That which is said of something with respect to another; includes father, double, half, etc.

Examples & Illustrations #

The Word “Being” as Equivocal, Not Univocal #

• Berquist’s courtroom example: “If you leave this room, you will cease to be” - this sounds like a death threat, but could only mean ceasing to be in the room
• Shows that “being” and “ceasing to be” don’t have exactly one meaning
• Further examples: “You will cease to be clothed” is not the same as ceasing to exist
• Demonstrates why being cannot be treated as a univocal genus like “animal”

The Three Richards: Equivocal by Chance vs. by Reason #

• Berquist has a student named Richard, an older brother named Richard, and a package store manager named Richard
• Three people happen to share the same name by chance, not by reason
• In contrast, words like “being” are equivocal by reason - there is an ordered connection among their meanings
• This is why equivocation matters philosophically: some can be resolved through ordered understanding

The Kingdom Analogy: Causality and Universality #

• A king’s causality extends to all citizens
• A general’s causality extends only to soldiers
• “Citizen” is said of all in the kingdom; “soldier” only of some
• Wisdom concerns the first cause of all things, so it must be about what is said of all things
• Therefore, being (said of all) is the proper subject of metaphysics

Concrete Examples of Categories #

• Substance: man, horse, animal, Champion (the horse), Tabitha (the cat)
• Quantity: “two cubits long,” “three cubits”
• Quality: white (sensible quality), grammarian (intellectual quality)
• Relation: double, half, father, taller (but only toward specific others)
• Where: “in the Lyceum,” “in the Agora”
• Having: being clothed, being armed, being shod
• Acting Upon: cutting, burning
• Undergoing: being cut, being burned

The Relational Nature of Three #

• Three can be both half (of six) and a third (of nine)
• This seems contradictory if three were something absolute in itself
• But three is only half or a third in relation to other things
• Similarly, one person can be both father and son, but not toward the same person

Denomination from Clothing #

• Humans change what they wear for different occasions: marriage, games, swimming, serious occasions, play
• Soldiers dress differently from civilians
• Military personnel wear different uniforms for different functions
• These accidents of clothing denominate the person: “the armed man,” “the clothed bride”
• This extrinsic denomination is especially characteristic of humans

Euclid and Mozart as Denominative Figures #

• “Euclid is geometry” - not literally true, but Euclid is named denominatively from geometry
• “Mozart is music” - similarly, a denominative way of speaking
• Properly: Euclid is a geometer (one who practices geometry)
• Shows how accidents can give rise to denominative descriptions

Notable Quotes #

“The ten categories as the ten supreme accusations.” — Warren Murray (cited by Berquist)

“Every respectable word in philosophy is equivocal by reason.” — Charles De Koninck

“A thing is singular when sensed, universal when understood.” — Boethius

“The modes of being are proportional to the modes of being said of them.” — Thomas Aquinas

“The way of natural philosophy is by way of motion. The way of logic is by way of predication.” — Thomas Aquinas (as explained by Berquist)

“Things in motion sooner catch the eye than what not stirs.” — Shakespeare (cited by Berquist regarding why motion is fundamental to us)

Questions Addressed #

Why Are There Ten Categories and Not Some Other Number? #

• Berquist jokes: “Aristotle had ten fingers and couldn’t count beyond it”
• More seriously: There’s a mathematical/structural reason related to the Pythagorean consideration of numbers
• The progression 1, 2, 3, 4 sums to 10 (the first triangular tetractys)
• But the primary reason is simply that Aristotle found these to be the exhaustive ways things are predicated of individual substances

Why Does Being Appear in Both Metaphysics and Natural Philosophy? #

• Wisdom concerns the first cause of all things
• Being is said of all things
• So Wisdom is about being in general
• Both natural philosophy (which considers motion) and logic (which considers predication) prepare for wisdom
• Natural philosophy reaches immaterial substances (God as unmoved mover) through the argument from motion
• Logic disposes the mind toward immaterial things more directly than natural philosophy does

Why Is Logic Important If Natural Philosophy Reveals Immaterial Substances? #

• Monsignor Dian’s point: Doesn’t natural philosophy dispose us better for metaphysics?
• Berquist’s response (after talking with Dian): Logic is like wisdom in concerning immaterial things
• Logic proceeds by predication, which is inherently about universal, immaterial concepts
• Natural philosophy goes from general to particular and toward matter
• Logic goes toward the immaterial, more directly disposing the intellect for metaphysical wisdom
• This is why modern scientists, even brilliant physicists, can become atheists - being too immersed in matter

How Can a Name Belong to Different Categories? #

• Example: The word “substance” itself can mean different things
• When functioning as the first category, it means individual substance
• But “substance” as a name has multiple meanings, some of which apply to other contexts
• This illustrates why equivocation by reason is philosophically important: ordering meanings helps clarity

Why Is Concrete Language (Where, When) Better Than Abstract Language (Place, Time)? #

• Aristotle uses concrete terms from ordinary speech
• This reflects the nature of accidents - they exist in substances
• Speaking of “the white” is less natural than “the white thing” or “white man”
• Concrete language preserves the proper relationship between accident and substance

Connections #

To Logic #

• The categories are fundamentally distinguished by modes of predication
• Understanding how names are said of things (univocally, equivocally by reason, denominatively) is foundational
• The syllogism is based on “said of all” and “said of none”
• Logic therefore provides the conceptual tools for metaphysical knowledge

To Natural Philosophy #

• Natural philosophy reveals the existence of immaterial substances through the argument from motion
• Act and potency are discovered primarily through the study of moving things
• These are the most universal divisions of being (even more universal than the categories)
• Act and potency apply even to God (pure actuality) and angels

To Wisdom (Metaphysics) #

• The categories provide the ordered structure of being
• Being is divided first by the categories (figures of predication)
• Being is also divided by act and potency (more fundamental to all substance)
• Wisdom thus depends on both logic (for categories) and natural philosophy (for act/potency)
• The fifth book of Aristotle’s Metaphysics elaborates the ordered senses of key terms used throughout wisdom

Pedagogical Concerns #

Father Dulac’s Despair #

• Father Dulac, a logic teacher at Berquist’s college, had grown to despair of students understanding the difference between:
  • Accident (as one of the five predicables in Porphyry’s Isagoge): something added to nature that doesn’t follow necessarily from it
  • Accident (in the Categories): any non-substantial predicate, including properties
• Students confused these two uses of the same term
• Illustrates how even equivocal terms “by reason” can confuse learners if the ordered meanings aren’t clearly distinguished
• Shows the importance of explicit instruction in how words are used differently in different contexts

The Importance of Greek #

• Kisurik told Berquist: “If you’re going to be a philosopher, you’ve got to learn some Greek”
• Many philosophical distinctions are obscured in translation
• Example: The Greek word pros (toward) in John’s Gospel (“the Word was toward God”) opens up meaning when understood through Aristotle’s treatment of relation
• Translation using abstract terms (place, time) rather than concrete terms (where, when) can distort philosophical meaning

Material That Needs Careful Explanation #

• The distinction between what is said “of” (per se predication) and what exists “in” (inherence)
• The ordered relationship between the three modes of predication
• Why proportion applies between modes of being and modes of predication despite being and predication existing in different domains (real being vs. logical being)
• The meaning of denomination and why it’s a real way of predicating despite referring to something extrinsic