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Aristotle: Metaphysics Beta. Symposium Aristotelicum ARISTOTLE: METAPHYSICS BETA SYMPOSIUM ARISTOTELICUM ALSO PUBLISHED IN THE SERIES Metaphysics Lambda edited by Michael Frede and David Charles On Generation and Corruption, Book I edited by Frans de Haas and Jaap Mansfeld Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII edited by Carlo Natali Aristotle: Metaphysics Beta Symposium Aristotelicum edited by MICHEL CRUBELLIER and ANDRE´ LAKS 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox26dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York # the several contributors 2009 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2009 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Library of Congress Control Number: 2008943924 Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by MPG Books Group in the UK. ISBN 978–0–19–954677–0 13579108642 PREFACE The 16th Symposium Aristotelicum, dedicated to Book ´ of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, organized by Michel Crubellier and Andre´ Laks, was held in Lille from 20 to 24 August, 2002, in the premises of the Ecole Supe´rieure de Commerce de Lille. We would most especially like to thank the director, M. Jean-Pierre Debourse, who graciously placed the premises of the Ecole at the disposal of the Symposium during this summer period, as well as the personnel of the Ecole who welcomed us. The organization of the colloquium would not have been possible without the financial support placed by the Institut Universitaire de France at the disposal of its member, Andre´ Laks, and without the logistical assistance of UMR Savoirs et Textes. Ce´cile Wartelle, doctoral recipient of University Lille 3, helped with the scientific organization of the Symposium, for which we deeply thank her. Our deepest thanks likewise go to Mme Vale´rie Delay, who organized for our colleagues, and served as guide for, a visit to the Muse´e de l’Hospice Comtesse. Among the participants in the Symposium, whose list is reproduced on page viii, was Michael Frede, who died prematurely in 2007. At the conclusion of the Symposium, he had presented a rich and extremely suggestive synthesis, as was his habit, which was not meant for publication. The authors of the present introduction have drawn from it certain ideas, as indicated at the relevant points. Michael Frede, through his recommendations and advice, had played an essential role in the organization of the Symposia Aristotelica for a number of years and, by his presence, contributed vigorously to maintaining the discussion at the highest level. There, as elsewhere, he will be missed. A.L. and M.C. This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS 16th Symposium Aristotelicum–Lille, 20–24 August 2002 List of participants viii Introduction Michel Crubellier and Andre´ Laks 1 1. Aporia Zero (Metaphysics, ´ 1, 995a24–995b4) Andre´ Laks 25 2. Aporiai 1–2 Michel Crubellier 47 3. Aporiai 3–5 Frans A. J. de Haas 73 4. Aporiai 6–7 Enrico Berti 105 5. Aporia 8 Sarah Broadie 135 6. Aporiai 9–10 Christian Wildberg 151 7. Aporia 11 Walter Cavini 175 8. Aporia 12 (and 12 bis) Ian Mueller 189 9. Aporiai 13–14 Stephen Menn 211 Bibliography 267 Index locorum 273 Index of Modern Names 289 General Index 292 16TH SYMPOSIUM ARISTOTELICUM LILLE, 20–24 AUGUST 2002 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS Contributors Enrico Berti, University of Padua Sarah Broadie, St Andrews University Walter Cavini, University of Bologna Michel Crubellier, University Lille III Frans de Haas, University of Nijmegen Michael Frede(y), Keble College, Oxford Andre´ Laks, University Paris-Sorbonne Stephen Menn, McGill University Ian Mueller, University of Chicago Christian Wildberg, Princeton University Other participants Keimpe Algra, Utrecht University David Charles, Oriel College, Oxford Ursula Coope, University College London John Cooper, Princeton University Andrea Falcon, University of Padua Paolo Fait, University of Florence Myriam Hecquet-Deviennne, University Lille-III Annick Jaulin, University Paris-I Sean Kelsey, University of California at Los Angeles David Lefebvre, University Paris-Sorbonne Geoffrey E. R. Lloyd, Darwin College, Cambridge Hendrik Lorenz, Corpus Christi College, Oxford Jaap Mansfeld, Utrecht University Carlo Natali, University of Venice Pierre Pellegrin, CNRS, Villejuif Cristina Rossitto, University of Padua David Sedley, Christ’s College, Cambridge Annick Stevens, Free University of Brussels Gisela Striker, Harvard University James Warren, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Introduction* MICHEL CRUBELLIER AND ANDRE´ LAKS It is like looking into the cabin of a locomotive. We see handles all looking more or less alike. (Naturally, since they are all supposed to be handled.) But one is the handle of a crank which can be moved continuously (it regulates the opening of a valve); another is the handle of a switch, which has only two effective positions, it is either off or on. 1 In the first chapter of Book ´ of the Metaphysics, Aristotle, after a brief intro- duction, enumerates fourteen or fifteen difficulties, or ‘aporiai’,2 with which he states it is necessary to engage in order to obtain the knowledge Book ` terms ‘wisdom’ or ‘philosophy’.3 These difficulties, a detailed treatment of which is given in the rest of the book (chapters 2–6) after chapter 1’s enumeration, are presented, with one exception, as so many well-defined questions announced in the form of an alternative: ‘Is it . , or rather...?’Weproduce here below a list of these aporiai, deliberately simplifying the wording of Aristotle’s text, so that the reader might obtain a synoptic view of them:4 1 Does it belong to a single science, or to several, to consider all the kinds of cause? 2 Should wisdom comprehend only the principles of substances, or rather the universal principles of demonstration as well? 3 If wisdom pertains to substance, is there a unique science for all the types of substance? * Many thanks to John Palmer for his translation. 1 Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations I, § 12. 2 Fifteen, if one counts as a distinct difficulty aporia 12 bis (´ 6, 1002b12–32), even though it does not figure in chapter 1 and it presents various peculiarities, particularly that of not being a closed question of the form poteron . .¯ e (see the analysis of I. Mueller, below p. 207–9, and below in this Introduction, p. 8). 3 ´ 1, 995a24–5. 4 Here we leave aside the question of the similarities and differences between the treatment of aporiai in Book ´ and that in ˚ 1–2 (see Madigan 1999, xxxviii–xl). 2 michel crubellier and andre´ laks 4 Does this science consider only substances, or rather also their essential properties and such predicates as ‘same’, ‘other’, etc.? 5 Do there exist only sensible substances, or are there rather others beside these? Of one type, or of many? 6 Are the elements and principles the kinds, or rather the primary imma- nent entities of which each thing is constituted? 7 If they are the kinds, are they the most universal kinds, or the species incapable of division? 8 Does there exist, or not, something besides matter that may be a cause in itself, is this something separate or not, and is it one or many; does there exist something distinct from the composite (of form and matter)? Does that exist for certain things and not for others, and, if yes, for what sort of things? 9 Are the principles limited numerically or specifically? 10 Are the principles of perishable entities and of imperishable entities the same or different? Are the principles themselves all imperishable? 11 Are being and unity the substance of things, and would each of them be unity, or being, without being something else, or rather must one attribute to them some underlying nature? 12 Are numbers, volumes, surfaces, and points substances or not? If yes, are they separate from sensibles, or do they exist within them? 12 bis Why would it be necessary to look for, besides sensibles and the ‘intermediate entities’ (mathematical objects), other objects such as the ‘Forms’? 13 Do the elements exist potentially or in some other manner? 14 Do the principles exist in the manner of universals, or in the manner in which we say that individuals exist? An exceptional case The procedure consisting of launching a new inquiry by examining straight off points that present difficulty is very typical in Aristotle;5 but the Metaphysics’ list exhibits an exceptional character, even if only in virtue of its length (something which could suggest, though perhaps wrongly, a deliberate exhaustiveness6). It is true that the De Anima also enumerates, in its introductory chapter, eight or nine questions characterized as ‘aporiai and misconceptions’ (aporiai kai 5 For example the study of definition in Posterior Analytics II (cf.
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