Note 70 — Chapter III · CATEGORIÆ.

Aristot. Metaphys. Z. p. 1038, b. 15. διχῶς ὑποκεῖται, ἢ τόδε τι ὄν, ὥσπερ τὸ ζῷον τοῖς πάθεσιν, ἢ ὡς ἡ ὕλη τῇ ἐντελεχείᾳ. The first mode of ὑποκείμενον is what is in the Categories. For the second, which is the metaphysical analysis, see Aristot. Metaph. Z. p. 1029, a. 23: τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλα τῆς οὐσίας κατηγορεῖται, αὕτη δὲ τῆς ὕλης. ὥστε τὸ ἔσχατον καθ’ αὑτὸ οὔτε τὶ οὔτε ποσὸν οὔτε ἄλλο οὐθέν ἐστι.

Porphyry and Dexippus tell us (Schol. ad Categ. p. 45, a. 6-30) that both Aristotle and the Stoics distinguished πρῶτον ὑποκείμενον and δεύτερον ὑποκείμενον. The πρῶτον ὑποκείμενον is ἡ ἄποιος ὕλη — τὸ δυνάμει σῶμα, which Aristotle insists upon in the Physica and Metaphysica, the δεύτερον ὑποκείμενον, ὃ κοινῶς ποιὸν ἢ ἰδίως ὑφίσταται, coincides with the πρώτη οὐσία of the Categories, already implicated with εἶδος and stopping short of metaphysical analysis.

The remarks of Boêthus and Simplikius upon this point deserve attention. Schol. pp. 50-54, Br.; p. 54, a. 2: οὐ περὶ τῆς ἀσχέτου ὕλης ἐστὶν ὁ παρὼν λόγος, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἤδη σχέσιν ἐχούσης πρὸς τὸ εἶδος. τὸ δὲ σύνθετον δηλόνοτι, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὸ ἄτομον, ἐπιδέχεται τὸ τόδε. They point out that the terms Form and Matter are not mentioned in the Categories, nor do they serve to illustrate the Categories, which do not carry analysis so far back, but take their initial start from τόδε τι, the σύνθετον of Form and Matter, — οὐσία κυριώτατα καὶ πρώτως καὶ μάλιστα λεγομένη.

Simplikius says (p. 50, a. 17):— δυνατὸν δὲ τοῦ μὴ μνημονεῦσαι τοῦ εἴδους καὶ τῆς ὕλης αἴτιον λέγειν, καὶ τὸ τὴν τῶν Κατηγοριῶν πραγματείαν κατὰ τὴν πρόχειρον καὶ κοινὴν τοῦ λόγου χρῆσιν ποιεῖσθαι· τὸ δὲ τῆς ὕλης καὶ τοῦ εἴδους ὄνομα καὶ τὰ ὑπὸ τούτων σημαινόμενα οὐκ ἦν τοῖς πολλοῖς συνήθη, &c. Compare p. 47, a. 27. This what Dexippus says also, that the Categories bear only upon τὴν πρώτην χρείαν τοῦ λόγου καθ’ ἣν τὰ πράγματα δηλοῦν ἀλλήλοις ἐφιέμεθα (p. 13, ed. Spengel; also p. 49).

Waitz, ad Categor. p. 284. “In Categoriis, non de ipsâ rerum naturâ et veritate exponit, sed res tales capit, quales apparent in communi vitâ homini philosophiâ non imbuto.”

We may add, that Aristotle applies the metaphysical analysis — Form and Matter — not only to the Category οὐσία but also to that of ποιὸν and ποσόν. (De Cœlo, iv. 312, a. 14.)