Joey Carter will present a paper on Aristotle’s Metaphysics.Tuesday, March 30th
Abstract:
The Problem of Separability in Aristotle’s Metaphysics K 2, 1060a27-1060b23
In this essay, I contend that one of the main issues in Metaphysics K 2 is the problem of the separability of the universal. I focus on three ways Aristotle articulates this issue: (1) How is there a highest universal that is indestructible and immaterial when there appears to be only destructible material things (K 2, 1060a27-1060a38)? (2) How can this universal be independent and separable (choristos), if there are things that are dependent and inseparable (K 2, 1060a39-1060b8)? (3) How is universal knowledge possible when it seems that the very thing we should be seeking, namely thinghood (ousia), concerns independent things (K 2, 1060b20-23)? Following the analysis of these issues, I suggest that the solution is located in L 7, where Aristotle argues for the unmoved mover. It is here Aristotle argues that the pure being-at-work (energeia) of the unmoved mover qualifies as the separate independent thing, which gives knowledge about all things insofar as the unmoved mover is the archetype of thinghood—being-at-work.
In this essay, I contend that one of the main issues in Metaphysics K 2 is the problem of the separability of the universal. I focus on three ways Aristotle articulates this issue: (1) How is there a highest universal that is indestructible and immaterial when there appears to be only destructible material things (K 2, 1060a27-1060a38)? (2) How can this universal be independent and separable (choristos), if there are things that are dependent and inseparable (K 2, 1060a39-1060b8)? (3) How is universal knowledge possible when it seems that the very thing we should be seeking, namely thinghood (ousia), concerns independent things (K 2, 1060b20-23)? Following the analysis of these issues, I suggest that the solution is located in L 7, where Aristotle argues for the unmoved mover. It is here Aristotle argues that the pure being-at-work (energeia) of the unmoved mover qualifies as the separate independent thing, which gives knowledge about all things insofar as the unmoved mover is the archetype of thinghood—being-at-work.
Tuesday, March 30th
6:30 PM, Room 205S
Peabody Hall
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