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Chapter 9 - The Role of the Accidental in the Physical World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 January 2025

Tyler Huismann
Tyler Huismann
Affiliation:
University of Oklahoma
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Summary

I show that both Aristotle’s ontology and his theory of causation are ordered hierarchies: Both entities and causes are divided into different groups, and those groups are ordered according to their relevant priority. I explain how the facts about these kinds of priorities fit together, arguing that certain accidental beings are causally prior without anything being causally prior to them. I conclude with an account of the resulting ontology and etiology. It turns out that the role of the accidental in Aristotle’s natural philosophy is orthogonal to its role in his ontology. The accidental stands to doing as the substantial stands to being.

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Aristotle on Accidental Causation , pp. 227 - 251
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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