1 - Aristotle's Categories and the problems of essence and the Universals: sources for early medieval philosophy

Summary

I have argued above that the problem of Universals in the early Middle Ages was part of a larger complex of problems, which can be finally traced back to Aristotle's Categories. The present chapter forms a necessary introduction to the detailed studies of early medieval thought and thinkers which follow. I shall begin by offering an abstract of the various patterns of interpretation to which the Categories lends itself. I shall then consider which earlier discussions of the Categories, and which versions of the Categories itself, were available in the early Middle Ages. Finally, I shall summarize the arguments of these sources and indicate their implications. In this way, it will be possible to gain the fullest and clearest impression of the complex of problems related to the Categories, as it presented itself in the early Middle Ages.

In the Categories, Aristotle divides ‘things said without any combination’ into ten classes: usia, quantity, qualification, relation, place, time, being-in-a-position, having, doing and being-affected. By ‘things said without any combination’, Aristotle means, as he explains at the beginning of the work (IaI6), terms such as ‘man’ and ‘runs’ as opposed to ‘man runs’. The Categories is a discussion of these ten classes, although the treatment of the final six is cursory; a consideration of opposition, priority, simultaneity and change concludes the book. The designation of the nine latter categories is self-explanatory; that of the first, usia, requires definition.