Aristotle's Categories
Substance and Accidents
Aristotle proposed an ultimate categorization of all the different ways something can exist. The first distinction he made, coming just by reflection on ordinary experience, is that there are some entities that are able to exist “in themselves” and other entities that can only exist “in others”. (…). In other words, common experience tells us there are both things and modifications of things. In philosophical terminology, these are called substances and accidents respectively. (SULLIVAN 2006, 32)
The Categories
| Category | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Substance | ||
| Quantity | ||
| Quality | ||
| Relation | ||
| Action | ||
| Passion | ||
| Location | ||
| Position | ||
| Time | ||
| Possession |