Integral Program's Spring Lecture featuring Alum James Pepe

Aristotle and the Possibility of a Science of Meta-Physics

In Metaphysics Γ, Aristotle (in)famously claims that the study of being qua being can constitute a science. Readers of Aristotle, however, may rightly find this surprising. For, in his Posterior Analytics, Aristotle tells us that one science treats of one genus. And, furthermore, in his Eudemian Ethics, Aristotle says that being is not a genus. Thus, it seems like Aristotle has set up for himself an inconsistent triad:

1. One science treats of one genus.
2. There is a science of being.
3. Being is not a genus.

All three of these claims cannot be true at the same time. We want a science of being (so that we can do metaphysics) and so we won’t deny 2. Which of the other two, then, ought we to deny? Is it possible that they can be, somehow, reconciled? This presentation will explore a number of proposed solutions, none of which will do, the presenter will argue, the job as cleanly as one would like.