ARISTOTLE AND THE EARLIER PERIPATETICS vol.I by Eduard Zeller, B.F.C.Costelloe 1897

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most
METAPHYSffS 289
another class belong to things only in relation to other
things—that is to say, they are relative. With 1
regard
to activities, the most far-reaching opposition is that of
Action and Passion ; on the other hand, the categories
of Possession and Situation, as has been already remarked,
2 have only a precarious rank, and are afterwards
dropped by Aristotle himself sub sil&rdio: Finally, as
regards external circumstances, these are taken on the
one hand in terms of Space, and on the other in terms
of Time, in the categories of the Where and the When.
In strictness, however, both of these ought to have been
ranged under the Category of Relation ; and perhaps it
was this kinship which led Aristotle to place them as a
rule next in order after that category. 3 All the categories,
however, lead back to Substance as their base. 4
290 ARISTOTLE
An inquiry, therefore, into Substance, or Being as such,
must be the starting-point in the investigation of the
Actual.
2. The First Philosophy as the Science of Being.
As Science in general has for its task the investigation
of the grounds of things, 1 so the highest Science
must be that which refers to the last, and most universal
of the grounds of things. For this gives us the most
comprehensive knowledge, everything else being comprehended
under the ,
knowledge which is
universal. It gives us the
most difficult to attain, as the most
universal principles are the furthest removed from
sense experience. It gives us the surest knowledge,
since it has to do with the most simple concepts and
principles.
It gives us the most instructive knowledge,
air\as ivra .... Kara rb eiSos
roira $), in Metaph. iv. 5, 1010,
a, 23 sqq. iroohv and iroibv are
transposed with iroahv and eiSos,
and in Metaph. xi. 6, 1063, a, 27,
Troihv is taken as fpvcris &pi(rp.4vri,
irotrbv (like Matter, vide infra)
as a&piffTos.
1
All concepts of relation refer
to something which is conditioned;
substances are not irpds
ti : vide supra.
2
Vide supra, p. 282.
3
That this is not without exception
is clear from p. 282, n. 3.
4
Anal. Post. i. 22, 83, b, 11 :
Ttdvra yap ravra \irotbv, &c]
(TVfi04^T]Ke Kal Kara rwv oiftriajv
KaTfiyopeircu (about cnifi^PriKbs
in this meaning see p. 275 sqq.).
Similarly 1. 19, ibid, a, 25, c. 4,
73, b, 5. Phys. x. 1, 185, a, 31
oi/dev yap twv aWcoy x&pio-Tdv tart
VOL. I.
irapa rr)v ovffiav irdi/ra yap koO'
'
viroKeifievov rrjs ovfflas AeyeTOt
(but what is asserted /cafl' viroKiip-evov
is a v eiprifieuwu eVi t^v
ence to prevailing news as to aurV cTrtaTJiprii' viitrn rb £titovwisdom,
it is shown (981, b, 30) nevov ivojm [ao