THE CA TEGORIES OR &quot; PRAEDICA MENTA &quot;. 1 4 1 



translated situs, or &quot; posture,&quot; and se habere, habitus, or &quot; habit,&quot; 

 respectively about the exact meaning of which (in the mind of 

 Aristotle), even more than of the others, there has been consider 

 able diversity of opinion. 1 



We thus obtain the following list of ten categories, each of 

 which stands as a summum genus, branching downwards into a 

 number of predicamental lines of sub-classes genera and species 

 each of which can be naturally predicated of its subordinates, 

 and ultimately of the individuals that embody its content or 

 implication in them. 2 



Substantia 



ovffia 



t&amp;lt;r6i 



Qu an tit as 



Qualitas 



Relatio 



Actio (or 

 Facere) 



SUBSTANCE or Essence, not Individual (&quot;First&quot;) but 

 Specific or Generic, i.e. Universal (&quot;Second&quot;) , the 

 answer to the question e.g. &quot; Who or what is Socrates ? &quot; 

 &quot; Socrates is a man, an animal, a living being.&quot; 



QUANTITY ; as &quot; Socrates is five feet high, ten stone 

 weight &quot;. Quantity is either (a) discrete when its parts 

 are disconnected, as in multitude or number ; or (b) con 

 tinuous when its parts are connected ; and these latter 

 are either (i) successive and transient, as in motion and 

 time, or (2) simultaneous and permanent, as in space, mag 

 nitude or size proper (length, breadth and depth). 



QUALITY ; as &quot; Socrates is flat-nosed, virtuous, patient, 

 brave &quot;. Of Quality there are four subdivisions : (a) 

 Habits and Dispositions of Mind or Body (Habitus et Dis- 

 positio) ; (b) Strength or Weakness of Natural Power, such 

 as Memory, Intelligence, etc. (Potentia et Impotentia) ; 

 (c) Sense Qualities whether transient or permanent, such 

 as paleness through fright or through ill-health (Passio 

 et Patibilis Qualitas) ; (d) Form, of artificial, and Figure 

 of natural, things (Forma et Figura). 



RELATION ; &quot; Socrates is ^.father, ^.proprietor, a citizen, 

 a teacher, smaller than Plato&quot;. 



ACTION ; i.e. the action expressed by the active transi 

 tive verb ; as &quot; Socrates is digging his garden, instructing 

 his disciples &quot;. 



1 St. Thomas (in Met. v., lect. 9) sets forth his reasoned account of the Aris- 

 totelean division in practically the following brief terms : The entity affirmed of a 

 subject either constitutes that subject or is superadded to it. If the former, we have 

 the category of substance ; if the latter, we have an accident. Accident is either 

 relative (relation] or absolute. If absolute, it is founded either on the material, or on 

 the formal, constituent of the subject. The former is quantity, the latter quality. 

 These three have their source in the subject; but the superadded accident may be 

 attributed to the subject in virtue of some reason or source outside the subject : in 

 virtue of what fixes its quantity, viz. place where, or in virtue of what measures its 

 duration, viz. time when ; or, again, in virtue of an effect of which the subject is either 

 the principle (active], or the recipient (passive] ; or, finally, in virtue either of the re 

 lative disposition of its parts in the place occupied by it, posture, or of the extrinsic 

 things, such as clothing, immediately affecting it, habit or clothing. 



2 Cf. JOYCE, op. cit., pp. 142-4. 



