The Accidental Being and its Several Causes in Aristotle’s Metaphysics E [Spanish]

Authors

Abstract

Aristotle’s Metaphysics E 2 and 3 are devoted to the discussion about accidental being and its causes, with the aim of assessing its credentials as a possible object of first philosophy. The result of this discussion is, in this sense, negative. However, first philosophy has something to say about accidental being, if only through a second order speech. The nature of the accidental is thus explored in these pages of Metaphysics, with the ultimate aim of confirming the impossibility of a scientific study (and a scientific discourse) about this way of being and its causes. The central part of this paper deals with E 2, 1026b27-1027a15, where Aristotle introduces the causes of accidental being. I endeavor to show that each of the three causes presented in these lines are compatible and relevant, as they can be understood, respectively, as the formal, efficient and material cause of what happens by accident.

Author Biography

  • Gabriela Rossi, Adolfo Ibáñez University

    Profesora e Investigadora de Jornada completa en el Departamento de Filosofía de la Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez desde 2015. Previamente me he desempeñado como Invesitgadora Adjunta de CONICET (Argentina) y Profesora en la Universidad de Buenos Aires.

     

Published

2017-11-20

Issue

Section

Articles