Dr. Kathrin Koslicki: "Absolute, Relational and Comparative Substancehood in Aristotle"

March 14: (Department Colloquium)

Dr. Kathrin Koslicki (University of Alberta)
Title: Absolute, Relational and Comparative Substancehood in Aristotle
CLE A203 at 2:30pm

Abstract: Aristotle uses his central term, "ousia" ("substance"), in an absolute, a relational and a comparative sense, to designate items as substances simpliciter, as the substances of something else, or as more or less deserving of substance status. We arrive at the most plausible reading of Aristotle's conception of substancehood when we focus on the relational and comparative, rather than the absolute, notion. As a result, however, no one type of entity comes out as the clear favorite with respect to all of Aristotle's criteria for substancehood.