Dissertation: Aristotle on Ontological Priority
Aristotle's ambitions for ontology extend beyond determining what beings there are: he also thinks there is an order among the beings, i.e. that some things are prior in being to others. Aristotle, however, argues for a puzzlingly diverse range of claims about what is prior in being to what. Within a single Bekker page, for example, he argues that mature organisms are prior in being to immature ones, that substantial form is prior in being to matter, and that eternal things are prior in being to perishable things. What unites these claims? I argue in my dissertation that priority in being is a causal relation: one thing is prior in being to another when it is a cause of being for the latter. My view allows us to find unity in Aristotle's cases without ignoring their differences: in all of these cases, the prior entity is a cause of being for the posterior entity, but different prior entities are causes of being in different ways. My view also allows us to draw on Aristotle's engagement with his philosophical predecessors, as well as the puzzles he says the first philosopher must solve, to explain why he arrived at his own views about what is prior to what.
For a longer dissertation abstract, click here.
Aristotle's ambitions for ontology extend beyond determining what beings there are: he also thinks there is an order among the beings, i.e. that some things are prior in being to others. Aristotle, however, argues for a puzzlingly diverse range of claims about what is prior in being to what. Within a single Bekker page, for example, he argues that mature organisms are prior in being to immature ones, that substantial form is prior in being to matter, and that eternal things are prior in being to perishable things. What unites these claims? I argue in my dissertation that priority in being is a causal relation: one thing is prior in being to another when it is a cause of being for the latter. My view allows us to find unity in Aristotle's cases without ignoring their differences: in all of these cases, the prior entity is a cause of being for the posterior entity, but different prior entities are causes of being in different ways. My view also allows us to draw on Aristotle's engagement with his philosophical predecessors, as well as the puzzles he says the first philosopher must solve, to explain why he arrived at his own views about what is prior to what.
For a longer dissertation abstract, click here.
Work in Progress
Right now, I'm working on a paper arguing for my causal view of priority in being; a paper about the causal contribution of the Prime Mover in Metaphysics Lambda 10; and a paper about Plato's claim in Laws X that the happiness of an individual and of the whole cosmos somehow coincide. Email me at kmeadows [at] mit [dot] edu if you'd like to hear more or to read a draft!
Right now, I'm working on a paper arguing for my causal view of priority in being; a paper about the causal contribution of the Prime Mover in Metaphysics Lambda 10; and a paper about Plato's claim in Laws X that the happiness of an individual and of the whole cosmos somehow coincide. Email me at kmeadows [at] mit [dot] edu if you'd like to hear more or to read a draft!