Aristotle on Natural Simultaneity of Relatives in the Categories

This book addressesthe issue of natural simultaneity of relatives, discussed by Aristotle inCategories7, 7b15-8a12.Natural simultaneity is a form of symmetrical ontological dependence that holds between items that are not causally linked. In this section of theCategories, Aristotle introduces this topic in his analysis of relatives and maintains that, although relatives seem to be for the most part simultaneous by nature, there seem to be some exceptions. He mentions two pairs of relatives as exceptions, namely the pairsknowledge/knowable and perception/perceptible,and argues at length for the priority of the second relative over the first one in each case. Through a close reading of this text, the author analyses Aristotle’s arguments for the thesis of the exceptional character of these pairs and shows that all of them areunsuccessful in supporting the thesis.In order to draw this conclusion, the author highlights and carefully considers the properties that Aristotle is committed to attributing to relatives, taking into account the metaphysical framework of theCategoriesas well as their specificities within the set of non-substantial categories. Then, he shows thatAristotle’smature views on relatives in theMetaphysicscan be construed as committing him to the rejection of such a thesis. Although theissueof natural simultaneity is just one of several that Aristotle considers in his discussion of relatives throughout Categories 7,it is a particularly relevant issue, since it involves a number of puzzles whose analysis allows for a better understanding of the very notion of relativity in Aristotle. This is the first book to explore this issue from the perspective of illuminating the Aristotelian views on relatives.Aristotle on Natural Simultaneity of Relatives in the Categorieswill appeal to scholars and graduate students working on Aristotle, ancient philosophy in general, and metaphysics.