Abstract

This dissertation presents a close reading of book theta of Aristotle's Metaphysics, where Aristotle discusses being potentially and being actively , as well as potentiality and active being themselves. I argue that being actively has been widely misunderstood, because the term 3 ,n 3&d12;rg3i a has been misunderstood. The standard translation 'actuality' is misleading. The central case of active being is that of a housebuilder engaged in building a house, by contrast with a housebuilder who merely has the ability to build a house. The other cases of active being are, according to Aristotle, to be understood by analogy with that case . Analogy, here, is a technical semantic notion. The translation, 'actuality,' obscures the analogy among cases of active being rather than illuminating it. The translation 'active being' highlights the analogy and shows how Aristotle's conception of active being is a philosophically powerful and interesting notion. ;This interpretation makes sense of an otherwise puzzling feature of Metaphysics theta. The text falls into two parts, which seem to have little to do with one another. On my reading, the first part already discusses cases of active and potential being, although not as such. Aristotle later draws on this discussion, when he explains active and potential being as such in theta.6--9. I argue that, in the first part of theta, Aristotle does not presuppose any form of the Principle of Plenitude, as has been thought. Rather, he has three separate but connected notions of being able: having an ability; an extended notion of having an ability; and non-time-relative possibility. ;The culmination of Metaphysics theta is an argument that active being has priority in being over potential being. Aristotle, I show, applies two different criteria for priority in being, one to perishable things and one to eternal things . The construal of 3 ,n 3&d12;rg3i a as active being helps show why Aristotle should do this. It also makes sense of the various arguments Aristotle gives for the priority of active being, concerning both perishable and eternal things