And it will belong to this to consider being qua
being-both what it is and the attributes which belong to it qua being.
2
But since the unqualified term 'being' has several meanings, of
which one was seen' to be the accidental, and another the true
('non-being' being the false), while besides these there are the
figures of predication (e.g. the 'what', quality, quantity, place,
time, and any similar meanings which 'being' may have), and again
besides all these there is that which 'is' potentially or
actually:-since 'being' has many meanings, we must say regarding the
accidental, that there can be no scientific treatment of it. This is
confirmed by the fact that no science practical, productive, or
theoretical troubles itself about it. For on the one hand he who
produces a house does not produce all the attributes that come into
being along with the house; for these are innumerable; the house
that has been made may quite well be pleasant for some people, hurtful
for some, and useful to others, and different-to put it shortly from
all things that are; and the science of building does not aim at
producing any of these attributes. And in the same way the geometer
does not consider the attributes which attach thus to figures, nor
whether 'triangle' is different from 'triangle whose angles are
equal to two right angles'.-And this happens naturally enough; for the
accidental is practically a mere name. And so Plato was in a sense not
wrong in ranking sophistic as dealing with that which is not.
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