But since the combination and the
separation are in thought and not in the things, and that which is
in this sense is a different sort of 'being' from the things that
are in the full sense (for the thought attaches or removes either
the subject's 'what' or its having a certain quality or quantity or
something else), that which is accidentally and that which is in the
sense of being true must be dismissed. For the cause of the former
is indeterminate, and that of the latter is some affection of the
thought, and both are related to the remaining genus of being, and
do not indicate the existence of any separate class of being.
Therefore let these be dismissed, and let us consider the causes and
the principles of being itself, qua being. (It was clear in our
discussion of the various meanings of terms, that 'being' has
several meanings.)
Book VII
1
THERE are several senses in which a thing may be said to 'be',
as we pointed out previously in our book on the various senses of
words;' for in one sense the 'being' meant is 'what a thing is' or a
'this', and in another sense it means a quality or quantity or one
of the other things that are predicated as these are. While 'being'
has all these senses, obviously that which 'is' primarily is the
'what', which indicates the substance of the thing. For when we say of
what quality a thing is, we say that it is good or bad, not that it is
three cubits long or that it is a man; but when we say what it is,
we do not say 'white' or 'hot' or 'three cubits long', but 'a man'
or 'a 'god'.
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