Therefore it is
plain that the definition is the formula which contains the
differentiae, or, according to the right method, the last of these.
This would be evident, if we were to change the order of such
definitions, e.g. of that of man, saying 'animal which is two-footed
and endowed with feet'; for 'endowed with feet' is superfluous when
'two-footed' has been said. But there is no order in the substance;
for how are we to think the one element posterior and the other prior?
Regarding the definitions, then, which are reached by the method of
divisions, let this suffice as our first attempt at stating their
nature.
13
Let us return to the subject of our inquiry, which is substance.
As the substratum and the essence and the compound of these are called
substance, so also is the universal. About two of these we have
spoken; both about the essence and about the substratum, of which we
have said that it underlies in two senses, either being a 'this'-which
is the way in which an animal underlies its attributes-or as the
matter underlies the complete reality. The universal also is thought
by some to be in the fullest sense a cause, and a principle; therefore
let us attack the discussion of this point also. For it seems
impossible that any universal term should be the name of a
substance. For firstly the substance of each thing is that which is
peculiar to it, which does not belong to anything else; but the
universal is common, since that is called universal which is such as
to belong to more than one thing.
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