Some remarks on Aristotle’s notion of priority in nature and substance

Abstract

Aristotle’s notion of priority in nature and in substance, as introduced inMetaphysics 1019a2-4, has been traditionally understood in terms of priority in existence:x is prior to y if x can exist without y’s existing, but y cannot exist without x’sexisting. In this paper I challenge this traditional view. I argue for an alternativeview in terms of priority in being, which is ontological counterpart of definitionalpriority. According to priority in being, x is prior to y if x can be what it is withouty’s being what it is, whereas y cannot be what it is without x’s being what it is.