The art of thinking · Concepts, categories and definition
Categories (Aristotle)
Also known as: Aristotle’s categories, Ten categories, Categories of being
In philosophy, Aristotle’s categories are the ten most general kinds of things that can be said about something — substance, quantity, quality, relation, place, time, position, state, action and affection — set out in his treatise Categories.
- Thinking models
- Philosophy
In one sentence
Aristotle’s ten categories are the most general kinds of things one can say about something: substance, quantity, quality, relation, place, time and more.
Example
Describing a pump: what it is (substance), its flow rate (quantity), its material (quality), what it feeds (relation), where it is installed (place), when it is serviced (time). A data sheet that mixes these without order is hard to scan.
How it applies
- The list: substance (ousia), quantity, quality, relation, place (where), time (when), position (being in a posture), state (having, e.g. being shod), action (doing) and affection (being acted on). Substance is primary; the other nine are said of a substance.
- Said of and present in: The Categories also distinguishes what is said of a subject (genus and species) from what is present in it (properties), which became the basis of the later distinction of classes and attributes.
- Long influence: The scheme shaped logic and metaphysics into the modern era; Kant’s categories of the understanding and modern upper ontologies are later answers to the same question.
- Technical documentation: Asking which category a statement belongs to — what a thing is, how much, what it is like, how it relates, where and when — is a simple check of mixed paragraphs and of metadata schemes: every field should answer one kind of question.
Aristotle’s categories vs. ontologies in information science
The categories ask what kinds of being there are; an ontology in information science specifies the concepts and relations of one domain for machines. The second borrows the questions of the first, not its answers.
How to read this pool
Entries, context cards and transitional topics
The art of thinking explains ways of thinking — where a method comes from, what it asks of you and how it was adapted later. You meet four kinds of content here, each with its own job:
- Glossary entry
- Defines one concept or method of thinking: its origin, an example and how it relates to neighboring ideas. “X vs. Y” sections set two methods side by side.
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- Transitional topicBridges both pools
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- Reference entry or context card
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