Read more
The general topic of this book is the theory of categories, its sources, meaning and development. The inquiry can be seen to proceed on two levels. On one, the history of the theory is traced from its alleged genesis in Aristotle, through its main subsequent stages of Kant and Hegel, up to a kind of consummation in two of its prominent twentieth century adherents, Alfred North White head and Nicolai Hartmann. Special attention has been paid to that aspect of the Hegelian conception of the categorial analysis from which the principle of coherence emerged. On the second, deeper level, however, everything starts with Whitehead's metaphysical system, the central part of which con sists of a fascinating, though highly intricate, web of categorial notions and propositions. The historical perspective becomes a means for untangling that web. I am indebted to a number of people for advice, comment and criticism of various parts of this book. My greatest thanks go to my teachers and colleagues Nathan Rotenstreich, Nathan Spiegel, Yaakov Fleischman, as well as to the late Shmuel Hugo Bergman and Pepita Haezrachi. of this book was published in 1967 by An earlier, Hebrew version the Bialik Institute of Jerusalem. I am grateful to Mr Yehoshua Perel, Mr Arnold Schwartz and to my wife Varda for their cooperation in rendering the extensively revised text of the book into readable English. I also owe great appreciation to Miss Liat Dawe for an accurate and painstaking word-processing of the text.
List of contents
Extensive Summary of the Exposition.- I. Aristotle and the Beginning of the Doctrine of Categories.- 1. Predication, Inherence and Kinds of Being.- 2. The Definition of 'Category' in its Aristotelian Sense.- 3. Aristotelian Table of Categories.- 4. Quality.- 5. Quantity.- 6. Relation.- 7. Substance.- II. The Kantian Development: Systematization.- 1. Criticism of Aristotle's Approach.- 2. The Relation between Subject and Object.- 3. 'The Supreme Principle of Human Knowledge'.- 4. The Table of Categories vs the Table of Judgements.- 5. The Derivability of the Categories.- 6. The Two Logics.- III. The Hegelian Stage: Speculation and Coherence.- 1. The Absence of Systematization.- 2. The Criticism Qualified, or What Did Hegel Received from Kant.- 3. Sensation, Understanding and Reason.- 4. The Hegelian Scheme of Categories.- 5. Limitations and a Broadened Context.- IV. The Non-Speculative Way: Nicolai Hartmann.- 1. The Basic Ontic Scheme.- 2. The Moments of Being: Dasein and Sosein.- 3. The Main Problem: How to Explain the Unity of the Universe.- 4. The Categorial Analysis, Its Nature and Stages.- 5. Hartmann's Version of Coherence.- V. Whitehead's Categorial Scheme: the Framework.- 1. 'A Coherent, Logical and Necessary System'.- 2. Whitehead's Version of the Principle of Coherence.- 3. Contradictory Trends.- 4. Whitehead's Categorial Scheme.- VI. Whitehead's Categorial Scheme: the Implementation.- 1. 'The Ultimate' and the 'Modes of Existence'.- 2. The Category of the Actual Entity.- 3. The Principles of Process.- 4. The Principle of Relativity.- 5. The Ontological Principle.- 6. The Subjectivist Principle.- 7. Whitehead's Formulation of the 'Categorial Laws'.- Notes.- References.
