Selected Bibliography on the Definition of "Substance"

Index of the Section: "The Vocabulary of Ontology"

PAGES AVAILABLE - (OTHERS ARE IN PREPARATION) - In parenthesis the Greek / Latin original term

• Actuality (Energeia, Actus)

• Being (Einai, Esse)

  • Selected bibliography on the definition of "Being"

• Existence (Hyparkein, Existentia)

  • Selected bibliography on the definition of "Existence"

• Power (Dynamis, Potentia)

• Substance (Ousia, Substantia)

  • Selected bibliography on the definition of "Substance"

• Truth (Alétheia, Veritas)

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE CONCEPT OF SUBSTANCE

1. Notes on Book Zeta of Aristotle's Metaphysics. Edited by Burnyeat Myles. Oxford: Sub-Faculty of Philosophy 1979.
   Being the record by Myles Burnyeat and others of a seminar held in London 1975-1979.
   Reprinted 1986.
2. Aristotle. Substance, form and matter. Edited by Irwin Terence. New York: Garland 1995.
3. Hyparxis e Hypostasis nel neoplatonismo. Edited by Romano Francesco and Taormina Daniela Patrizia. Firenze: Leo S. Olschki Editore 2002.
   Atti del I Colloquio Internazionale del Centro di Ricerca sul neoplatonismo (Catania, 1-3 Ottobre 1992).
4. Aristotle's Metaphysics Book Z: the contemporary debate. Edited by Galluzzo Gabriele and Mariani Mauro. Pisa: Edizioni della Normale 2006.
5. Ousia dans la philosophie grecque des origines à Aristote. Edited by Motte André and Somville Pierre. Lovain-la-Neuve: Peeters 2008.
   Travaux du Centre d'études aristotéliciennes de l'Université de Liège.
   
   "Fruit d'une large collaboration interuniversitaire, cet ouvrage, qui fait suite à une publication consacrée à eidos, idea et morphé (2003), expose les résultats d'une enquête qui a porté sur tous les emplois du mot ousia dans la philosophie grecque jusqu'à Aristote; il commence par un aperçu des significations du mot dans la littérature non philosophique. Est ainsi offert un cadre de référence exhaustif pour l'étude d'une notion qui compte parmi les plus importantes et aussi les plus complexes de l'histoire de la philosophie. Chacune des oeuvres concernées de Platon et d'Aristote fait l'objet d'un examen systématique, suivi d'un bilan partiel. Des conclusions générales récapitulent la polysémie foisonnante d'ousia, qui va de l'avoir aux différentes facettes de l'être, et en font voir aussi l'évolution ainsi que les principaux enjeux philosophiques. Trois outils de travail s'y ajoutent : une riche bibliographie, un index de toutes les occurrences d'ousia chez Platon et chez Aristote ainsi qu'un index de plus de 200 mots grecs apparaissant dans ce champ sémantique."
6. Substantia - Sic et Non. Eine Geschichte des Substanzbegriffs von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart in Einzelbeiträgen. Edited by Gutschmidt Holger, Lang-Balestra Antonella, and Segalerba Gianluigi. Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag 2008.
7. Arpe Curt. Das ti en einai bei Aristoteles. Hamburg: Walter de Gruyter 1938.
   Reprint:New York, Arno Press, 1976 with Logische Regeln der Platonischen Schule in der Aristotelischen Topik by Ernst Hambruch (1904).
8. Arpe Curt, "Substantia," Philologus.Zeitschrift für das Klassische Altertum 94: 65-78 (1941).
9. Aubenque Pierre. Le problème de l'être chez Aristote. Essai sur la problématique aristotélicienne. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France 1962.
10. Aubenque Pierre. Sur l'ambivalence du concept aristotélicien de substance. In Ontologie et dialogue. Mélanges en hommage à Pierre Aubenque avec sa collaboration à l'occasion de son 70e anniversaire. Edited by Cordero Nestor-Luis. Paris: Vrin 2000. pp. 93-106
    Réimprimé dans: P. Aubenque - Problèmes aristotéliciens. I. Philosophie théorique - Paris, Vrin 2009 pp. 197-210
11. Aubenque Pierre. La transformation cartésienne du concept aristotélicien de substance. In Le style de la pensée. Recueil de textes en hommage à Jacques Brunschwig. Edited by Canto-Sperber Monique and Pellegrin Pierre. Paris: Les Belles Lettres 2002. pp. 490-501
12. Bärthlein Karl, "Zur Entstehung der Aristotelischen Substanz-Akzidens-Lehre," Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 50: 196-253 (1968).
13. Bennett Jonathan, "Substratum," History of Philosophy Quarterly 4: 197-215 (1987).
    Reprinted in: Vere Chappell (ed.) - Locke - Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. 129-148
14. Berti Enrico. Logical and ontological priority among the genera of substance in Aristotle. In Kephalaion: studies in Greek philosophy and its continuation offered to Professor C. J. de Vogel. Edited by Mansfeld Jaap and De Rijk Lambertus Marie. Assen: Van Gorcum 1975. pp. 55-69
    "Among the many still unsolved problems of Aristotelian exegesis is that concerning the relationship between the three types of substance which are distinguished in book XII of the Metaphysics, that is to say, terrestrial (mobile and corruptible), celestial (mobile and incorruptible), and supracelestial (incorruptible and immobile) (1). In fact some scholars supposed they could regard this relationship as an instance of pros hen homonymy (2), involving a priority of the immobile substance which is not only ontological but also logical (3); some identified it with the relationship of succession (to ephexes), understood as a particular sort of pros hen homonymy and therefore as implying logical priority as well (4); finally, some identified it with the relationship of succession itself, without specifying whether this should be regarded as implying not only ontological, but also logical priority (5). In spite of this variety of solutions, it seems to me that the problem has not been discussed with sufficient thoroughness and, especially, that the following issues have not been definitively clarified : a) whether in fact the three above-mentioned types of substance are irreducible to a common genus, and therefore give rise to a true and proper homonymy or equivocity of the notion of substance; b) whether this homonymy, if it subsists, allows some sort of logical unification, i.e. a priority of a genus in relation to the others which is not only ontological but also logical; also, what would be the precise nature of this logical priority.
    An answer to these questions seems important for the general interpretation of Aristotle's philosophy. As a matter of fact, since substance, for Aristotle, is what gives unity to all being, a decision concerning the type of unity which it possesses determines the conception which we must have of the very unity of being; and since, furthermore and that of the other types of substance, that is to say, the problem of the unity, and therefore of the possibility, of the science of being qua being, i.e. of philosophy itself.
    The present investigation does not claim, of course, to provide a definitive reply to the questions enumerated above, but merely offers itself as a contribution to their discussion, by analyzing some passages in Aristotle which have not been sufficiently taken into account in this connexion." pp. 55-56
    
    (1) Cf. Aristot., Metaph. XII 1, 1069a33-34; 6, 1071b3-4. For convenience I mention the former under the denomination of terrestrial substances, though they occupy the whole sphere under the sky of the moon, and the latter under the denomination of supracelestial substances, though, to be exact, they, being immaterial, could not be localized spatially.
    (2) J. Owens, The Doctrine of Being in the Aristotelian Metaphysics, Toronto, 1963 (2nd ed.), 279-300, 455-473; G. Patzig, Ontologie und Theologie in der "Metaphysik" des Aristoteles, Kant-Studien 52, 1960-61, 199-201.
    (3) By "ontological priority" (physei or ousiai) I mean the possibility that some things have of existing independently of others, while the latter cannot exist without them (cf. Metaph. VII, 1019a1-4); by "logical priority" (logoi) I mean the fact that the notion of some things is necessarily contained in the notion, or definition, of others, while the notion of these others is not contained in the definition of the former (Metaph. V 11, 1018b30-36). On this distinction cf. G. E. L. Owen, Logic and Metaphysics in some earlier works of Aristotle, in: Aristotle and Plato in the mid-fourth century, Goteborg 1960, 170-72.
    (4) H. J. Kramer, Zur geschichtlichen Stellung der "Metaphysik" des Aristoteles, Kant-Studien 58, 1967, 349; H. Happ, Hyle, Berlin 1971, 337-342.
    (5) G. Colle, Aristote, Métaphysique, Livre IV, Louvain-Paris 1931, 63; J. Tricot, Aristote, La Métaphysique, Paris 19622, I, 190, n.4; G. Reale, Aristotele, La Metafisica, Napoli 1968, I, 329.
15. Boehm Rudolf. La Métaphysique d'Aristote. Le fondamental et l'essential : "De l'etre et de l'etant", (Livre VII). Paris: Gallimard 1976.
    Traduit de l'Allemand Das Grundlegende Und Das Wesentliche. Zu Aristoteles' Abhandlung 'ÜBer Das Sein Und Das Seiende' (Metaphysik Z) - Den Haag, Aspen Publishers Inc, 1965.et presenté par Emmanuel Martineau; avec une note de Jean François Courtine.
16. Bolton Robert, "Science and the science of substance in Aristotle's Metaphysics Z," Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 76: 419-469 (1995).
    Reprinted in: Frank A. Lewis and Robert Bolton (eds.) - Form, matter and mixture in Aristotle - Oxford, Blackwell, 1996 pp. 231-280.
17. Bolton Robert. Substance and the definition of definition in Aristotle. In Le style de la pensée. Recueil de textes en hommage à Jacques Brunschwig. Edited by Canto-Sperber Monique and Pellegrin Pierre. Paris: Les Belles Lettres 2002. pp. 155-181
18. Bos Egbert Peter. Some notes on the meaning of the term 'Substantia' in the tradition of Aristotle's Categories. In L'élaboration du vocabulaire philosophique au Moyen Âge. Edited by Hamesse Jacqueline and Steel Carlos. Turnhout: Brepols 2000. pp. 511-537
    Actes du Colloque international de Louvain-la-Neuve et Leuven, 12-14 septembre 1998 organisé par la Société Internationale pour l'Étude de la philosophie Médiévale
19. Braun René. Deus Christianorum. Recherches sur le vocabulaire doctrinal de Tertullien. Paris: Éditions Augustiniennes 1977.
    Second édition revue et augmentée (Premère edition 1962)
20. Burnyeat Myles. A map of Metaphysics Zeta. Pittsburgh: Mathesis Publications 2001.
21. Courtine Jean-François. Note complémentaire pour l'histoire du vocabulaire de l'être. Les traductions latines d' ousía et la compréhension romano-stoïcienne de l'être. In Concepts et Catégories de la pensée antique. Edited by Aubenque Pierre. Paris: Vrin 1980. pp. 33-87
    Reprinted and updated in: J-F. Courtine - Les catégories de l'être. Études de philosophie ancienne et médiévale - Paris, Press Universitaires de France, 2003, pp. 11-77.
22. D'Alverny Marie-Thèrese. Substance in Arabic philosophy: Al-Farabi's discussion. In Substance. Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association.1988. pp. 88-97
    Vol. 61
23. Dancy Russell, "On some of Aristotle's first thoughts about substances," Philosophical Review 84: 338-373 (1975).
24. De Halleux André, "'Hypostase' et 'personne' dans la formation du dogme Trinitaire," Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique 79: 311-369 (1984).
    See also the second part: pp. 623-670.
    Reprinted in: Patrologie et oecuménisme. Recueil d'études - Leuven, Leuven University Press, 1990 pp. 113-214
25. Dörrie Heinrich, "Hypostasis. Wirt- und Bedeutungsgeschicte," Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaft zu Göttingen, phil--hist.Klasse 3: 35-92 (1955).
    Reprinted in: Platonica minora - Wilhelm Fink Verlag, München 1976 pp. 13-69
26. Driscoll John A., "The Platonic ancestry of primary substance," Phronesis 24: 253-269 (1979).
27. Driscoll John A. Eide in Aristotle's earlier and later theories of substance. In Studies in Aristotle. Edited by O'Meara Dominic J. Washington: The Catholic University of America Press 1981. pp. 129-159
    Reprinted in: Terence Irwin (ed.) - Aristotle. Sustance, form, and matter - New York, Garland, 1995.
28. Dumoulin Bertrand. L' ousia dans les Catégories et dans la Métaphysique. In Zweifelhaftes im Corpus Aristotelicum. Studien zu einigen Dubia. Akten des 9. Symposium Aristotelicum, Berlin, 7-16 September 1981. Edited by Moraux Paul and Wiesner Jürgen. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter 1983. pp. 37-71
29. Erdin Franz. Das Wort Hypostasis. Seine bedeutungsgeschichtliche Entwicklung in der altchristlichen Literatur bis zum Abschluss der trinitarischen Auseinandersetzungen. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder 1939.
    Freiburger Theologische Studien vol. 52
30. Ermano Andrea. Substanz als Existenz. Eine philosophische Auslegung der prote ousia. Mit Text, Ubersetzung und Diskussion von Aristoteles, Categoriae 1-5. Hildesheim: Georg Olms 2000.
31. Ferrarin Alfredo. Hegel and Aristotle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2001.
32. Fonfara Dirk. Die Ousia-Lehren des Aristoteles. Untersuchungen zur Kategorienschrift und zur Metaphysik. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter 2003.
33. Frede Michael. Substance in Aristotle's Metaphysics. In Essays in ancient philosophy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 1987. pp. 72-98
34. Furth Montgomery. Substance, form, and psyche. An Aristotelian metaphysics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1988.
35. Ghellinck Joseph de, "L'entrée d' essentia, substantia, et autre mots apparentés dans le latin médiéval," Archivum Latinitatis Medii Aevi 16: 77-112 (1941).
36. Ghellinck Joseph de, "Essentia et substantia. Note complémentaire," Archivum Latinitatis Medii Aevi 17: 129-133 (1942).
37. Gill Mary Louise. Aristotle on substance. The paradox of unity. Princeton: Princeton University Press 1989.
38. Gilson Étienne. Being and some philosophers. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies 1952.
39. Hartman Edwin, "Aristotle on the identity of substance and essence," Philosophical Review 85: 545-561 (1976).
40. Jolivet Régis. La notion de substance. Essai historique et critique sur le développement des doctrines d'Aristote à nos jours. Paris: Gabriel Beauchesne 1929.
41. Lewis Frank. Substance and predication in Aristotle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1991.
42. Lewis Frank. Aristotle on the unity of substance. In Form, matter, and mixture in Aristotle. Edited by Lewis Frank and Bolton Robert. Maiden: Blackwell 1996. pp. 39-81
43. Loux Michael J. Primary Ousia. An essay on Aristotle's Metaphysics Z and H. Ithaca: Cornell University Press 2005.
44. MacKinnon D.M. Aristotle's conception of substance. In New essays on Plato and Aristotle. Edited by Bambrough Renford. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul 1965. pp. 97-119
45. Mansion Suzanne, "La première doctrine de la substance: la substance selon Aristote," Revue Philosophique de Louvain 44: 349-369 (1946).
46. Mansion Suzanne, "La première doctrine de la substance chez Aristote," Revue Philosophique de Louvain 44: 349-369 (1946).
47. Marten Rainer. Ousia im Denken Platons. Meisenheim am Glan: Verlag Anton Hain 1962.
48. Marx Werner. Ousiologie et théologie. In Aristote aujourd'hui. Edited by Sinaceur Mohammed Allal. Paris: Éditions érès 1988. pp. 44-59
49. Moreau Joseph. L'être et l'essence dans la philosophie d'Aristote. In Autour d'Aristote. Recueil d'études de philosophie ancienne et médiévale offert à monseigneur A. Mansion . Louvain : Publications Universitaires de Louvain 1955. pp. 181-204
50. Ong-Van-Cung Kim-Sang. Substance et distinctions chez Descartes, Suárez et leurs prédecesseurs médiévaux. In Descartes et le Moyen-Age. Edited by Biard Joël and Rashed Roshdi. Paris: Vrin 1997. pp. 215-229
    Actes du Colloque organisé à la Sorbonne du 4 au 7 juin 1996 par le Centre d'histoire des sciences et des philosophies arabes et médiévales (URA 1085, CNRS/ÉPHÉ) à l'occasion du quatrième centenaire de la naissance de Descartes.
51. Owens Joseph, "Material substance -- Temporal or Eviternal?," New Scholasticism 56: 442-461 (1982).
52. Perez Paoli Ubaldo Ramon. Der plotinische Begriff von Hypostasis und die augustinische Bestimmung Gottes als Subiectum. Würzburg: Augustinus-Verlag 1990.
53. Reeve C.D.C. Substantial knowledge. Aristotle's Metaphysics. Indianapoli: Hackett 2000.
54. Richard Marcel, "L'introduction du mot 'Hypostase' dans la théologie de l'Incarnation (Première partie)," Mélanges de science religieuse 2: 5-32 (1945).
55. Richard Marcel, "L'introduction du mot 'Hypostase' dans la théologie de l'Incarnation (Deuxième partie)," Mélanges de science religieuse 2: 243-270 (1945).
56. Robertson David G., "Stoic and Aristotelian notions of substance in Basil of Caesarea," Vigiliae Christianae 52: 393-417 (1998).
    "Basil is somewhere in between Stoic and Aristotelian doctrines of substance, while his mind is also guided on these matters by his theological predecessors and contemporaries. It is possible to see evidence in Basil of deeply ingrained habits of thought which he carries into his writings from his early training in Stoic dialectic. One outstanding example of this may be seen in his insistence that the ousia of God must have its being securely rooted in a hypostasis, while the Stoics would say that nothing can exist without the possession of ousia (their first category) as a qualified thing (poion). What one does not find in Basil is a doctrine of divine substance and persons which can support a consistent conceptuality derived from Stoic logic."
57. Rosier Irène. Les acceptions du terme 'substantia' chez Pierre Hélie. In Gilbert de Poitiers et ses contemporains. Edited by Jolivet Jean and de Libera Alain. Napoli: Bibliopolis 1987. pp. 299-324
58. Salbego Luigi. "Essentia" nel De Trinitate di S. Agostino e nel Monologion di S. Anselmo. In Saint Anselme ses précurseurs et ses contemporains. Edited by Kohlenberger Helmut. Frankfurt: Minerva 1976. pp. 205-220
59. Smalbrugger Matthias, "Sur l'emploi et l'origine du terme "essentia" chez Augustin," Augustiniana 39: 436-445 (1989).
    "Dans le présent article, nous nous proposons d'examiner un aspect de la théologie d'Augustin, à savoir son emploi du terme essenlia. P. Hadot se demande si Augustin «a ignoré la théologie trinitaire de Victorinus ou a renoncé à l'utiliser», sans choisir l'un des termes de l'alternative (1); peut-être une lecture attentive de quelques passages montrera-t-elle qu'Augustin a volontairement renoncé à suivre son prédécesseur." p. 436
    
    (1) P. Hadot, Porphyre et Victorinus, Paris 1968, p. 477.
60. Spellman Lynne. Substance and separation in Aristotle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2005.
61. Stead George Christopher, "The concept of divine substance," Vigiliae Christianae 29: 1-14 (1975).
62. Stead George Christopher. Divine substance. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1977.
63. Stead George Christopher. Substance and illusion in the Christian Fathers. London: Variorum Reprints 1985.
64. Stegmaier Werner. Der Substanzbegriff der Metaphysik. Aristoteles, Descartes, Leibniz. Hirschlanden: Gedruckt bei Fa. Schober 1974.
65. Tonelli Giorgio, "Critiques of the notion of substance prior to Kant," Tijdschrift voor Philosophie 23: 285-301 (1961).
66. Van Ruler Han. 'Something, I know not what'. The concept of substance in early modern thought. In Between demonstration and imagination. Essays in the history of science and philosophy presented to John D. North. Edited by Nauta Lodi and Vanderjagt Arjo. Leiden: Brill 1999. pp. 365-391
67. Wedin Michael. Aristotle's theory of substance. The Categories and Metaphysics Zeta. Oxford : Oxford University Press 2000.
68. Witt Charlotte. Substance and essence in Aristotle. An interpretation of Metaphysics VII-IX. Ithaca: Cornell University Press 1989.
69. Witt Charlotte, "Aristotelian essentialism revisited," Journal of the History of Philosophy 27: 285-298 (1989).
70. Witt Rex E. Hypostasis. In Amicitiae Corolla. A volume of essays presented to James Rendel Harris, on the occasion of his eightieth birthday. Edited by Wood H.G. London: University of London Press 1933. pp. 319-343
71. Woolhouse Roger S. Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz. The concept of substance in Seventeenth-century metaphysics. New York: Routledge 1993.