Aristotle and the Categories

Stoic critics pounced on this, complaining that the categories is woefully inadequate compared to the sophisticated distinctions they had been making in their philosophy of language. The charge was answered by a student of andronicus named boe s of sidon - not to be confused with the later, much more famous christian philosopher, boethius. Boethus diffused the stoic challenge by lowering the stakes a bit. He said it was never intended to be a complete analysis of language. Rather, he distinguishes between substance terms like man or giraffe, quality terms like black or elegant, quantity terms like two cubits tall,. Aristotle is interested only in terms that reveal the furniture of