[51] Ibid. b. 28-37.
[52] Ibid. b. 36; p. 7, a. 5. οὐ μὴν ἀλλ’ ἐνίοτε οὐ δόξει ἀντιστρέφειν, ἐὰν μὴ οἰκείως πρὸς ὃ λέγεται ἀποδοθῇ, ἀλλὰ διαμάρτῃ ὁ ἀποδιδούς, οἷον τὸ πτερὸν ἐὰν ἀποδοθῇ ὄρνιθος, οὐκ ἀντιστρέφει ὄρνις πτεροῦ· οὐ γὰρ οἰκείως τὸ πρῶτον ἀποδέδοται πτερὸν ὄρνιθος· οὐ γὰρ ᾗ ὄρνις, ταύτῃ τὸ πτερὸν αὐτοῦ λέγεται, ἀλλ’ ᾗ πτερωτόν ἐστι· πολλῶν γὰρ καὶ ἄλλων πτερά ἐστιν, ἃ οὐκ εἰσὶν ὄρνιθες.
[53] Ibid. p. 7, a. 6-25. ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ ὀνοματοποιεῖν ἴσως ἀναγκαῖον, ἐὰν μὴ κείμενον ᾖ ὄνομα πρὸς ὃ οἰκείως ἂν ἀποδοθείη, &c.
The Relatum and its Correlate seem to be simul naturâ. If you suppress either one of the pair, the other vanishes along with it. Aristotle appears to think, however, that there are many cases in which this is not true. He says that there can be no cognoscens without a cognoscibile, nor any percipiens without a percipibile; but that there may be cognoscibile without any cognoscens, and percipibile without any percipiens. He says that τὸ αἰσθητὸν exists πρὸ τοῦ αἴσθησιν εἶναι.[54] Whether any Essence or Substance can be a Relatum or not, he is puzzled to say; he seems to think that the Second Essence may be, but that the First Essence cannot be so. He concludes, however, by admitting that the question is one of doubt and difficulty.[55]
[54] Ibid. b. 15; p. 8, a. 12. The Scholion of Simplikius on this point (p. 65, a. 16, b. 18, Br.) is instructive. He gives his own opinion, and that of some preceding commentators, adverse to Aristotle. He says that ἐπιστήμη and τὸ ἐπιστητόν, αἰσθησις and τὸ αἰσθητόν, are not properly correlates. The actual correlates with the actual, the potential with the potential. Now, in the above pairs, τὸ ἐπιστητὸν and τὸ αἰσθητὸν are potentials, while ἐπιστήμη and αἴσθησις are actuals; therefore it is correct to say that τὸ ἐπιστητὸν and τὸ αἰσθητὸν will not cease to exist if you take away ἐπιστήμη and αἴσθησις. But the real and proper correlate to τὸ ἐπιστητὸν would be τὸ ἐπιστημονικόν: the proper correlate to τὸ αἰσθητὸν would be τὸ αἰσθητικὸν. And when we take these two latter pairs, it is perfectly correct to say, συναναιρεῖ ταῦτα ἄλληλα.
In the treatise, De Partibus Animalium, i. p. 641, b. 2, where Aristotle makes νοῦς correlate with τὰ νοητά, we must understand νοῦς as equivalent to τὸ νοητικόν, and as different from ἡ νόησις.
[55] Aristot. Categ. p. 8, b. 22.
Quality is that according to which Subjects are called Such and Such (ποιοί τινες). It is, however, not a true genus, but a vague word, of many distinct, though analogous, meanings including an assemblage of particulars not bound together by any generic tie.[56] The more familiar varieties are — 1. Habits or endowments (ἕξεις) of a durable character, such as, wise, just, virtuous; 2. Conditions more or less transitory, such as, hot, cold, sick, healthy, &c. (διαθέσεις); 3. Natural powers or incapacities, such as hard, soft, fit for boxing, fit for running, &c. 4. Capacities of causing sensation, such as sweet of honey, hot and cold of fire and ice. But a person who occasionally blushes with shame, or occasionally becomes pale with fear, does not receive the designation of such or such from this fact; the occasional emotion is a passion, not a quality.[57]
[56] See the first note on p. 66. Aristot. Categ. p. 8, b. 26: ἔστι δὲ ἡ ποιότης τῶν πλεοναχῶς λεγομένων, &c. Compare Metaphys. Δ. p. 1020, a. 33, and the Scholion of Alexander, p. 715, a. 5, Br.
The abstract term Ποιότης was a new coinage in Plato’s time; he introduces it with an apology (Theætet. p. 182 A.).