ABSTRACT
Aristotle (384–322 BCE) established broad parameters for subsequent discussions of the notion of substance, including of course the consideration of this notion that is such a dominant aspect of seventeenth century thought. There are two main sources for Aristotle’s account of substance (ousia), namely the Categories and book Zeta of the Metaphysics. In the Categories, a primary substance, or substance “strictly speaking,” is said to be that which is neither said of a subject nor in a subject, such as an individual human being (2a14–18; Aristotle 1984, 1:4). The contrast here is, on the one hand, with species and genera such as humanity and animality, which are “secondary substances” that are said of a subject but are not in a subject, and, on the other hand, with quantities, qualities, and relations such as volume, color, and position, which are accidents that exist in a subject.
