Divine Lexicon

Term

Aristotle's Categories

The ten fundamental categories of Aristotle's ontology, consisting of substance and nine kinds of accidents.

Filed underPhilosophy

Definition

The nine kinds of accidents, according to Aristotle, are quantity, quality, relation, habitus (physique), time, location, situation (or position), action, and passion ("being acted on"). Together with "substance", these nine kinds of accidents constitute the ten fundamental categories of Aristotle's ontology.

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Related to
  • AristotlePersonAristotle is the author of the system of categories.
Part of

Sources

  1. 1.Cohen, S. Marc Lecture on Categories. (Philosophy 433: Philosophy of Aristotle).Original citation: Cohen, S. Marc. "Lecture on Categories." Philosophy 433: Philosophy of Aristotle, University of Washington, 2004.

Last revised August 14, 2026