Aristotle's Theory Unity of Science

13 Introductionimportant means that employs elements of focality and analogy to createa series of similar objects. I call this method 'cumulation,' and it will bethe subject of the final chapter. l3 It is a special form of a series, which isarranged in order of priority and posteriority, and is used in Aristotle'sdiscussions of souls and friendships. It is also important for determiningthe place of theology within metaphysics. The prior members of the seriesare logically and ontologically contained in the posterior members, as forexample the nutritive soul is contained in the sensitive soul. The lattercannot exist without the former, and the latter contains the former in itsdefinition potentially. Members of cumulative series do not form standardgenera, but they all share some essential attributes with one another, asanalogues do; they are also per se related among themselves, since thedefinition of a later member contains the definition of a prior member, justas focally related objects do. In spite of the features of cumulation that arecommon with foeality, cumulative objects cannot form a focal genus. Thereasons for this will emerge in my interpretation of the soul series. Thechapter will be filled out with an examination of Aristotle's two discussionsof friendship and an argument that he abandoned the focal analysis offriendship he provided in the Eudemian Ethics for a cumulative view inthe Nicomachean Ethics because of the intractible difficulties in applyingfocality in this context. Finally, I shall use the lesson of cumulation andfocality to shed light on the problem of the place of theology in the scienceof Being.Together, analogy, focality, and cumulation provide Aristotle with themeans to balance the claims of the universal science advocated by theAcademy and the isolation of the subject-genera, which arises within thelogic of his own theory of science. This solution, by preserving the autonomyof sciences without creating a chaotic heap of subject matters, allowseach subject to be treated separately while still maintaining its place in theintelligible architecture of the world.13 Grice 1988, 190--2, has called this 'recursive unification.'