Recent work in metaphysics has witnessed a noticeable turn to Aristotelian discussions of priority in one form or another. This revival of interests in Aristotle-inspired themes focuses on questions of what priority consists in and how it relates existents, rendering some basic and others derivative. For Aristotle, in contradistinction with (e.g.) Quinean metaphysical views, questions of existence are not considered central. Rather, the crucial questions are what types of existent are fundamental and what their grounding relation to derivative existents consists in. It becomes extremely import ... More

Recent work in metaphysics has witnessed a noticeable turn to Aristotelian discussions of priority in one form or another. This revival of interests in Aristotle-inspired themes focuses on questions of what priority consists in and how it relates existents, rendering some basic and others derivative. For Aristotle, in contradistinction with (e.g.) Quinean metaphysical views, questions of existence are not considered central. Rather, the crucial questions are what types of existent are fundamental and what their grounding relation to derivative existents consists in. It becomes extremely important, therefore, to return to Aristotle's own theses regarding priority and to study them not only with exegetical caution but also with acutely critical philosophical eye. Aristotle deploys the notion of priority in numerous levels of his thought. In his ontology he operates with the notion of primary substance. His Categories, for instance, confer this honorific title upon particular objects such as Socrates or Bucephalus, while in the Metaphysics it is essences or substantial forms, such as being human, which are privileged with priority over certain types of matter or hylomorphic compounds (either particular compound objects such as Socrates or universal compound types such as the species human). The chief aim of the book is to understand priority claims of this sort in Aristotle's metaphysical system by setting out the different concepts of priority and seeing whether and, if so, how Aristotle's preferred prior and posterior items fit with these concepts.