Thus reason which united us to the gods was not, according
to the Stoics, a pre-existent principal, but a gradual development
out of sense. It might truly be said that with them the senses were
the intellect.
Being was confined by the Stoics to body, a bold assertion of which
we shall meet the consequences later. At present it is sufficient to
notice what havoc it makes among the categories. Of Aristotle's ten
categories it leaves only the first, Substance, and that only in its
narrowest sense of Primary Substance. But a substance or body might
be regarded in four ways--
(1) simply as a body
(2) as a body of a particular kind
(3) as a body in a particular state
(4) as a body in a particular relation.
Hence result the four Stoic categories of--
substrates
suchlike
so disposed
so related
But the bodiless would not be thus conjured out of existence. For
what was to be made of such things as the meaning of words, time,
place, and the infinite void? Even the Stoics did not assign body to
these, and yet they had to be recognized and spoken of.
Pages:
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38