A Guide to Stoicism 3 ¶15–17 — St. George Stock (modern guide)

St. George Stock (modern guide), A Guide to Stoicism 3 ¶15–17

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. The difficulty was got over by the invention of the higher category of somewhat, which should include both body and the bodiless. Time was a somewhat, and so was space, though neither of them possessed being.