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published on April 29, 2021
Ignacio De Ribera-Martin
https://doi.org/10.5840/acpaproc2021428123
Generation and Homonymy in Aristotle¡¯s Generation of Animals
Discussions on Aristotle¡¯s account of homonymy in natural philosophy have not paid attention to its distinct use in the Generation of animals. I show that Aristotle¡¯s use of homonymy in this treatise is relevant to the question of how to name living substances in the process of generation. In the GA, Aristotle uses homonymy to argue that embryos must have soul. These embryos, when the heart has been distinctly set apart, satisfy the criterion set in Metaph. IX.7 to be an animal in dunamis. In the GA, Aristotle refers to this embryo as an animal¡ªalbeit incomplete, because it cannot yet carry out all the functions signified by the name¡ªand not as a homonym. The phenomenon of generation thus calls for a refinement of the principle of Functional Determination, according to which something is what its names signifies only if it can carry out the functions signified by the name.