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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Philosophical Instructions Lesson Forty-Seven: Accidents Views of Philosophers about Accidents As was previously indicated, it is well known among philosophers that substance is a highest genus, and it is a specific category which has various species. However, accident is not a specific category, but is a general concept abstracted from nine categories, and the predication of it to each of them is accidental, not essential.

In contrast to this position, three other positions may be indicated. One is the position of Mīr Dāmād who considered accident, like substance, to be a category and a highest genus, and those which others take to be accidental categories, he considered to be species of accidents. Another position is that the categories are: substance, quantity, quality, and relation, and other accidental categories, according to this position, are considered to be kinds of relations.

Finally, the position of Shaykh al-Ishrāq (Suhravardī) is that the categories consist of the four mentioned above in addition to motion.1 It seems that, first of all, substance and accident are types of secondary philosophical intelligibles, none of which can be considered a highest genus and whatish category. Secondly, as has been proclaimed by Ṣadr al-Muta’allihīn, motion is an ontological concept and is neither itself a category, nor is it included in any whatish category.

Thirdly, many things which are called objective accidents and are taken to be categories or types of categories (including all of the seven relational categories) are abstracted concepts, and none of them are objective accidents to be considered as independent whatish categories or types of categories. It is clear that the presentation, criticism, and review of all of these positions requires more detailed discussion which is not very useful.

For this reason a short discussion will suffice for this topic. Quantity The category of quantity may be defined in this way: it is an accident which is essentially capable of being divided; and the modifier ‘essentially’ is used in order to exclude from the definition divisions of other categories, because their divisions are obtained subordinate to the divisions of quantity. Quantity may be generally divided into two kinds: continuous (i. e., geometrical quantity) and discrete (i.

e., number), each of which includes different kinds which are discussed in the two sciences of geometry and arithmetic.