On Feb 20, 2008, at 9:46 PM, wrobert at uci.edu wrote:
> What do you mean by 'accidental' in the Aristotelian sense of the
> term?
> (I suppose what I am really asking is what Aristotle means by it....)
An "accidental" characteristic, in contrast to an "essential" one, is a characteristic that could be different without changing the basic nature of that of which it is a characteristic. A house painted red would be a *red* house, but if painted white it would still be a *house*. But a house without a structural support would no longer be a house but a pile of rubble. According to Aristotle.
Shane Mage
"Thunderbolt steers all things...it consents and does not consent to be called Zeus."
Herakleitos of Ephesos