Blackwell Reference Online

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M etaphysics A determinate form of the lowest generality, which does not admit of any further differentiation. The things below infima species are particular instances that are identical in specific nature. An infima species is the common and stable nature of a kind of thing and is therefore the object of definition and knowledge . In Aristotle 's Categories , an infima species is a secondary substance . In his Metaphysics , its ontological status is ambiguous, depending on whether one understands it to be identical with form and also on whether one understands primary substance to be universal form or particular form. But Aristotle claimed that an infima species cannot mark off one individual from another and that matter should be the principle of individuation. “An infima species, or lowest species, if there can be such a thing, would be a sort without any distinct sub-sort instantiating it.” Lowe, Kinds of Being ... log in or subscribe to read full text