The Universal as Substance: Z.13 1038b8–1039a3—Problems of Interpretation

Z.13 1038b8–1039a3 introduces a Platonic view that takes universals to be substance. 1038b8–16 offers two arguments against it. 1038b16–1039a3 then introduces the view of an interlocutor who thinks he can rescue universals in spite of 1038b8–16 and offers Aristotle’s response to that view. All of this gives rise to a host of problems, including the following: How is ‘substance’ being used here? What conclusion(s) does 1038b8–16 support? How do the two arguments in 1038b8–16 fit one another? How should 1038b8–15’s idion assumption be understood? What is the interlocutor’s view, and how can he think it escapes the augments in 1038b8–16? What is Aristotle’s response to this view? How does all of this fit with what is said in 1038b8–16?