ABSTRACT
Words for classes, relations, and Aristotelian substances were dealt with in the same way as descriptions. This chapter argues that the acceptance of Aristotelian substances as part of a strategy to avoid, on the one hand, monistic naturalistic ontologies and, on the other, dualism. Substances as basic entities are not identical with their stuff and can be subjects of both bodily and intentional properties. Substance ontology allows for both, and thus has various advantages over either a naturalistic monistic or a dualistic ontology. The theoretical/practical distinction early analytic philosophers persistently stressed that many problems in classical philosophy and in everyday life are due to confusion between different kinds of statements or language–forms, especially between descriptive/theoretical statements, on the one hand, and normative/practical statements, on the other. In order to ascertain what the basic entities are one has to reason theoretically and to exclude practical aspects.
