ABSTRACT
There are four kinds of characteristics for things. One is that which is attributed to a body. It is an accidental characteristic which subsists in a substance although it is not united with another thing external to it. Another is that which is said of the colour white. It is an accidental characteristic subsisting in a substance, although it is not united with another thing external to it. The third is that characteristic by which we describe the ‘knower’. It is characteristic for a substance such as man, such that the aspect it contains is something external to the accidentality which brings about a union between that thing and other things. For example, there is a union between the knower and the known in which the form of knowledge is applied to the former. There is also the union between knowledge and things that are known. The fourth characteristic may be asserted of a ‘father’ and of ‘being complete’. For the father has no characteristic as ‘father-qua-father’ other than being united with a child. Due to the existence of the child he is considered a father and is therefore made complete.
