Abstract

This chapter discusses a special type of form: the accident (e.g., one's post-holiday body shape). It focuses on Duns Scotus's account of accidents in his commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics. Whereas Aristotle emphasizes an accident's dependence upon the subject in which it inheres, Scotus's account is notable for giving accidents increased independence and ontological heft. This raises a host of questions: how can an accident and its subject be a unity in any strong sense? Does knowing an accident entail knowing its subject? Can an accident exist without a subject at all?

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