CATEGORY OF QUALITY IN ARISTOTLE AND HEGEL

The present paper sets up a comparative analysis of the category of Quality in the cases of Aristotle and Hegel. Aristotle's category of Quality, as it shows up in some illustrative paragraphs (Chapter 8 of the Categories and Metaphysics, A, 14), has two main meanings: a. the criterion for differentiating among individuals; b. the criterion that allows the grouping of individuals within the same species. The two meanings are not strictly separated, and this fact led, in time, to some mistakes. For Hegel, Quality is by contrast to Aristotle strictly incorporated into a systematic categorial context. Belonging to the group of categories that are included into the' Theory of Being, Quality proves itself to be complementary to the category of Essence, which belongs to the categorial group of the Theory of Essence. Quality fundamentally relates not to Quantity, but to Essence as reflected in itself. This conjoinment is not arbitrary, but constitutes a real revolution, a main event of thinking.