Classical ontology: The study of being...

The so-called Indo-European copulas can play different syntactic roles in a sentence (e.g., lexical verb, auxiliary verb, copulative verb), and the sentences in which they appear can also express distinct concepts or relations (e.g., existence, characterization, inclusion, membership, identity). Given the elementariness of these meanings, it is perfectly understandable why Western philosophers have always been interested in Indo-European verbal copulas: many puzzles concerning discursive thinking seem to be tied to the syntax-semantics interface of the constructions with those verbs. This topic is not only of systematic interest but also of historical relevance for the Western tradition. According to Aristotle, being as such is the primary object of philosophical inquiry, and this gives us an idea of how fundamental the question of being is to Western philosophy. However, the meaning of the expression being has never been clear, and the specialists discuss intensely how the concept of being introduced by Parmenides and developed in detail by Plato and Aristotle should be understood. In any case, the inquiry into being cannot dispense with language, and a linguistic perspective is suitable for dealing with the philosophical notion of being. This is precisely the point of view from which I approach the ancient Greek question of being. The verb to be and its homologues in other languages is systematically studied by linguists, but historians of philosophy and students of ancient philosophy have rarely applied natural linguistics in a methodical manner to make sense of the philosophical notion of being. Charles H. Kahn is certainly a notorious exception to the rule since he described both the use and the meaning of the Ancient Greek verb eim (am, i.e., be) in order to shed light on the ancient Greek science of being. Following in Kahns footsteps, I intend to further develop some of his observations by incorporating new insights into the analysis of clause structure and verbal aspect. The general topic of my research is the relation between the verb eim and what we may call ancient or classical ontology. I explore the accordance between the features of the ancient Greek concept of being and the properties of the verb eim its copular function and its aspectual import in particular. In this context, I try to prove that Parmenides, Plato, and Aristotle attributed atelicity and imperfectivity to being because eim the semantically weakest and most useful linking verb in Ancient Greek was a grammatical support for nonverbal atelic and imperfective predication.

Project M 3075-G Classical ontology: The study of being by means of an inflected predicative structure Ricardo ALCOCER URUETA This project sought to give an account of the concept of being in classical Greek philosophy based on the linguistic properties of the ancient Greek verb that we translate as 'be.' More specifically, the project aimed to show that the concept of being found in thinkers such as Parmenides, Plato, and Aristotle cannot be understood without recognizing that the verb 'am' ( be) is a functional verb (copula or auxiliary) with almost no meaning a verb that, if anything, contributes durativity to predicates and represents states of affairs with an imperfect aspect. Such an investigation would help clarify what the study of being proposed by the ancient Greek philosophers consisted of, i.e., what the study of any object understood as "something that is" really was. The working hypothesis proved to be very useful, for it made it possible to understand that the philosophical concept of being in classical Greek philosophy is not to be identified either (a) with the meaning of a particular categorematic term or (b) with the generic meaning of a particular kind of proposition. Rather, the philosophical concept of being in classical Greek philosophy should be sought in the functional information that is certainly expressed by the verb, but which acts above the level of the predicate. Consider the information in brackets: S {is became} P. The hypothesis also made it possible to understand the relationship that the Greek philosophers established between being, thinking, and the present. Thanks to the funds granted to the project, the manager and sole investigator of the project was able to - refine the working hypothesis, - devise a general argument for a future book, - complete two research stays at the institutions of his collaborators, - organize and participate in two international conferences funded by the PROJECT, - give six international presentations, - edit the special issue of a renowned journal for ancient philosophy, - publish two academic articles, - submit a third academic article, - start other three academic articles, - sign a contract with a prestigious publisher to prepare a collective volume.