In this lesson we study the first paragraph of Chapter 2 of Aristotle’s Categories, from “Of things which are spoken, some are spoken in connection,” down to “man, ox, runs, conquers.”
I. Primary Source Text
Of things which are spoken, some are spoken in connection, but others without connection. Those therefore which are enunciated according to connection are such as, “The man runs.”, “The man is victorious.”; but those without connection are such as, “man”, “ox”, “runs”, “conquers”.
II. Exposition by St. Albert the Great
In the last lesson Aristotle settled how words relate to the things they name. He now divides the things that are spoken into two, and the division is short enough to be missed. In this lesson you will learn what the two are, what a connection is and who makes it, and why Aristotle divides them before he begins.
What Is Being Divided: Ideas Under Words, Not Things in the World
Before taking the division, it is very important to note what is being divided. St. Albert opens his exposition of this sentence by saying that these are the things which are spoken, and which stand under a word of the understanding. Aristotle is not dividing the things that exist in the world. The man out in the field, and his running, belong to natural philosophy, which treats the order that reason does not make but only observes. Logic is rational philosophy, which reason makes in itself when it arranges its own ideas (TRV-362, lesson 1). So what is divided here are ideas as they stand under words, and nothing else. Keep this in mind through the whole of this course, because Aristotle’s examples name familiar things and it is easy to forget that they are being taken as ideas and words and not as things existing in the world.
The Division: Things Spoken in Connection and Things Spoken Without Connection
Aristotle’s division is this. Of things that are spoken, some are spoken in connection, and others are spoken without connection. His examples of the first are: the man runs, the man is victorious. His examples of the second are: man, ox, runs, conquers.
Look at the two lists before going on. Runs appears in both. In the first list it is joined to man; in the second it stands alone. So the division is not a division of words into two sets of words. The same word appears on both sides. What differs is whether it has been joined to something.
What a Connection Is: The Marking of One Thing With or In Another
St. Albert says what a connection is. A connection is the marking of one thing with another, or in another. When you say that the man runs, what those words mark is that running is in the man, as an act is in the one who acts. When you say that the man is victorious, they mark that victory is in the man in the same way.
The Understanding Makes the Connection; It Is Not in the Thing
Now the thing to hold on to, because a student will otherwise take the division for a division of things. St. Albert says that the understanding makes this connection by putting one with the other, and that the connection is not in the thing. There is no third thing out in the world standing between the man who acts and his act. The man is there and his running is there; the joining of them is done by the mind and expressed in speech.
Why the Connection Must Be Expressed in Speech
St. Albert adds why expression is needed. Although the things themselves are all uncombined, the understanding cannot signify the putting of one with another except by expressing a connection. Say man and you have named an idea. Say runs and you have named an idea. Nothing yet says that the one belongs to the other, and no arrangement of separate names will say it; a mark of joining is needed, and that is what a connection is.
What Is Said Without Connection: The Idea Taken by Itself
What is said without connection is said as an idea by itself. St. Albert gives the same examples that way: man by itself, runs by itself, conquers by itself.
Why This Division Stands at the Head of the Ten Categories
Now the reason for the division, which Aristotle does not give and St. Albert does. It tells you what the rest of Aristotle’s Categories is about. What is said without connection, taken under a word, is what can be placed in one of the ten categories. What is said with connection does not belong in a category at all; it belongs to the understanding that composes. So this short division sorts out the matter of the whole book: Aristotle is going to set the ten categories in order, and only what is said without connection can be put into them.
The First and Second Acts of Reason: Where the True and the False Begin
You already have both sides of this from the first lesson of this course. What is said without connection belongs to the first act of reason, by which the mind conceives what a thing is and claims nothing, and no one can contradict it. What is said with connection belongs to the second act, composing and dividing, in which the true and the false are for the first time present. Say man, and nothing is true or false; say the man runs, and something is. That is why Aristotle’s Categories is ordained to the first act and On Interpretation to the second, and it is why this division stands at the head of this book.
Summary of What Has Been Learned
You have now learned Aristotle’s division of the things that are spoken. Some are spoken in connection, as the man runs; others without connection, as man, or ox, or runs by itself.
You have learned what a connection is: the marking of one thing with another or in another, so that when we say the man runs, running is marked as being in the man, as an act is in the one who acts.
You have learned who makes it. The understanding makes the connection by composing, and it is not in the thing; there is no third thing in the world between the man and his running.
And you have learned why the division is made. Only what is said without connection can be placed in one of the ten categories; what is said with connection belongs to the mind that composes. This is the first act of reason and the second, which you learned in the first lesson of this course.
What Remains for the Next Lesson
What you have not yet learned is how the things said without connection are themselves divided.
In the next lesson you will read Aristotle’s division of them into four, and learn what it is for one thing to be said of another and for one thing to be in another.
III. Memory Work
- What is divided here are the things which are said, and which stand under a word of the understanding. Aristotle is not dividing the things that exist in the world; those belong to natural philosophy. Logic is rational philosophy, and treats the order reason makes in its own act when it arranges its own ideas.
- Of things that are spoken, some are spoken in connection and others without connection.
- With connection: the man runs, the man is victorious. Without connection: man, ox, runs, conquers.
- The same word can appear on both sides. Runs stands joined to man in the first list and alone in the second. What differs is whether it has been joined to something.
- A connection is the marking of one thing with another, or in another. When we say the man runs, it is marked that running is in the man, as an act is in the one who acts.
- The understanding makes the connection by composing. The connection is not in the thing, and there is no third thing in the world standing between the man who acts and his act.
- Although the things themselves are all uncombined, the understanding cannot signify the putting of one with another except by marking a connection.
- What is said without connection is said by itself: man by itself, runs by itself, conquers by itself.
- What is said without connection, taken under a word, is what can be placed in one of the ten categories. What is said with connection belongs to the understanding that composes.
- What is said without connection belongs to the first act of reason, in which nothing is claimed. What is said with connection belongs to the second act, in which the true and the false are for the first time present.
IV. Key Concepts in This Lesson
Connection (complexio)
A connection is the marking of one thing with another, or in another, as when “the man runs” marks running as being in the man, as an act is in the one who acts.
Things said without connection (incomplexa)
Things said without connection are ideas taken singly under a word, as man, ox, runs, conquers, and these alone can be placed in one of the ten categories.
Rational philosophy
Rational philosophy is that part of philosophy which treats the order reason makes in its own act when it arranges its own ideas, as distinguished from natural philosophy, which treats an order reason only observes.
First act of reason
The first act of reason is that by which the mind conceives what a thing is and claims nothing, so that nothing is yet true or false and no one can contradict it.
Second act of reason (composition and division)
The second act of reason is that by which the understanding composes and divides, joining one idea to another, and it is in this act that the true and the false are for the first time present.
V. How to Cite This Article
Chicago (Notes-Bibliography):
Classical Liberal Arts Academy. “Aristotle’s Categories: Things Said With and Without Connection (TRV-362 Lesson 03).” CLAA Research Library, 2026. https://classicalliberalarts.com/aristotles-categories-with-and-without-connection.MLA (9th ed.):
Classical Liberal Arts Academy. “Aristotle’s Categories: Things Said With and Without Connection (TRV-362 Lesson 03).” CLAA Research Library, 2026, classicalliberalarts.com/aristotles-categories-with-and-without-connection.
This article is drawn from a lesson in the Classical Liberal Arts Academy. While this text provides the core conceptual material, formal enrollment provides students with access to full course content, assessments, records and support. To join us for classical studies, please contact us.
