The activity of being

In this illuminating commentary on Aristotle´s Metaphysics, Aryeh Kosman argues that, far from freezing or reifying an ontology of Being or Beings, Aristotle thinks that ´to be´ essentially consists of being engaged in substantial activity. Meticulously argued, Kosman´s interpretation of Aristotle supplants those that characterize substances as either subjects of attributes or as the reality behind/underneath appearances. His Aristotle helps us understand how determinate beings--human beings, for instance--can nevertheless also be essentially engaged in further self-determining activity.