Praedicamenta

Praedicamenta, or predicaments, are the traditional ten categories used in Aristotelian and Scholastic logic to classify the different ways a subject can be predicated of or attributed to something. They function as a framework for describing the various modes of being that can be assigned to a subject and are distinct from the five predicables (genus, species, difference, property, accident) in Porphyry’s scheme.

The standard medieval list of praedicamenta includes: substance, quantity, quality, relation, place, time, position (or situation), action, passion, and habit (state). Each category denotes a specific mode of predication. Substrate or substance denotes what exists independently, such as a particular entity or essence. Quantity and quality express, respectively, magnitude or degree (how much) and a subject’s attributes or characteristics. Relation describes dependence or correspondence between things (e.g., father of, double). Place and time situate a subject in space and chronology. Position or situs indicates the subject’s arrangement or posture. Action and passion cover what the subject does and what is done to it. Habit (state) refers to the subject’s ongoing condition or disposition.

Historically, the praedicamenta trace to Aristotle’s Categories and were developed and systematized by medieval philosophers, especially in the scholastic curriculum. They were employed in ontology, metaphysics, and semantic analysis, and remained influential into early modern philosophy. Modern discussions often treat the ten categories as a historical classification that informs the study of how language and reality intersect, rather than as an outright description of the structure of the world.