Location (UBI)

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LOCATION (UBI)

One of the ten Aristotelian categories of being (Gr. ροû, Lat. ubi ) that answers the question "where?" Although aristotle only gives examples (Cat. 2a 1, 11b14), St. thomas aquinas defines location as the state of being in place (In 11 meta. 12.2376). By analogy with time (cf. In 4 phys. 20.11), this means that location, being in place, is the same as being measured by or commensurate with place (In 3 phys. 5.15). The implications of this definition are a subject of controversy among scholastics. There are three fundamental views: that location adds an intrinsic, nonrelative mode to bodies (F. Suárez); that it adds only a relative mode, based on extrinsic denomination (John of St. Thomas); or that it is a pure extrinsic denominationconsidered to be enough to constitute it a true category (modern authors).

See Also: place; situation (situs); bilocation; impenetrability.

Bibliography: r. masi, Cosmologia (Rome 1961). p. h. j. hoenen, Cosmologia (5th ed. Rome 1956).

[p. r. durbin]