If there are such principles: see below, pp. 26-28.3 Aristotle’s Conception of First Philosophy and the Unity of Metaphysics Ë1

This paper is dedicated to the memory of Michael Frede. It first took shape as a lecture for a Princeton1 Ancient Philosophy Colloquium at which Michael invited me to speak; I discussed its themes with him on various occasions over the intervening years, and was completing this new version when I heard of his untimely death. I owe much both to his published work and to our conversations on this and many other Aristotelian topics. See below, p. 7. Throughout this paper I use ‘principles ’ as shorthand for ‘principles and causes’, as2 Aristotle uses this expression in Ë