De Interpretatione 3 on Isolated Verbs

In De interpretatione 3. 16b19–25 Aristotle discusses the signification of verbs uttered in isolation, i.e. not as parts of complete sentences. After providing some context, I offer a detailed analysis of these lines, which are very controversial, and of the views of the ancient commentators. I argue that, contrary to what is often thought, here Aristotle says nothing at all about the copula; in particular, he does not say that the copula is devoid of any intrinsic signification and is a mere link between the subject and the predicate term. Indeed, I argue that this is not even Porphyry’s interpretation of Aristotle, contrary to what many scholars believe. Rather, Aristotle takes as an especially relevant example the verb ‘to be’ in its existential use and claims that it – and by extension any other verb when uttered on its own – does not constitute a sentence until a subject term is added to it.