If the verb "to have" be used in several senses, why might we not
apply to this category all the various uses of the word; for instance,
quantity, because quantity has size; quality, because it has color; the
father, because he has a son; the son, because he has a father; and, in
general, all kinds of possession? Will it be said that the other things
that can be possessed have already been classified under the categories
considered above, and that the category of "having" comprises only
arms, foot-wear, and clothing? This might be answered by the question
why "having" these objects should constitute a category, and why
burning them, cutting them, burying them, or throwing them away, would
not equally constitute one or more categories? If the answer be that
all these things form one category because they refer to the body,
this would then also make another category if we placed a garment
over a litter; or likewise if someone were covered with clothing.
If another answer be that the category of "having" consists in the
"manner of containing,"[282] and in possession,[283] then all things
which are possessed will have to be reduced to this category, which
will thus contain all possession, whatever it be, since the nature of
the possessed object could not here prevail to form some distinction.
On the other hand, if the category of "having" must exclude having a
quantity or quality, because the latter ideas already form their own
categories; nor having parts, because of the category of being (which
includes parts); why should this category contain having arms, when
arms, as well as foot-wear, belong to the category of being? In any
case, how could the statement, "He has arms" be considered something
simple, which could be reduced to any one category? That statement
expresses the same idea as "He is armed." Can this expression ("he
has arms") refer only to a man, or even to his statue? The living man
possesses very differently from possession by a statue, and the verb
"to have" is used only as a verbal label (a homonym), just as the
verb "to stand up" would mean something very different according as
it referred to a man or a statue. Besides, is it reasonable to make a
generic category of some merely incidental characteristic?