O primeiro exame da essência na investigação de Aristóteles acerca da substância (tradução e comentário de Metafísica VII 4)

The concept of essence plays a crucial role in the research on substance that takes place in Book VII of Aristotle’s Metaphysics. Chapter VII 4 contains the first approach to it in Book VII. In this difficult text, essence is examined from an abstract point of view that sets the basis for the remaining discussions of the subject throughout Book VII. My purpose here is to place Metaphysics VII 4 under a new light by means of a new Portuguese translation with explanatory notes. The translation avoids such interventions in the transmitted text as have been frequently made by contemporary editors. It also aims at keeping as much as possible the reading of manuscripts E and J. The comments are intended to justify the choices made as to the edition and the translation of the text and also to clarify the content of the chapter.