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2. The importance of the primary kind of change
2.1 Overview
Making sense of and evaluating the arguments that are presented for the
priority claim in Phys. VIII 7 first of all presupposes an understanding of
what Aristotle means by saying that change of place is primary and of why
he makes that claim at all. In order to arrive at such an understanding, how-
ever, one needs to look at the context in which the discussion of the priority
claim is embedded. For, Aristotle certainly had very good reasons for fram-
ing this discussion in its respective context in such a way that it fulfils its
specific role in the whole of the argumentation. In this chapter, I will there-
fore analyse the context in which the arguments for the claim that change
in place is prior to the other three kinds of change are presented.
I will argue that this examination of the context shows that the systematic
discussion of the priority claim in Phys. VIII 7 plays a crucial role in the
theory developed in the whole of Book VIII. This theory is supposed to
account for the existence of change in the cosmos as one observes it day by
day. Part of this theory is that for there to be change there must be a first
unmoved mover that acts as the principle of all change in the cosmos by
causing one single eternal change. I will argue that this theory presupposes
the primacy of locomotion. That is to say, if the arguments presented for
the priority claim fail, then the theory, too, may no longer hold. A part of
this essential task is performed by Aristotle, who shows that locomotion is
prior to the different types of change in different respects and that therefore
the eternal change which is directly caused by the first unmoved mover can
only be locomotion. This step is necessary, however, in order to make clear
that it is possible for a change that fulfils the criteria of being the sole eter-
nal change that has its direct source in the first unmoved mover to exist at
all as the theory developed in Phys. VIII presupposes. In order to show all
of this I will take the following steps.
The discussion in Phys. VIII 7 on the one hand is embedded in the larger
context of the book that today we call Aristotle’s Physics. Since this book as
we have it today was not arranged by Aristotle himself and originally con-
sisted of more or less independent treatises, I shall first of all examine the
original context of the discussion of the priority claim in Phys. VIII. Based
on a variety of sources, I will argue that this discussion needs to be consid-
ered as a part of a larger project dedicated to a general examination of
ISBN Print: 9783525253069 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647253060
© 2014, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen
The Priority of Locomotion in Aristotle’s Physics
- Titel
- The Priority of Locomotion in Aristotle’s Physics
- Autor
- Sebastian Odzuck
- Herausgeber
- Dorothea Frede
- Gisela Striker
- Verlag
- Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co
- Datum
- 2014
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9783647253060
- Abmessungen
- 15.5 x 23.2 cm
- Seiten
- 238
- Kategorien
- Geisteswissenschaften
- Naturwissenschaften Physik
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- Acknowledgements 9
- 1. Introduction 10
- 2. The importance of the primary kind of change 14
- 3. Change in quality and quantity of living beings depends on loco-motion, but not vice versa 42
- 4. Locomotion necessarily accompanies each of the other kinds of change, but not vice versa 71
- 4.1 Overview 71
- 4.2 What changes in quantity changes with respect to place 73
- 4.3 What undergoes generation or corruption changes with respect to place 89
- 4.4 What changes in quality changes with respect to place 98
- 4.4.1 Overview 98
- 4.4.2 What does it mean that condensation and rarefaction are principles of quality? 100
- 4.4.3 Every alteration involves a change in the four basic qualities 104
- 4.4.4 Every change in the four basic qualities involves con- densation or rarefaction 108
- 4.4.5 Condensation and rarefaction are forms of aggregation and segregation 110
- 4.4.6 What changes in quality changes with respect to place 112
- 4.4.7 Conclusion 113
- 4.5 Conclusion 113
- 5. All changes depend on the first locomotion, but not vice versa 115
- 6. Locomotion has temporal priority 144
- 6.1 Overview 144
- 6.2 Locomotion has priority in time, since it is the only change eternals can undergo 146
- 6.3 Objection: Locomotion is the last of all changes in perishable things 148
- 6.4 Coming to be presupposes an earlier locomotion 150
- 6.5 The locomotion of the sun as a cause of generation 154
- 6.6 Conclusion 162
- 7. Locomotion is prior in essence 164
- 7.1 Locomotion is prior in essence, since it is last in coming to be 164
- 7.2 Locomotion alone preserves its subject’s essence 186
- 7.2.1 Overview 186
- 7.2.2 Locomotion does not change its subject’s being 188
- 7.2.3 Locomotion preserves its subject’s essence best 190
- 7.2.4 Making x depart from its essence by being part of a change in essence? 195
- 7.2.5 Change in quality or quantity in principle may result in a change in essence 202
- 7.3 Conclusion: Locomotion’s priority in essence 207
- 8. Conclusion 211
- Bibliography 220
- List of Abbreviations 223
- Index Locorum 221
- Index Nominum 223
- Index Rerum 221