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to assume that Book VII was placed between VI and VIII because it was
considered to be related (οἰκεῖον) to the arguments presented in Book
VIII.37
This then was the cause of the confusion on where the division between
On Nature and On Change needs to be made: it seems that Andronicus, or
whoever was responsible for the division, divided the whole of the Physics
in the wrong way, as they falsely took Book VII to belong between Books
VI and VIII and wanted this division to accord with Eudemus’ statement
that the original treatise On Change consisted of three books.38 If one
knows that Book VII was not an original part of the work, it becomes clear
that the Physics needs to be divided after Book IV rather than where Andro-
nicus and Simplicius suggest.39
Based on the testimonies presented in this section one has to conclude
that the dividing line between the two works of which our Physics (at least)
consisted needs to be drawn after Book IV. Since Book VII has to be con-
sidered a misplacement, the treatise On Change most likely comprises
Books V, VI and VIII. Situating the discussion of the primary kind of
change in Book VIII accordingly makes it a part of the larger project for the
examination of the phenomenon of change that the treatise On Change per-
forms.
Yet, thus far I have only taken a look at different testimonies that may be
read as suggesting different ways of dividing the Physics. My intention was
to show first of all that these testimonies rather speak against what seems to
be Andronicus’ division. Of course, it is an examination of the content of
Books V, VI and VIII that should finally help us decide whether Philopo-
nus’ position is correct. Therefore, I will now have a look at these books in
greater detail and present what is of importance with respect to the current
discussion. As we will see, from this perspective as well, it is clear that
Books V, VI and VIII belong together.
one single change that is everlasting (see VI 10). Book VIII then starts by asking whether
change is eternal and by finally arguing for the claim that it indeed is and that therefore one
single everlasting change must exist, if there is to be any change at all.
37 See In Phys. 7, 1037, 3.
38 See Brunschwig (1991), 31. Wehrli (1955), 78, at least points in this direction by men-
tioning that, even though this is rather implausible, Damas in the fragment of his biography
of Eudemus might have been referring to Books V, VI and VIII when speaking of the “three
books On Change”.
39 Another source of information about the composition of the Physics is the ancient cata-
logues on Aristotle’s works. There are three such lists, all of which may be found in Düring
(1957): by Diogenes Laertius, Hesychius, and Ptolemy. Since the conclusions that may be
drawn from an examination of these catalogues, as Ross (1936), 5, puts it, are “highly conjec-
tural” and do not really show which of the two views is the right one, I will not discuss them
here in more detail.
24 The importance of the primary kind of change
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