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3. Change in quality and quantity of living beings
depends on locomotion, but not vice versa
3.1 Overview
Aristotle presents his first argument for the priority of locomotion in the
following lines:
τριῶν δ᾽ οὐσῶν κινήσεων, τῆς τε κατὰ μέγεθος καὶ τῆς κατὰ πάθος
καὶ τῆς κατὰ τόπον, ἥν καλοῦμεν φοράν, ταύτην ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι
πρώτην. ἀδύνατον γὰρ αὔξησιν εἶναι ἀλλοιώσεως μὴ προϋ-
παρχούσης· τὸ γὰρ αὐξανόμενον ἔστιν μὲν ὡς ὁμοίῳ αὐξάνεται,
ἔστιν δ᾽ ὡς ἀνομοίῳ· τροφὴ γὰρ λέγεται τῷ ἐναντίῳ τὸ ἐναντίον.
προσγίγνεται δὲ πᾶν γιγνόμενον ὅμοιον ὁμοίῳ. ἀνάγκη οὖν
ἀλλοίωσιν εἶναι τὴν εἰς τἀναντία μεταβολήν. ἀλλὰ μὴν εἴ γε
ἀλλοιοῦται, δεῖ τι εἶναι τὸ ἀλλοιοῦν καὶ ποιοῦν ἐκ τοῦ δυνάμει
θερμοῦ ἐνεργείᾳ θερμόν. δῆλον οὖν ὅτι τὸ κινοῦν οὐχ ὁμοίως ἔχει,
ἀλλ᾽ ὁτὲ μὲν ἐγγύτερον ὁτὲ δὲ πορρώτερον τοῦ ἀλλοιουμένου
ἐστίν. ταῦτα δ᾽ ἄνευ φορᾶς οὐκ ἐνδέχεται ὑπάρχειν. (260a26–b7)
As there are three kinds of non-substantial change, that with respect to
magnitude, that with respect to quality, and that with respect to place,
which we call locomotion, this [last] one must be primary. For it is
impossible that there is growth without a preceding alteration. For what
grows in one way grows by what is like, but in another way by what is
unlike. For the contrary is said to be food for the contrary. But everything
is added to its like by becoming alike. Therefore, the change between the
contraries must be an alteration. Surely, if something is altered, there
needs to be something that alters the thing and which makes it [change]
from potentially hot to actually hot. So, it is clear that the mover does not
[always] hold the same relation [to what is altered], but sometimes is
nearer and sometimes farther away from what is altered. But this cannot
be without locomotion.
According to my reading, Aristotle in this argument is showing that loco-
motion in a certain respect has ontological priority over the other two kinds
of non-substantial change, i.e. change in quantity and quality. As we will
see, something x is ontologically prior to y, if and only if for y to be there
must be x, but not vice versa. Or, to put it in other words, y cannot be with-
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