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μέγεθος) in general, as he pointed out just two lines earlier.3 Accordingly,
it would make no sense if Aristotle argued for the assumption that only
growth, that is, increase in size, presupposes alteration, since this would not
lead to the conclusion that locomotion—in virtue of being necessary for an
alteration to occur and thus being prior to it—is prior also to change in
magnitude.4 Therefore, the claim that serves as the first premise of the argu-
ment and for which Aristotle is actually arguing here is that both growth
and diminution presuppose alteration, although only the reasons for mak-
ing this assumption with respect to growth are explicitly stated. I will now
present the argument for the claim that growth presupposes alteration
(3.2.1) and afterwards give reasons why this is also true of diminution
(3.2.2).
3.2.1 Growth presupposes alteration
The argument presented for the claim that growth presupposes a preceding
alteration basically is that growth of organisms always occurs through the
addition of something to that which is growing, in the sense that food is
taken in and by undergoing certain changes becomes a part of the body.
This process of transformation of food necessarily involves alteration. As
we will see, something similar also takes place in the case of diminution.
For this process occurs by means of removal of some material from that
which is shrinking. Furthermore, this process of separation, I will argue,
necessarily involves alteration.
In 260a30–33 Aristotle explains why growth cannot occur without altera-
tion and states four points from which this is supposed to become clear: (1)
growth on the one hand takes place “by what is like” (ὁμοίῳ), but on the
other hand “by what is unlike” (ἀνομοίῳ).5 The reason presented for the
former is that (2) “the contrary is said to be food for the contrary”6, while
the argument given for the latter is that (3) the addition that is part of any
growth occurs by “like becoming alike.”7 Besides, (4) the change between
contraries that is involved in this process must be an alteration.8 All this as
3 See Phys. VIII 7, 260a26–29.
4 This is not the only place where Aristotle uses αὔξησις as a shorthand for αὔξησις καὶ
φθίσις. See for instance GC I 5, 320a8, where Aristotle introduces the kind of change dis-
cussed now merely as αὔξησις and asks how it differs from the other kinds of change.
5 τὸ γὰρ αὐξανόμενον ἔστιν μὲν ὡς ὁμοίῳ αὐξάνεται, ἔστιν δ᾽ ὡς ἀνομοίῳ. Phys.
VIII 7, 260a30–31.
6 τροφὴ γὰρ λέγεται τῷ ἐναντίῳ τὸ ἐναντίον. Phys. VIII 7, 260a31–32.
7 προσγίγνεται δὲ πᾶν γιγνόμενον ὅμοιον ὁμοίῳ. Phys. VIII 7, 260a32.
8 ἀνάγκη οὖν ἀλλοίωσιν εἶναι τὴν εἰς τἀναντία μεταβολήν. Phys. VIII 7, 260a33.
Growth and diminution presuppose alteration 45
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