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for the kind of change that is eternal and has its direct source in the first
unmoved mover.
The way in which I think the corollary should be read then is this: what
we have seen in this argument, namely the fact that alteration, growth and
diminution presuppose locomotion in the manner described, is one expres-
sion of the fact that locomotion is primary. If change is eternal and if loco-
motion indeed has priority over the other kinds of change—and the argu-
ment shows that we have very good reasons to think so—then locomotion,
as the primary kind of change, must also be this eternal change.74
3.6 The sense of priority
Now that this has been made clear, it is important to understand which
sense of priority with respect to locomotion this argument establishes. For
as we know from the treatment of priority in Cat. 12 and Met. V 11 the
word prior (πρότερον) is used in a number of different ways. Aristotle
himself does not use any specific name for it here, nor does he say which of
the different senses of priority is established in this context, but merely
claims that change in place, which we also call locomotion, needs to be ‘pri-
mary’, without adding any further qualifications.75 This is not the case for
the last three of the five arguments, for which Aristotle explicitly points out
which kind of priority he thinks each of the arguments shows with regard
to locomotion.76 Yet, in what sense Aristotle thinks locomotion is shown to
be prior by this argument can be seen by the way in which the relation
between the three types of non-substantial change is characterised in the
argument.
We have seen that locomotion is prior to the other two kinds of non-sub-
stantial change in living beings in the sense that locomotion needs to pre-
cede the other two in order for them to occur. Therefore, one might think
that the kind of priority discussed here is temporal priority, since locomo-
tion, as I have shown, in fact must take place before the alteration occurs
and hence before the change in magnitude. Yet, this is certainly not the
74 Here is the corollary and my translation of it in full: εἰ ἄρα ἀνάγκη ἀεὶ κίνησιν εἶναι,
ἀνάγκη καὶ φορὰν ἀεὶ εἶναι πρώτην τῶν κινήσεων, καὶ φορᾶς, εἰ ἔστιν ἡ μὲν πρώτη ἡ
δ᾽ ὑστέρα, τὴν πρώτην. Phys. VIII 7, 260b5–7: “Therefore, if there always must be change,
then locomotion as the primary of the changes must also always be, and of locomotion, if
there is a primary and a secondary kind, the primary one.”
75 ἥν καλοῦμεν φοράν, ταύτην ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι πρώτην. Phys. VIII 7, 260a26–29:
“the one which we call locomotion must be primary.”
76 See Phys. VIII 7, 260b16–19. The sense of priority 67
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