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primarily caused by the first unmoved mover and that according to Phys.
VIII 6 must be one, eternal and continuous.22
Every change, Aristotle tells us in Phys. V 4, is basically determined by
three factors: every change presupposes (1) a subject which is undergoing
the change (ὃ, τὸ κινούμενον), (2) something in which the change occurs
(ἐν ᾧ, ἔν τινι), and (3) a time at which it occurs (ὅτε, ἐν χρόνῳ).23 Factors
(1) and (3) are clear, but (2) needs further elucidation. Suppose, for
instance, I am walking from my office to the cafeteria: the subject of the
change is me, as I am the one undergoing a change in place. I may need five
minutes to arrive at the cafeteria, so that the time in which the change
occurs will be these five minutes. Factor (2), i.e. the that in which of the
change, refers to the genus and species to which the change belongs. My
walk from the office to the cafeteria is a change in respect of place and may
be qualified even further with respect to the respective species of the
change.24 For a change to be one without qualification, Aristotle tells us,
each of these three factors has to be one. As the discussion in Phys. V 4
shows, Aristotle, by presenting these three criteria for being one change
without qualification, spells out what it implies to be one continuous
change with respect to these three factors.25 The three conditions that need
to be fulfilled for a change to have this kind of unity are as follows:
1. The subject that undergoes the change must be one26
2. That in which the change occurs must be one and indivisible27
3. The time in which the change occurs must be one and without any
gaps28
This becomes clearer when we look at some of the examples which Aristotle
presents in this context and which illustrate cases in which the unity of a
change is not given. In one of these examples two men are recovering from
the same disease at the same time.29 In this case conditions (2) and (3) are
22 See Phys. VIII 8, 261b36–262a5, where Aristotle points out that a change that is one in
the necessary sense needs to fulfil the three criteria of being one ἁπλῶς that I present in this
section.
23 See Phys. V 4, 227b23–26.
24 Note that, unlike in Phys. V 1, the ἐν ᾧ accordingly does not stand for the time in
which the change occurs (see Phys. V 1, 224a35).
25 See Phys. V 4, 228a31–b10.
26 ἕν, μὴ κατὰ συμβεβηκός, μὴ κοινόν, 227b31–228a1, 228a21–22.
27 ἕν, ἄτομον, 227b29–30.
28 ἕνα, μὴ διαλείπειν, 227b30–31.
29 εἴη γὰρ ἂν ἅμα δύο ἀνθρώπους ὑγιάζεσθαι τὴν αὐτὴν ὑγίανσιν, οἷον
ὀφθαλμίας, Phys. V 4, 228a1–2: “for there might be a case of two men at the same time
restored to health in the same way, as for instance from a disease of the eyes” (Transl. Hardie
& Gaye with mod.).
124 All changes depend on the first locomotion, but not vice versa
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