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thus why different changes that are generically one and that occur in suc-
cession may not form one eternal change. After all this is shown, I will
examine in what way Aristotle is able to conclude in his last step that
change in place must be primary.43 This last step is of special importance,
since it is puzzling how Aristotle actually arrived at the conclusion that
locomotion is primary, although the term primary, as my reconstruction of
the argument clearly shows, is not used in any of the premises Aristotle pre-
sents in this argument.
5.3 Locomotion alone can be one and eternal
As we have just seen, and as is explicitly stated in the third argument, Aris-
totle does not present any reason for the assumption that there is any such
change at all that is continuous and eternal, but merely presupposes it here
and states his intention to show that this must be the case later on.44 Since
the third argument as a whole relies on this claim it is crucial that Aristotle
makes clear that he is right to make this assertion in order to show that
locomotion has ontological primacy. But the argument, other parts of
which may be found in Phys. VIII 7 and 8, is not only necessary for the the-
sis that locomotion is primary, but, as I pointed out in a prior chapter, for
the whole theory that change is eternal and that there needs to be a first
unmoved mover.45 All this is only possible if there is a change that is one,
continuous and eternal. The argument for this claim is given later on, after
the presentation of the five arguments for the priority claim is completed.
Since it will establish that circular locomotion is this special kind of change,
it in one sense already belongs to the task of showing that circular locomo-
tion is the primary kind of locomotion; in another sense, as we have seen, it
provides an argument for a claim that is essential for the third argument for
the priority of locomotion, which makes it necessary, at least to a certain
degree, to discuss the reasons Aristotle presents for this claim here.46 For,
only if Aristotle shows that locomotion alone can be the kind of change that
in principle may be one and eternal, can one say that locomotion is ontolo-
gically primary in the sense that it is the only candidate for being the change
that is caused directly by the first unmoved mover.
In what follows I will therefore present what basically are Aristotle’s rea-
sons for making this claim. Although the arguments presented for this
43 See Phys. VIII 7, 260b25–26.
44 See Phys. VIII 7, 260b25–26
45 See section 2.4.3.
46 Aristotle himself points out this connection in Phys. VIII 7, 261a27–31.
130 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