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ble for change in quality, quantity and substance as well as for all other
types of change in place, Aristotle at the end of Phys. VIII 8 is able to claim
to have shown that no other change besides locomotion can be infinite and
continuous, i.e. one without qualification.65 But in showing this he has not
only presented a reason for saying that the primary kind of change in place
is circular locomotion, but has also provided an argument for a claim
already stated at Phys. VIII 2 and on which the whole theory developed in
chapter 1–6 of this book depends, namely that a change that is one and
eternal in the strict sense is possible and can exist at all.66 There certainly is
much more that needs to be said with respect to the arguments presented
for the claim that a special kind of locomotion alone, namely circular loco-
motion, can be one and eternal; yet, for the purpose of getting a basic idea
of what may be Aristotle’s reason for making this claim, this certainly is
enough.67 Now that this has been shown, I will return to the discussion of
the third argument. But before explaining how all of the arguments given
above combine to show that locomotion has ontological priority over the
other kinds of change, I will discuss the remarks that Aristotle makes about
this kind of priority in connection with the passage in question, as they
might tell us more about Aristotle’s view of ontological priority.
5.4 Locomotion has ontological priority
5.4.1 Ontological priority
As we have seen in the discussion of the first two arguments, Aristotle does
not explicitly qualify the way in which he thinks they show that locomotion
is primary, but rather presupposes that the reader is acquainted with the
65 ὅτι μὲν οὖν οὔτ᾽ ἄπειρός ἐστι μεταβολὴ οὐδεμία οὔτε συνεχὴς ἔξω τῆς κύκλῳ
φορᾶς ἔστω τοσαῦθ᾽ ἡμῖν εἰρημένα. Phys. VIII 8, 265a10–12.
66 See Phys. VIII 2, 252b9–13. For more on this see section 2.4.3.
67 A thorough analysis of these arguments, which after all are presented on more than
three Bekker-pages of text, among other things for instance should also deal with Aristotle
discussion of Zeno presented in Phys. VIII 8. For, Zeno’s paradoxes also might make one
think that, contrary to what Aristotle claims, there may be an eternal change along a straight
line: since the runner, although moving by traversing half the distance of the previous dis-
tance by each step, will never reach the endpoint and thus keep on moving forever. A possible
answer Aristotle might give to this could be that—if this indeed were an eternal change—it
would presuppose that the runner at some earlier point traversed a distance that is larger than
the finite cosmos. For, as the distance the runner needs to traverse by every additional step
decreases into smaller and yet smaller parts, the distance increases ad infinitum as one goes
back in time. Locomotion has ontological priority 137
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