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claims it needs to be, a change that has its primary source in the first
unmoved mover, and which for this reason also temporally precedes all of
the finite changes that occur in the cosmos.
6.6 Conclusion
What are the results of the analysis of the fourth argument for locomotion’s
primacy? First of all I have shown in what way the fact that locomotion is
the only kind of change eternal things may be subject to implies locomo-
tion’s temporal priority over the other kinds of change: as was shown in the
previous chapter, locomotion alone can be eternal and therefore is the only
possible candidate for the change eternal things undergo, which also makes
it the only candidate for the primary change that is directly caused by the
first unmoved mover. In virtue of being eternal and having no beginning or
end, the changes which eternal things undergo necessarily precede any
instance of the other three kinds of change in time, as each of them is
always finite. Accordingly, locomotion in virtue of being the only possible
candidate for the eternal change that is directly caused by the first unmoved
mover has temporal priority over any occurrence of each of the other three
kinds of change, insofar as this eternal locomotion will always be going on
before the occurrence of any of these other changes.
Yet, in contrast to this it seemed that there are cases which rather suggest
that locomotion with respect to time is the last of the changes. For, in the
development that living beings are subject to, these things are only able to
undergo their specific locomotion after they have already undergone altera-
tion and growth. The discussion of this objection has also made clear that
against this background one might even come to think that generation in
general, and not locomotion, is the primary kind of change. For the three
kinds of non-substantial change, and corruption as well, presuppose the
existence of an object with respect to which they may occur, and that, as it
appears, needs to be brought into being before it may be subject to a
change.
Since the fact of locomotion’s posteriority in this sense seems to contra-
dict the claim about locomotion having temporal priority over the other
kinds of change, Aristotle devotes the majority of the passage to rebutting
this objection. And as we have seen, the case at issue is actually compatible
with Aristotle’s claim about locomotion’s temporal priority. For, each gen-
eration of some thing is partly caused by the sun and its eternal change in
place, and hence the generation that, with respect to perishable things, pre-
cedes locomotion is itself preceded by a locomotion that is not preceded by
any change. By making use of this causal connection between the changes
162 Locomotion has temporal priority
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