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received this sensory input, initiates the bodily reaction.38 However, this
does not imply that the alteration is caused by the sensory part of the soul
alone; as there must be nourishment that the nutritive soul can transform
into a part of the body in order for the body to grow, there also needs to be
some sensory input for the alteration to take place; nevertheless it is the
nutritive soul that is responsible for the occurrence of the growth in the first
place, as is the sensory part for the respective alteration.39 The fact that such
alterations are caused by the sensory capacity, of course, does not mean that
this capacity of the soul is the primary source of all changes in quality a liv-
ing being undergoes. Only those alterations for which the animal itself is
responsible in the aforementioned way are caused by the soul’s sensory
capacity. My soul is not responsible for the warming of my skin that occurs
when I take a sunbath, but it is for the darkening of my skin.
The passage from PA I 1 does not name the part that is the origin of loco-
motion and that, according to the De Anima, one may call the locomotive
part (κινητικόν). But it says that this part is different from the nutritive,
the sensory, and the rational part of the soul40, which makes clear, again,
that for locomotion, too, there is a specific part or capacity in the soul that
is responsible for this kind of change. For my purposes, that is for under-
standing Aristotle’s argument for the claim that locomotion has priority in
essence, this is sufficient.
7.1.4.2 Priority in essence of the locomotive capacity
To sum up what I just said: for each of the three kinds of non-substantial
change that a living being undergoes and for which it is responsible in the
sense that they originate in the animal’s soul, there is a specific capacity or
part of the soul that is responsible for it. In this group of capacities, as Aris-
totle claims, the one for locomotion is primary.
According to what Aristotle says in the De Anima and elsewhere, these
different capacities or parts of the soul stand in a relation of dependency.
38 This is a modified version of an example Balme (1992), 92, uses.
39 Another, more complex example would be the case in which I feel I have been treated
unjustly and in reaction become angry so that, among other things, my face turns hot and
red. That such cases count as alterations may be seen in Aristotle’s discussion of shame in EN
IV 9. Shame, Aristotle tells us, is “more like a passion than a state” (πάθει γὰρ μᾶλλον),
since “people who feel disgraced blush, and those who fear death turn pale”, which shows that
both “seem to be in a sense bodily conditions” (σωματικὰ δὴ φαίνεται πως εἶναι) (EN IV
9, 1128b10–15, Transl. Ross). Thus when I blush, Balme (1992), 92, argues, my “memory or
expectation of certain pains or pleasures” cause the sensory part of my soul to make my
cheeks become hot and red.
40 φορᾶς δ᾽ ἕτερόντι καὶ οὐ τὸ νοητικόν, PA I 1, 641b7.
Locomotion is prior in essence, since it is last in coming to be 179
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