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mary involves comparing it to other kinds of change, and this is exactly
what Aristotle does here in examining what role it plays in beings in com-
parison to the other kinds of change.
But this project is not yet completed, because so far only perishable living
things have been considered. In the second part of the fifth argument, Aris-
totle therefore will present reasons for the claim that locomotion is primary
in eternal things as well. If the second sub-argument is also successful in
showing what it is supposed to show, then the fifth argument taken as a
whole shows that having locomotion in the sense at issue has priority in
essence over the other kinds of change in all kinds of beings. This means
that the second argument is not merely an additional reason for the pri-
macy of locomotion, but needs to be considered in connection with the first
one, and vice versa. Without the second argument the general priority in
essence of locomotion would not be shown. As I will state in the course of
the following discussion, this last step, however, presupposes understanding
locomotion’s priority in essence in terms of its being more specific to that
to which it belongs, and this, as I have shown, implicitly underlies Aristo-
tle’s discussion of the first sub-argument. This also supports my view that
there indeed is a close relation between the first and second arguments.
Therefore, one may conclude that Aristotle at the end of the passage I
discussed is right in claiming that he has shown that locomotion has “pri-
macy over the other kinds of change”47—but only in the sense that he has
proved this to be true in the sense in question, i.e. with respect to living
things. In order to prove that the claim about locomotion’s priority in
essence is true in general it still needs to be shown that locomotion is prior
in this sense for eternal things as well.
7.2 Locomotion alone preserves its subject’s essence
7.2.1 Overview
The second argument follows right after the first one:
καὶ ἡ κίνησις αὕτη πρώτη τῶν ἄλλων ἄν εἴη κατ᾽ οὐσίαν, διά τε
ταῦτα καὶ διότι ἥκιστα τῆς οὐσίας ἐξίσταται τὸ κινούμενον τῶν
κινήσεων ἐν τῷ φέρεσθαι· κατὰ μόνην γὰρ οὐδὲν μεταβάλλει τοῦ
εἶναι, ὥσπερ ἀλλοιουμένου μὲν τὸ ποιόν, αὐξανομένου δὲ καὶ
φθίνοντος τὸ ποσόν. (261a19–23)
47 ἡ κίνησις αὕτη [scil. φορά] πρώτη τῶν ἄλλων ἄν εἴη κατ᾽ οὐσίαν, Phys. VIII 7,
261a19–20.
186 Locomotion is prior in essence
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