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8. Conclusion
In the following chapter I will summarize the results of my study. My first
step was to examine the context in which Aristotle presented the arguments
for the claim that of the four different kinds of change locomotion is the
primary one. It became clear that this discussion is part of Aristotle’s larger
project of developing a general theory about the phenomenon of change
which is worked out in Physics V–VIII. Physics VIII, to which the discus-
sion of the priority claim more specifically belongs, needs to be considered
as the part of the inquiry which brings the project to its completion: first of
all Aristotle analyses the different concepts that are necessary for this enter-
prise and shows that change, contrary to what Zenon’s paradoxes might
suggest, is a phenomenon graspable by scientific inquiry and of which a
consistent theory is possible. Building on the work done in Phys. V and VI,
Aristotle in Phys. VIII ultimately develops a theory that accounts for the
existence of change in the cosmos by showing that change always existed
and always will exist, and that for this reason a first unmoved mover as an
ultimate source of all change must be presupposed. As I have explained, dis-
cussion of the different arguments for the priority claim is crucial if this
theory is to hold; for only if Aristotle is successful in showing that locomo-
tion indeed is primary in all important respects will he be able to make clear
at a later stage that the eternal motion of which according to him the first
unmoved mover is the primary source can exist at all. Contrary to what the
literature suggests, the discussion of the question which kind of change is
primary, thus, is essential for what goes on in Physics VIII as well as for
Aristotle’s larger project of developing a general theory of change. Accord-
ingly, it must not be considered as a superfluous addition that does not play
any important role in the discussion into which it is embedded; rather, the
contrary is the case, since without this discussion Aristotle would not be
able to show that the theory developed in Books V and VI can be applied
successfully to the whole of the cosmos in order to give a final causal expla-
nation of the occurrence of change as we observe it day by day and thereby
to account in an appropriate way for the empirical fact that change exists.
Therefore, in Phys. VIII 7 five arguments are presented that make clear
that locomotion is prior to the other kinds of change in different respects.
As we have seen, each of the first three of these five arguments shows that
change in place has ontological priority over the other kinds of change in a
specific sense. In the first argument, as became clear, Aristotle points out
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