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it is not easy to name the intermediate, but we must define it as that which is
not either extreme, as in the case of that which is neither good nor bad, neither
just nor unjust.
(iii) ‘privatives’ and ‘Positives’ have reference to the same subject. Thus,
sight and blindness have reference to the eye. It is a universal rule that each of
a pair of opposites of this type has reference to that to which the particular
‘positive’ is natural. We say that that is capable of some particular faculty or
possession has suffered privation when the faculty or possession in question is
in no way present in that in which, and at the time at which, it should
naturally be present. We do not call that toothless which has not teeth, or that
blind which has not sight, but rather that which has not teeth or sight at the
time when by nature it should. For there are some creatures which from birth
are without sight, or without teeth, but these are not called toothless or blind.
To be without some faculty or to possess it is not the same as the
corresponding ‘privative’ or ‘positive’. ‘Sight’ is a ‘positive’, ‘blindness’ a
‘privative’, but ‘to possess sight’ is not equivalent to ‘sight’, ‘to be blind’ is
not equivalent to ‘blindness’. Blindness is a ‘privative’, to be blind is to be in
a state of privation, but is not a ‘privative’. Moreover, if ‘blindness’ were
equivalent to ‘being blind’, both would be predicated of the same subject; but
though a man is said to be blind, he is by no means said to be blindness.
To be in a state of ‘possession’ is, it appears, the opposite of being in a state
of ‘privation’, just as ‘positives’ and ‘privatives’ themselves are opposite.
There is the same type of antithesis in both cases; for just as blindness is
opposed to sight, so is being blind opposed to having sight.
That which is affirmed or denied is not itself affirmation or denial. By
‘affirmation’ we mean an affirmative proposition, by ‘denial’ a negative. Now,
those facts which form the matter of the affirmation or denial are not
propositions; yet these two are said to be opposed in the same sense as the
affirmation and denial, for in this case also the type of antithesis is the same.
For as the affirmation is opposed to the denial, as in the two propositions ‘he
sits’, ‘he does not sit’, so also the fact which constitutes the matter of the
proposition in one case is opposed to that in the other, his sitting, that is to
say, to his not sitting.
It is evident that ‘positives’ and ‘privatives’ are not opposed each to each in
the same sense as relatives. The one is not explained by reference to the other;
sight is not sight of blindness, nor is any other preposition used to indicate the
relation. Similarly blindness is not said to be blindness of sight, but rather,
privation of sight. Relatives, moreover, reciprocate; if blindness, therefore,
were a relative, there would be a reciprocity of relation between it and that
with which it was correlative. But this is not the case. Sight is not called the
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Buch The Complete Aristotle"
The Complete Aristotle
- Titel
- The Complete Aristotle
- Autor
- Aristotle
- Datum
- ~322 B.C.
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- PD
- Abmessungen
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Seiten
- 2328
- Schlagwörter
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Kategorien
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- Part 1; Logic (Organon) 3
- Categories 4
- On Interpretation 34
- Prior Analytics, Book I 56
- Prior Analytics, Book II 113
- Posterior Analytics, Book I 149
- Posterior Analytics, Book II 193
- Topics, Book I 218
- Topics, Book II 221
- Topics, Book III 237
- Topics, Book IV 248
- Topics, Book V 266
- Topics, Book VI 291
- Topics, Book VII 317
- Topics, Book VIII 326
- On Sophistical Refutations 348
- Part 2; Universal Physics 396
- Physics, Book I 397
- Physics, Book II 415
- Physics, Book III 432
- Physics, Book IV 449
- Physics, Book V 481
- Physics, Book VI 496
- Physics, Book VII 519
- Physics, Book VIII 533
- On the Heavens, Book I 570
- On the Heavens, Book II 599
- On the Heavens, Book III 624
- On the Heavens, Book IV 640
- On Generation and Corruption, Book I 651
- On Generation and Corruption, Book II 685
- Meteorology, Book I 707
- Meteorology, Book II 733
- Meteorology, Book III 760
- Meteorology, Book IV 773
- Part 3; Human Physics 795
- On the Soul, Book I 796
- On the Soul, Book II 815
- On the Soul, Book III 840
- On Sense and the Sensible 861
- On Memory and Reminiscence 889
- On Sleep and Sleeplessness 899
- On Dreams 909
- On Prophesying by Dreams 918
- On Longevity and the Shortness of Life 923
- On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration 929
- Part 4; Animal Physics 952
- The History of Animals, Book I 953
- The History of Animals, Book II translated 977
- The History of Animals, Book III 1000
- The History of Animals, Book IV 1029
- The History of Animals, Book V 1056
- The History of Animals, Book VI 1094
- The History of Animals, Book VII 1135
- The History of Animals, Book VIII 1150
- The History of Animals, Book IX 1186
- On the Parts of Animals, Book I 1234
- On the Parts of Animals, Book II 1249
- On the Parts of Animals, Book III 1281
- On the Parts of Animals, Book IV 1311
- On the Motion of Animals 1351
- On the Gait of Animals 1363
- On the Generation of Animals, Book I 1381
- On the Generation of Animals, Book II 1412
- On the Generation of Animals, Book III 1444
- On the Generation of Animals, Book IV 1469
- On the Generation of Animals, Book V 1496
- Part 5; Metaphysics 1516
- Part 6; Ethics and Politics 1748
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book I 1749
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book II 1766
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book III 1779
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IV 1799
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book V 1817
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI 1836
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII 1851
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII 1872
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IX 1890
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book X 1907
- Politics, Book I 1925
- Politics, Book II 1943
- Politics, Book III 1970
- Politics, Book IV 1997
- Politics, Book V 2023
- Politics, Book VI 2053
- Politics, Book VII 2065
- Politics, Book VIII 2091
- The Athenian Constitution 2102
- Part 7; Aesthetic Writings 2156