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action, since all the properties which belong to the one belong identically and
in the same degree to the other; and (b) that ‘unlikes’, i.e. ‘differents’, are by
nature such as to act and suffer action reciprocally. For even when the smaller
fire is destroyed by the greater, it suffers this effect (they say) owing to its
‘contrariety’ since the great is contrary to the small. But (ii) Democritus
dissented from all the other thinkers and maintained a theory peculiar to
himself. He asserts that agent and patient are identical, i.e. ‘like’. It is not
possible (he says) that ‘others’, i.e. ‘differents’, should suffer action from one
another: on the contrary, even if two things, being ‘others’, do act in some
way on one another, this happens to them not qua ‘others’ but qua possessing
an identical property.
Such, then, are the traditional theories, and it looks as if the statements of
their advocates were in manifest conflict. But the reason of this conflict is that
each group is in fact stating a part, whereas they ought to have taken a
comprehensive view of the subject as a whole. For (i) if A and B are ‘like’-
absolutely and in all respects without difference from one another —it is
reasonable to infer that neither is in any way affected by the other. Why,
indeed, should either of them tend to act any more than the other? Moreover,
if ‘like’ can be affected by ‘like’, a thing can also be affected by itself: and yet
if that were so-if ‘like’ tended in fact to act qua ‘like’-there would be nothing
indestructible or immovable, for everything would move itself. And (ii) the
same consequence follows if A and B are absolutely ‘other’, i.e. in no respect
identical. Whiteness could not be affected in any way by line nor line by
whiseness-except perhaps ‘coincidentally’, viz. if the line happened to be
white or black: for unless two things either are, or are composed of,
‘contraries’, neither drives the other out of its natural condition. But (iii) since
only those things which either involve a ‘contrariety’ or are ‘contraries’-and
not any things selected at random-are such as to suffer action and to act, agent
and patient must be ‘like’ (i.e. identical) in kind and yet ‘unlike’ (i.e. contrary)
in species. (For it is a law of nature that body is affected by body, flavour by
flavour, colour by colour, and so in general what belongs to any kind by a
member of the same kind-the reason being that ‘contraries’ are in every case
within a single identical kind, and it is ‘contraries’ which reciprocally act and
suffer action.) Hence agent and patient must be in one sense identical, but in
another sense other than (i.e. ‘unlike’) one another. And since (a) patient and
agent are generically identical (i.e. ‘like’) but specifically ‘unlike’, while (b) it
is ‘contraries’ that exhibit this character: it is clear that ‘contraries’ and their
‘intermediates’ are such as to suffer action and to act reciprocally-for indeed it
is these that constitute the entire sphere of passing-away and coming-to-be.
We can now understand why fire heats and the cold thing cools, and in
general why the active thing assimilates to itself the patient. For agent and
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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