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used the word ‘whether’ only in an antithesis such as ‘whether it is white or
black’, or ‘whether it is white or not white’ (we do not ask ‘whether it is a
man or white’), unless we are proceeding on a prior assumption and asking
something such as ‘whether it was Cleon or Socrates that came’ as this is not
a necessary disjunction in any class of things; yet even this is an extension
from the case of opposites; for opposites alone cannot be present together;
and we assume this incompatibility here too in asking which of the two came;
for if they might both have come, the question would have been absurd; but if
they might, even so this falls just as much into an antithesis, that of the ‘one
or many’, i.e. ‘whether both came or one of the two’:-if, then, the question
‘whether’ is always concerned with opposites, and we can ask ‘whether it is
greater or less or equal’, what is the opposition of the equal to the other two?
It is not contrary either to one alone or to both; for why should it be contrary
to the greater rather than to the less? Further, the equal is contrary to the
unequal. Therefore if it is contrary to the greater and the less, it will be
contrary to more things than one. But if the unequal means the same as both
the greater and the less together, the equal will be opposite to both (and the
difficulty supports those who say the unequal is a ‘two’), but it follows that
one thing is contrary to two others, which is impossible. Again, the equal is
evidently intermediate between the great and the small, but no contrariety is
either observed to be intermediate, or, from its definition, can be so; for it
would not be complete if it were intermediate between any two things, but
rather it always has something intermediate between its own terms.
It remains, then, that it is opposed either as negation or as privation. It
cannot be the negation or privation of one of the two; for why of the great
rather than of the small? It is, then, the privative negation of both. This is why
‘whether’ is said with reference to both, not to one of the two (e.g. ‘whether it
is greater or equal’ or ‘whether it is equal or less’); there are always three
cases. But it is not a necessary privation; for not everything which is not
greater or less is equal, but only the things which are of such a nature as to
have these attributes.
The equal, then, is that which is neither great nor small but is naturally
fitted to be either great or small; and it is opposed to both as a privative
negation (and therefore is also intermediate). And that which is neither good
nor bad is opposed to both, but has no name; for each of these has several
meanings and the recipient subject is not one; but that which is neither white
nor black has more claim to unity. Yet even this has not one name, though the
colours of which this negation is privatively predicated are in a way limited;
for they must be either grey or yellow or something else of the kind.
Therefore it is an incorrect criticism that is passed by those who think that all
such phrases are used in the same way, so that that which is neither a shoe nor
1670
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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