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within the decade. For some things, e.g. movement and rest, good and bad,
they assign to the originative principles, and the others to the numbers. This is
why they identify the odd with 1; for if the odd implied 3 how would 5 be
odd? Again, spatial magnitudes and all such things are explained without
going beyond a definite number; e.g. the first, the indivisible, line, then the 2
&c.; these entities also extend only up to 10.
Again, if number can exist separately, one might ask which is prior—1, or
3 or 2? Inasmuch as the number is composite, 1 is prior, but inasmuch as the
universal and the form is prior, the number is prior; for each of the units is
part of the number as its matter, and the number acts as form. And in a sense
the right angle is prior to the acute, because it is determinate and in virtue of
its definition; but in a sense the acute is prior, because it is a part and the right
angle is divided into acute angles. As matter, then, the acute angle and the
element and the unit are prior, but in respect of the form and of the substance
as expressed in the definition, the right angle, and the whole consisting of the
matter and the form, are prior; for the concrete thing is nearer to the form and
to what is expressed in the definition, though in generation it is later. How
then is 1 the starting-point? Because it is not divisiable, they say; but both the
universal, and the particular or the element, are indivisible. But they are
starting-points in different ways, one in definition and the other in time. In
which way, then, is 1 the starting-point? As has been said, the right angle is
thought to be prior to the acute, and the acute to the right, and each is one.
Accordingly they make 1 the starting-point in both ways. But this is
impossible. For the universal is one as form or substance, while the element is
one as a part or as matter. For each of the two is in a sense one-in truth each
of the two units exists potentially (at least if the number is a unity and not like
a heap, i.e. if different numbers consist of differentiated units, as they say),
but not in complete reality; and the cause of the error they fell into is that they
were conducting their inquiry at the same time from the standpoint of
mathematics and from that of universal definitions, so that (1) from the
former standpoint they treated unity, their first principle, as a point; for the
unit is a point without position. They put things together out of the smallest
parts, as some others also have done. Therefore the unit becomes the matter of
numbers and at the same time prior to 2; and again posterior, 2 being treated
as a whole, a unity, and a form. But (2) because they were seeking the
universal they treated the unity which can be predicated of a number, as in
this sense also a part of the number. But these characteristics cannot belong at
the same time to the same thing.
If the 1-itself must be unitary (for it differs in nothing from other 1’s except
that it is the starting-point), and the 2 is divisible but the unit is not, the unit
must be liker the 1-itself than the 2 is. But if the unit is liker it, it must be liker
1729
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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