Page - 28 - in The Priority of Locomotion in Aristotle’s Physics

(V 1–2).50 This argument, combined with the definition of change devel- oped in Book III51, enables Aristotle to claim that his discussion so far has made clear what change is, how many different kinds of change there are, and what their basic characteristics are.52 In the remaining chapters of this book the rest of the concepts that are necessary for developing a general theory of change and that are of essential importance for the inquiries in Books VI and VIII are analysed. Aristotle therefore discusses the different ways in which changes or parts thereof can be related to each other (V 3). The most important of these concepts is the notion of continuity, without which for instance the refutation of Zeno’s paradoxes in Books VI, as well as the discussion of the eternal kind of change in VIII would be impossi- ble.53 Also, the analysis of the features that are responsible for a change’s unity (V 4), and of ways in which changes or states of rest are contrary to each other (V 5–6) are of utmost importance for the project Aristotle pur- sues in Book VIII.54 Building on what was discussed in the previous book, in Physics VI Aris- totle elaborates on one of the main features that change, time and magni- tude have in common, namely that they are continuous, and he systemati- cally works out what this implies for change. This enables him to repel the threat of Zeno’s paradoxes and to establish a coherent theory of change that allows for a scientific understanding and treatment of this phenomenon and that thus lays the basis for a science that deals with everything in nature that is subject to change. However, the inquiry in Book VI does not end with the refutation of Zeno’s paradoxes, but continues afterwards in Phys. VI 10 with a discussion of whether something indivisible can undergo change and whether infinite change exists. Although both problems play an important role in the discussion in Physics VIII, it is especially the latter, as 50 The different ways in which x is said to change are essential to the arguments for the priority of locomotion; see for instance section 4.2.2, esp. p.77–78. That all arguments presup- pose that there are exactly four kinds of change is clear from the fact that in all but the first one Aristotle argues that locomotion is the first of these four types, that is, if there were other kinds of change the arguments couldn’t possibly succeed in showing that locomotion of all kinds of change is primary. 51 See Phys. V 1, 224b10–11, where Aristotle refers to the definition of change that was presented in Phys. III. 52 See Phys. V 2, 226b16–17. 53 For the latter for instance see my discussion of the third argument (esp. section 5.2.1) where it also becomes clear that the argument also presupposes knowledge of the other terms presented in Phys. V 3, e.g. of that of ἐφεξῆς. 54 This, for instance, becomes clear in my presentation of the third argument (esp. section 5.2.3). There Aristotle shows that the only change capable of forming an eternal unity is circu- lar locomotion, since it can do so without being composed of parts that are contrary to one another. 28 The importance of the primary kind of change ISBN Print: 9783525253069 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647253060 © 2014, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen