Page - 50 - in The Priority of Locomotion in Aristotle’s Physics

ment for this claim basically seems to be that what makes the subject of the alteration alter, the alterer so to speak, needs to change its distance with respect to the subject in doing so. This, however, clearly involves locomo- tion. But let us look at the relevant passage (260b1–5) in more detail. Aristotle starts by pointing out that whenever an alteration occurs, i.e. something is altered, then there must necessarily be something which makes the subject of this change undergo an alteration (τὸ ἀλλοιοῦν), i.e. something one might call the alterer.24 This makes use of a principle that Aristotle for instance states in Phys. VIII 4, namely that whatever undergoes a change must be caused to do so by something.25 Since alteration is a change, this must also hold true for alteration. Alteration is a change with respect to quality, which in this case implies that the subject needs to be caused to change with respect to a quality. Suppose, for instance, something changes from being cold to being hot. This means that the alterer needs to change what is undergoing this alteration from being potentially hot to becoming actually hot.26 This, however, Aristotle claims, cannot happen without locomotion.27 As we will see later on, this is what shows the prior- ity of locomotion. But what is the reason for making the claim that locomotion is necessa- rily involved in this process, and in what way does the change from cold to hot presuppose locomotion? The reason Aristotle seems to have in mind is this: any alteration, also that in which something cold is turned into some- thing hot, involves a change in distance between what alters and what is altered, i.e. a change in place of either the alterer, the altered thing, or both. This is necessary, since, as Aristotle claims in Phys. VII 2, for an alteration to occur, what alters and what is altered need to be in contact28, or to put it more precisely, the extremes of the alterer (τὸ ἀλλοιοῦν) and that which is altered (τὸ ἀλλοιούμενον) need to be situated together (ἅμα) in such a way that there is nothing between them.29 One could also say that both sented here cover the whole spectrum of alterations that one would expect to be covered against the background of the discussion of quality in Cat. 8. I will say more about this in sec- tion 4.4.2 in the chapter on the second argument for the primacy of locomotion; see esp. p.100, n.70, and p.103, n.83). 24 εἴ γε ἀλλοιοῦται, δεῖ τι εἶναι τὸ ἀλλοιοῦν, Phys. VIII 7, 260b1: “if something is altered, there needs to be something that alters the thing”. 25 ἅπαντα ἂν τὰ κινούμενα ὑπό τινος κινοῖτο. Phys. VIII 4, 256a2–3. What this implies is discussed in more detail at the beginning of VIII 5. For the principle that any change must be caused by something see also Phys. VII 1, 241b34–35. 26 καὶ ποιοῦν ἐκ τοῦ δυνάμει θερμοῦ ἐνεργείᾳ θερμόν, Phys. VIII 7, 260b2. 27 ταῦτα δ᾽ ἄνευ φορᾶς οὐκ ἐνδέχεται ὑπάρχειν. Phys. VIII 7, 260b4–5. 28 For the claim see Phys. VII 2, 244b2–5 and 245a10–11. The whole argument for this claim is presented in 244b2–245a10. 29 Again, I take this not only to be true for changes with respect to affections, but for any 50 Change in quality and quantity of living beings ISBN Print: 9783525253069 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647253060 © 2014, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen