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corruption of the four elements take place in virtue of aggregation and seg-
regation. Although it is wrong to say that this is all that happens when one
of the elemental bodies comes to be or perishes, and that this process may
be reduced to nothing but aggregation or segregation, one has to have in
mind that substantial change in GC I 2 is described as a change in the form
or definition (λόγος), but also in the matter (ὕλη) of the underlying
thing.51 I take it that Aristotle applies the concepts σύγκρισις and διάκρι-
σις, terms coined by his predecessors, in order to refer to processes that
occur on the material level and are an essential part of the elemental bodies’
generation and corruption, but also, as I will show, of any other substance’s
generation and corruption. That Aristotle views these concepts as playing
such a significant role in understanding substantial change is also supported
by a statement made in GC I 2, where it is stated that something which
undergoes aggregation or a segregation becomes more or less susceptible to
corruption as a result.52 However, the occurrence of aggregation or segrega-
tion does not necessarily bring about a substantial change: heating a portion
of water, for instance does not have to lead to the corruption of the portion
of this element, although the heating, as we have seen in the examples from
the Meteorology involves segregation of the water, which is manifested in an
increase in the water’s volume. But if water is heated long enough, then it
will perish at some point due to the fact that it has undergone a segregation
and no longer has the form of water, i.e. is no longer characterized by its
specific combination of the basic qualities of cold and wet and by its motion
towards its sphere.53 Therefore, undergoing either segregation or aggrega-
tion is not a sufficient condition for an element to undergo generation or
corruption. Nevertheless, these two processes are obviously an essential part
of what happens when elemental bodies come to be or perish. In this way,
i.e. with respect to the elements, Aristotle in Phys. VIII 7 correctly says that
we speak of generation and corruption in virtue of σύγκρισις and διάκρι-
σις, since the occurence of one of the two is a necessary condition for the
occurence of either of the former two processes. But, this of course, does
perishing of air, which Aristotle describes as a process of aggregation see for example Mete. I
3, 341a4 and 341a9–10. For the reverse process and the change from air to fire, i.e. the com-
ing to be of fire and the corruption of air, which occur by means of segregation, see Mete. I 3,
340a8–10 and 340b3.
51 See GC I 2, 317a23–24. I take it that the reason why Aristotle mentions the material
aspect of a substantial change here in GC while he usually neglects it in other characterisa-
tions of change in substance is that he focuses on what happens on what one might call the
material level.
52 See GC I 2, 317a27–29.
53 For the characterisation of the elements by the pairs of qualities of hot-cold and dry-
moist see GC II 3, 330b3–7.
What undergoes generation or corruption changes with respect to place 93
ISBN Print: 9783525253069 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647253060
© 2014, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen
The Priority of Locomotion in Aristotle’s Physics
- Title
- The Priority of Locomotion in Aristotle’s Physics
- Author
- Sebastian Odzuck
- Editor
- Dorothea Frede
- Gisela Striker
- Publisher
- Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co
- Date
- 2014
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9783647253060
- Size
- 15.5 x 23.2 cm
- Pages
- 238
- Categories
- Geisteswissenschaften
- Naturwissenschaften Physik
Table of contents
- Acknowledgements 9
- 1. Introduction 10
- 2. The importance of the primary kind of change 14
- 3. Change in quality and quantity of living beings depends on loco-motion, but not vice versa 42
- 4. Locomotion necessarily accompanies each of the other kinds of change, but not vice versa 71
- 4.1 Overview 71
- 4.2 What changes in quantity changes with respect to place 73
- 4.3 What undergoes generation or corruption changes with respect to place 89
- 4.4 What changes in quality changes with respect to place 98
- 4.4.1 Overview 98
- 4.4.2 What does it mean that condensation and rarefaction are principles of quality? 100
- 4.4.3 Every alteration involves a change in the four basic qualities 104
- 4.4.4 Every change in the four basic qualities involves con- densation or rarefaction 108
- 4.4.5 Condensation and rarefaction are forms of aggregation and segregation 110
- 4.4.6 What changes in quality changes with respect to place 112
- 4.4.7 Conclusion 113
- 4.5 Conclusion 113
- 5. All changes depend on the first locomotion, but not vice versa 115
- 6. Locomotion has temporal priority 144
- 6.1 Overview 144
- 6.2 Locomotion has priority in time, since it is the only change eternals can undergo 146
- 6.3 Objection: Locomotion is the last of all changes in perishable things 148
- 6.4 Coming to be presupposes an earlier locomotion 150
- 6.5 The locomotion of the sun as a cause of generation 154
- 6.6 Conclusion 162
- 7. Locomotion is prior in essence 164
- 7.1 Locomotion is prior in essence, since it is last in coming to be 164
- 7.2 Locomotion alone preserves its subject’s essence 186
- 7.2.1 Overview 186
- 7.2.2 Locomotion does not change its subject’s being 188
- 7.2.3 Locomotion preserves its subject’s essence best 190
- 7.2.4 Making x depart from its essence by being part of a change in essence? 195
- 7.2.5 Change in quality or quantity in principle may result in a change in essence 202
- 7.3 Conclusion: Locomotion’s priority in essence 207
- 8. Conclusion 211
- Bibliography 220
- List of Abbreviations 223
- Index Locorum 221
- Index Nominum 223
- Index Rerum 221