Page - 126 - in The Priority of Locomotion in Aristotle’s Physics
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continuous change, i.e. can never constitute one single change without qua-
lification.
But it is important to note that, although such changes cannot be consid-
ered one without qualification, there nonetheless is a way in which a num-
ber of changes that at least stand in the relation of one coming right after
the other (ἐφεξῆς) may form a certain whole and be called continuous
(συνεχές). Think of the example of the man falling into a fever directly
after his run: the locomotion and the alteration that immediately follows it
occur in one uninterrupted stretch of time and in this way may be said to be
continuous with respect to time. For this reason Aristotle is right when he
states in the third argument for locomotion’s priority in Phys. VIII 7 that
the fact that there is a succession of changes in principle explains how there
can be eternal change, namely with respect to the time in which the changes
occur as a whole. Yet, this does not change the fact that changes which dif-
fer in genus can never form one continuous whole, since it is impossible for
their extremes to be one and the same. Accordingly, it is clear why certain
changes, although they occur one after another (ἐφεξῆς), cannot form one
single and continuous change and, therefore, a fortiori cannot form one
continuous change that is eternal.
From what we have seen it is clear that a change in place and a succeed-
ing change in quality for instance cannot form one continuous change and
that accordingly there is no way in which a combination of generically dif-
ferent changes can comprise one continuous change that is eternal. But it is
still unclear why Aristotle claims in Phys. VIII 7 that a combination of
changes that differ from the example discussed above insofar as they are
generically one but that also occur one after another (ἐφεξῆς), are not able
to form one continuous change that is eternal, i.e. a kind of change of
which the first unmoved mover could be the direct cause. For in contrast to
generically different changes, they do have extremes that in principle may
become one. Why should it be impossible for instance that there is an eter-
nal change in quality or quantity? Could one not think, for example, of
something eternally changing from white to black and from black to white
over and over again, or of some object undergoing an increase in size until
a certain magnitude is reached, and then decreasing again until a certain
size is reached, and so forth ad infinitum?
This question indeed is puzzling, since according to Aristotle, and as we
just saw, even changes that are not one in genus may be said to form a con-
tinuous whole with respect to time, although they cannot form one change
in the relevant sense, i.e. in being one without qualification. What is the
reason then for saying that it is impossible that a chain of succeeding
changes which are all of the same genus cannot form one eternal change?
For, as I have shown, this is what Aristotle presupposes in the third argu-
ment by saying that the first of the two options for change being eternal is
126 All changes depend on the first locomotion, but not vice versa
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