Page - 136 - in The Priority of Locomotion in Aristotle’s Physics
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Text of the Page - 136 -
The subject, by starting to move from some arbitrary point A on a circular
path, is already moving towards one and the same point A again which,
according to Aristotle, shows that this cannot be a locomotion to its con-
trary, for this would presuppose that the starting point and the endpoint
are contrary to one another.61 The subject of a rectilinear motion, however,
moves to another place—in our example from A to B. The movement from
A to B and from B to A that occurs along a straight line, therefore, is com-
posed of two local changes with different starting and end points, namely
the extreme points of the rectilinear path of the motion; these points are
therefore contrary to each other.62 Therefore the locomotion from A to B is
contrary to that from B to A. This, as we have seen, presupposes that the
subject of this change comes to a halt after having ended either of the
changes and before moving back to the starting point again.
But could a similar case not be made for circular locomotion as well?
Suppose, for instance, there is some other arbitrary point B on the circle
(see Fig.1). Could one not say that moving from A to B is one change, and
moving from B to A is another, each of which has a different starting point?
The difference between this case and locomotion along a straight line, Aris-
totle seems to think, is that the subject of circular locomotion merely passes
through B, but does not have to turn around (ἀνακάμπτει) in order to
return to its original starting point, and thus would not move with a motion
contrary to the first one. According to this argument, the subject of the cir-
cular movement therefore never needs to stop moving towards A and, thus,
never starts a new change before reaching A. It is one local change the sub-
ject undergoes in moving from A to A in which it passes B, among other
points.63
It is because of the fact that any (complete) local movement along a cir-
cular path ends where it begins—in our case at A—that its subject can con-
tinue to undergo this motion again and again and in this way changes con-
tinuously without an intermittence of time being necessarily involved.
Therefore, Aristotle concludes that there is no reason for an eternal change
that consists of an infinite number of repetitions of the very same circular
locomotion, so to speak, not to go on continuously without any interrup-
tion.64 For this reason, and because he has shown that the same is impossi-
61 See Phys. VIII 8, 264b10–17.
62 See Phys. VIII 8, 264b14–17.
63 Aristotle obviously thinks that x in moving in a circle never undergoes changes or parts
of a change that are contrary to each other. This, among other things, is far from clear and
needs further argument, for although x is always moving towards A, one might come to think
for instance that in moving downwards and upwards at different times of the circular loco-
motion x in fact does undergo contrary motions.
64 ὥστ᾽ οὐδὲν κωλύει συνεχῶς κινεῖσθαι καὶ μηδένα χρόνον διαλείπειν. Phys. VIII
8, 264b17–18.
136 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