Page - 180 - in The Priority of Locomotion in Aristotle’s Physics
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An animal cannot have the sensory capacity without having the nutritive
one, while there are living beings that have the latter without the former.41
The locomotive capacity and the sensory capacity stand in a similar rela-
tion: having the former presupposes also having the latter, but not vice
versa.42 The relation between these capacities therefore is one of ontological
priority. As we have seen in the discussion of the third argument for the
priority of locomotion, x is ontologically prior to y, if and only if x can exist
without y, but not vice versa. In terms of the three capacities of the soul this
means that (1) the locomotive capacity cannot exist without the sensory
one, but not vice versa, and (2) the sensory capacity cannot exist without
the nutritive one, but not vice versa. Therefore, (3) the locomotive capacity
also cannot exist without the nutritive one, but not vice versa.
For this reason, all living beings have the nutritive part in common, no
matter whether they also have the capacity for sensation or locomotion.
However, it is impossible for there to be a living being which has the sen-
sory capacity, but does not have the nutritive one. In the same way, it is not
possible for there to be a living thing that has locomotion, but lacks percep-
tion or nutrition. Accordingly, the different capacities may be ordered in
the following way according to their ontological priority:
1. Nutritive capacity
2. Sensory capacity
3. Locomotive capacity
As with respect to priority in coming to be, with respect to ontological
priority it is also not the capacity for locomotion that is prior to the rest,
but the one that is responsible for growth and diminution, i.e. for nutrition.
In fact, the capacity to cause one’s own change in place is posterior to the
two other relevant capacities in this way. But, as we have seen, the argument
is not about showing that the capacity for locomotion has ontological, but
that it has essential priority. Aristotle has already shown in the first three
arguments that locomotion in general is ontologically prior to the other
kinds of change. A result of the third of these arguments (which I discussed
in chapter 5 of my work) was that, from a broader perspective, every change
in quantity and quality, even if it is self-caused by a living thing’s nutritive
41 See de An. II 3, 415a1–3.
42 See de An. ΙΙΙ 10, 433b27–30, where Aristotle argues that an animal is only capable of
locomotion (κινητικόν) insofar as it is capable of desire (ὀρεκτικόν). The latter, again, pre-
supposes either the sensory (αἰσθητική) or the reasoning capacity (λογιστική). As only some
of the animals have reason, but all of them have desire (see de An. III 11, 434a5–7), and since
some of them may move themselves without having reason, it is clear that the locomotive
capacity presupposes the sensory one. However, there are animals, for instance sponges,
which are capable of sensory activity but not of locomotion.
180 Locomotion is prior in essence
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