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originated from an internal principle, arrive at some completion: the same
completion is not reached from every principle; nor any chance completion,
but always the tendency in each is towards the same end, if there is no
impediment.
The end and the means towards it may come about by chance. We say, for
instance, that a stranger has come by chance, paid the ransom, and gone away,
when he does so as if he had come for that purpose, though it was not for that
that he came. This is incidental, for chance is an incidental cause, as I
remarked before. But when an event takes place always or for the most part, it
is not incidental or by chance. In natural products the sequence is invariable,
if there is no impediment.
It is absurd to suppose that purpose is not present because we do not
observe the agent deliberating. Art does not deliberate. If the ship-building art
were in the wood, it would produce the same results by nature. If, therefore,
purpose is present in art, it is present also in nature. The best illustration is a
doctor doctoring himself: nature is like that.
It is plain then that nature is a cause, a cause that operates for a purpose.
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9
As regards what is ‘of necessity’, we must ask whether the necessity is
‘hypothetical’, or ‘simple’ as well. The current view places what is of
necessity in the process of production, just as if one were to suppose that the
wall of a house necessarily comes to be because what is heavy is naturally
carried downwards and what is light to the top, wherefore the stones and
foundations take the lowest place, with earth above because it is lighter, and
wood at the top of all as being the lightest. Whereas, though the wall does not
come to be without these, it is not due to these, except as its material cause: it
comes to be for the sake of sheltering and guarding certain things. Similarly
in all other things which involve production for an end; the product cannot
come to be without things which have a necessary nature, but it is not due to
these (except as its material); it comes to be for an end. For instance, why is a
saw such as it is? To effect so-and-so and for the sake of so-and-so. This end,
however, cannot be realized unless the saw is made of iron. It is, therefore,
necessary for it to be of iron, it we are to have a saw and perform the
operation of sawing. What is necessary then, is necessary on a hypothesis; it
is not a result necessarily determined by antecedents. Necessity is in the
430
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book The Complete Aristotle"
The Complete Aristotle
- Title
- The Complete Aristotle
- Author
- Aristotle
- Date
- ~322 B.C.
- Language
- English
- License
- PD
- Size
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Pages
- 2328
- Keywords
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Categories
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International
Table of contents
- Part 1; Logic (Organon) 3
- Categories 4
- On Interpretation 34
- Prior Analytics, Book I 56
- Prior Analytics, Book II 113
- Posterior Analytics, Book I 149
- Posterior Analytics, Book II 193
- Topics, Book I 218
- Topics, Book II 221
- Topics, Book III 237
- Topics, Book IV 248
- Topics, Book V 266
- Topics, Book VI 291
- Topics, Book VII 317
- Topics, Book VIII 326
- On Sophistical Refutations 348
- Part 2; Universal Physics 396
- Physics, Book I 397
- Physics, Book II 415
- Physics, Book III 432
- Physics, Book IV 449
- Physics, Book V 481
- Physics, Book VI 496
- Physics, Book VII 519
- Physics, Book VIII 533
- On the Heavens, Book I 570
- On the Heavens, Book II 599
- On the Heavens, Book III 624
- On the Heavens, Book IV 640
- On Generation and Corruption, Book I 651
- On Generation and Corruption, Book II 685
- Meteorology, Book I 707
- Meteorology, Book II 733
- Meteorology, Book III 760
- Meteorology, Book IV 773
- Part 3; Human Physics 795
- On the Soul, Book I 796
- On the Soul, Book II 815
- On the Soul, Book III 840
- On Sense and the Sensible 861
- On Memory and Reminiscence 889
- On Sleep and Sleeplessness 899
- On Dreams 909
- On Prophesying by Dreams 918
- On Longevity and the Shortness of Life 923
- On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration 929
- Part 4; Animal Physics 952
- The History of Animals, Book I 953
- The History of Animals, Book II translated 977
- The History of Animals, Book III 1000
- The History of Animals, Book IV 1029
- The History of Animals, Book V 1056
- The History of Animals, Book VI 1094
- The History of Animals, Book VII 1135
- The History of Animals, Book VIII 1150
- The History of Animals, Book IX 1186
- On the Parts of Animals, Book I 1234
- On the Parts of Animals, Book II 1249
- On the Parts of Animals, Book III 1281
- On the Parts of Animals, Book IV 1311
- On the Motion of Animals 1351
- On the Gait of Animals 1363
- On the Generation of Animals, Book I 1381
- On the Generation of Animals, Book II 1412
- On the Generation of Animals, Book III 1444
- On the Generation of Animals, Book IV 1469
- On the Generation of Animals, Book V 1496
- Part 5; Metaphysics 1516
- Part 6; Ethics and Politics 1748
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book I 1749
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book II 1766
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book III 1779
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IV 1799
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book V 1817
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI 1836
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII 1851
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII 1872
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IX 1890
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book X 1907
- Politics, Book I 1925
- Politics, Book II 1943
- Politics, Book III 1970
- Politics, Book IV 1997
- Politics, Book V 2023
- Politics, Book VI 2053
- Politics, Book VII 2065
- Politics, Book VIII 2091
- The Athenian Constitution 2102
- Part 7; Aesthetic Writings 2156