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case thus: there is nothing to prevent each of the two parts, or at any rate one
of them, that which is moved, being divisible though actually undivided, so
that if it is divided it will not continue in the possession of the same capacity:
and so there is nothing to prevent self-motion residing primarily in things that
are potentially divisible.
From what has been said, then, it is evident that that which primarily
imparts motion is unmoved: for, whether the series is closed at once by that
which is in motion but moved by something else deriving its motion directly
from the first unmoved, or whether the motion is derived from what is in
motion but moves itself and stops its own motion, on both suppositions we
have the result that in all cases of things being in motion that which primarily
imparts motion is unmoved.
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6
Since there must always be motion without intermission, there must
necessarily be something, one thing or it may be a plurality, that first imparts
motion, and this first movent must be unmoved. Now the question whether
each of the things that are unmoved but impart motion is eternal is irrelevant
to our present argument: but the following considerations will make it clear
that there must necessarily be some such thing, which, while it has the
capacity of moving something else, is itself unmoved and exempt from all
change, which can affect it neither in an unqualified nor in an accidental
sense. Let us suppose, if any one likes, that in the case of certain things it is
possible for them at different times to be and not to be, without any process of
becoming and perishing (in fact it would seem to be necessary, if a thing that
has not parts at one time is and at another time is not, that any such thing
should without undergoing any process of change at one time be and at
another time not be). And let us further suppose it possible that some
principles that are unmoved but capable of imparting motion at one time are
and at another time are not. Even so, this cannot be true of all such principles,
since there must clearly be something that causes things that move themselves
at one time to be and at another not to be. For, since nothing that has not parts
can be in motion, that which moves itself must as a whole have magnitude,
though nothing that we have said makes this necessarily true of every movent.
So the fact that some things become and others perish, and that this is so
continuously, cannot be caused by any one of those things that, though they
are unmoved, do not always exist: nor again can it be caused by any of those
550
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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