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cannot be solved otherwise than in the way we have described. So far as they
are affected by ‘mutual replacement’, all the members of the series are moved
and impart motion simultaneously, so that their motions also cease
simultaneously: but our present problem concerns the appearance of
continuous motion in a single thing, and therefore, since it cannot be moved
throughout its motion by the same movent, the question is, what moves it?
Resuming our main argument, we proceed from the positions that there
must be continuous motion in the world of things, that this is a single motion,
that a single motion must be a motion of a magnitude (for that which is
without magnitude cannot be in motion), and that the magnitude must be a
single magnitude moved by a single movent (for otherwise there will not be
continuous motion but a consecutive series of separate motions), and that if
the movement is a single thing, it is either itself in motion or itself unmoved:
if, then, it is in motion, it will have to be subject to the same conditions as that
which it moves, that is to say it will itself be in process of change and in being
so will also have to be moved by something: so we have a series that must
come to an end, and a point will be reached at which motion is imparted by
something that is unmoved. Thus we have a movent that has no need to
change along with that which it moves but will be able to cause motion
always (for the causing of motion under these conditions involves no effort):
and this motion alone is regular, or at least it is so in a higher degree than any
other, since the movent is never subject to any change. So, too, in order that
the motion may continue to be of the same character, the moved must not be
subject to change in respect of its relation to the movent. Moreover the
movent must occupy either the centre or the circumference, since these are the
first principles from which a sphere is derived. But the things nearest the
movent are those whose motion is quickest, and in this case it is the motion of
the circumference that is the quickest: therefore the movent occupies the
circumference.
There is a further difficulty in supposing it to be possible for anything that
is in motion to cause motion continuously and not merely in the way in which
it is caused by something repeatedly pushing (in which case the continuity
amounts to no more than successiveness). Such a movent must either itself
continue to push or pull or perform both these actions, or else the action must
be taken up by something else and be passed on from one movent to another
(the process that we described before as occurring in the case of things
thrown, since the air or the water, being divisible, is a movent only in virtue
of the fact that different parts of the air are moved one after another): and in
either case the motion cannot be a single motion, but only a consecutive series
of motions. The only continuous motion, then, is that which is caused by the
unmoved movent: and this motion is continuous because the movent remains
568
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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