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responsible for the original coming together of the art of earth at the centre,
the question remains, why now do all heavy bodies move to the earth. For the
whirl surely does not come near us. Why, again, does fire move upward? Not,
surely, because of the whirl. But if fire is naturally such as to move in a
certain direction, clearly the same may be supposed to hold of earth. Again, it
cannot be the whirl which determines the heavy and the light. Rather that
movement caused the pre-existent heavy and light things to go to the middle
and stay on the surface respectively. Thus, before ever the whirl began, heavy
and light existed; and what can have been the ground of their distinction, or
the manner and direction of their natural movements? In the infinite chaos
there can have been neither above nor below, and it is by these that heavy and
light are determined.
It is to these causes that most writers pay attention: but there are some,
Anaximander, for instance, among the ancients, who say that the earth keeps
its place because of its indifference. Motion upward and downward and
sideways were all, they thought, equally inappropriate to that which is set at
the centre and indifferently related to every extreme point; and to move in
contrary directions at the same time was impossible: so it must needs remain
still. This view is ingenious but not true. The argument would prove that
everything, whatever it be, which is put at the centre, must stay there. Fire,
then, will rest at the centre: for the proof turns on no peculiar property of
earth. But this does not follow. The observed facts about earth are not only
that it remains at the centre, but also that it moves to the centre. The place to
which any fragment of earth moves must necessarily be the place to which the
whole moves; and in the place to which a thing naturally moves, it will
naturally rest. The reason then is not in the fact that the earth is indifferently
related to every extreme point: for this would apply to any body, whereas
movement to the centre is peculiar to earth. Again it is absurd to look for a
reason why the earth remains at the centre and not for a reason why fire
remains at the extremity. If the extremity is the natural place of fire, clearly
earth must also have a natural place. But suppose that the centre is not its
place, and that the reason of its remaining there is this necessity of
indifference-on the analogy of the hair which, it is said, however great the
tension, will not break under it, if it be evenly distributed, or of the men who,
though exceedingly hungry and thirsty, and both equally, yet being equidistant
from food and drink, is therefore bound to stay where he is-even so, it still
remains to explain why fire stays at the extremities. It is strange, too, to ask
about things staying still but not about their motion,-why, I mean, one thing, if
nothing stops it, moves up, and another thing to the centre. Again, their
statements are not true. It happens, indeed, to be the case that a thing to which
movement this way and that is equally inappropriate is obliged to remain at
619
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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