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On Generation and Corruption, Book I
Translated by H. H. Joachim
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1
Our next task is to study coming-to-be and passing-away. We are to
distinguish the causes, and to state the definitions, of these processes
considered in general-as changes predicable uniformly of all the things that
come-to-be and pass-away by nature. Further, we are to study growth and
āalterationā. We must inquire what each of them is; and whether āalterationā is
to be identified with coming-to-be, or whether to these different names there
correspond two separate processes with distinct natures.
On this question, indeed, the early philosophers are divided. Some of them
assert that the so-called āunqualified coming-to-beā is āalterationā, while
others maintain that āalterationā and coming-to-be are distinct. For those who
say that the universe is one something (i.e. those who generate all things out
of one thing) are bound to assert that coming-to-be is āalterationā, and that
whatever ācomes-to-beā in the proper sense of the term is ābeing alteredā: but
those who make the matter of things more than one must distinguish coming-
to-be from āalterationā. To this latter class belong Empedocles, Anaxagoras,
and Leucippus. And yet Anaxagoras himself failed to understand his own
utterance. He says, at all events, that coming-to-be and passing-away are the
same as ābeing alteredā:ā yet, in common with other thinkers, he affirms that
the elements are many. Thus Empedocles holds that the corporeal elements
are four, while all the elements-including those which initiate movement-are
six in number; whereas Anaxagoras agrees with Leucippus and Democritus
that the elements are infinite.
(Anaxagoras posits as elements the āhomoeomeriesā, viz. bone, flesh,
marrow, and everything else which is such that part and whole are the same in
name and nature; while Democritus and Leucippus say that there are
indivisible bodies, infinite both in number and in the varieties of their shapes,
of which everything else is composed-the compounds differing one from
another according to the shapes, āpositionsā, and āgroupingsā of their
constituents.)
651
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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