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particle of it. There is, however, an accession to every part of its figure or
‘form’.
That growth has taken place proportionally, is more manifest in the organic
parts-e.g. in the hand. For there the fact that the matter is distinct from the
form is more manifest than in flesh, i.e. than in the tissues. That is why there
is a greater tendency to suppose that a corpse still possesses flesh and bone
than that it still has a hand or an arm.
Hence in one sense it is true that any and every part of the flesh has grown;
but in another sense it is false. For there has been an accession to every part of
the flesh in respect to its form, but not in respect to its matter. The whole,
however, has become larger. And this increase is due (a) on the one hand to
the accession of something, which is called ‘food’ and is said to be ‘contrary’
to flesh, but (b) on the other hand to the transformation of this food into the
same form as that of flesh as if, e.g. ‘moist’ were to accede to ‘dry’ and,
having acceded, were to be transformed and to become ‘dry’. For in one sense
‘Like grows by Like’, but in another sense ‘Unlike grows by Unlike’.
One might discuss what must be the character of that ‘whereby’ a thing
grows. Clearly it must be potentially that which is growing-potentially flesh,
e.g. if it is flesh that is growing. Actually, therefore, it must be ‘other’ than the
growing thing. This ‘actual other’, then, has passed-away and come-to-be
flesh. But it has not been transformed into flesh alone by itself (for that would
have been a coming-to-be, not a growth): on the contrary, it is the growing
thing which has come-to-be flesh (and grown) by the food. In what way, then,
has the food been modified by the growing thing? Perhaps we should say that
it has been ‘mixed’ with it, as if one were to pour water into wine and the
wine were able to convert the new ingredient into wine. And as fire lays hold
of the inflammable, so the active principle of growth, dwelling in the growing
thing that which is actually flesh), lays hold of an acceding food which is
potentially flesh and converts it into actual flesh. The acceding food,
therefore, must be together with the growing thing: for if it were apart from it,
the change would be a coming-to-be. For it is possible to produce fire by
piling logs on to the already burning fire. That is ‘growth’. But when the logs
themselves are set on fire, that is ‘coming-to-be’.
‘Quantum-in-general’ does not come-to-be any more than ‘animal’ which is
neither man nor any other of the specific forms of animal: what ‘animal-in-
general’ is in coming-to-be, that ‘quantum-in-general’ is in growth. But what
does come-to-be in growth is flesh or bone-or a hand or arm (i.e. the tissues of
these organic parts). Such things come-to-be, then, by the accession not of
quantified-flesh but of a quantified-something. In so far as this acceding food
is potentially the double result e.g. is potentially so-much-flesh-it produces
669
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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