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as follows. For as what asserts the difference between the good and the bad is
one and the same, so also the time at which it asserts the one to be different
and the other to be different is not accidental to the assertion (as it is for
instance when I now assert a difference but do not assert that there is now a
difference); it asserts thus-both now and that the objects are different now; the
objects therefore must be present at one and the same moment. Both the
discriminating power and the time of its exercise must be one and undivided.
But, it may be objected, it is impossible that what is self-identical should be
moved at me and the same time with contrary movements in so far as it is
undivided, and in an undivided moment of time. For if what is sweet be the
quality perceived, it moves the sense or thought in this determinate way,
while what is bitter moves it in a contrary way, and what is white in a
different way. Is it the case then that what discriminates, though both
numerically one and indivisible, is at the same time divided in its being? In
one sense, it is what is divided that perceives two separate objects at once, but
in another sense it does so qua undivided; for it is divisible in its being but
spatially and numerically undivided. is not this impossible? For while it is
true that what is self-identical and undivided may be both contraries at once
potentially, it cannot be self-identical in its being-it must lose its unity by
being put into activity. It is not possible to be at once white and black, and
therefore it must also be impossible for a thing to be affected at one and the
same moment by the forms of both, assuming it to be the case that sensation
and thinking are properly so described.
The answer is that just as what is called a ‘point’ is, as being at once one
and two, properly said to be divisible, so here, that which discriminates is qua
undivided one, and active in a single moment of time, while so far forth as it
is divisible it twice over uses the same dot at one and the same time. So far
forth then as it takes the limit as two’ it discriminates two separate objects
with what in a sense is divided: while so far as it takes it as one, it does so
with what is one and occupies in its activity a single moment of time.
About the principle in virtue of which we say that animals are percipient,
let this discussion suffice.
3
There are two distinctive peculiarities by reference to which we
characterize the soul (1) local movement and (2) thinking, discriminating, and
perceiving. Thinking both speculative and practical is regarded as akin to a
form of perceiving; for in the one as well as the other the soul discriminates
and is cognizant of something which is. Indeed the ancients go so far as to
844
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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