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general and wider characteristics. Coriscus is both a man and an animal, but
his manhood is nearer to his individual existence than is his animalhood. In
generation both the individual and the class are operative, but the individual is
the more so of the two, for this is the only true existence. And the offspring is
produced indeed of a certain quality, but also as an individual, and this latter
is the true existence. Therefore it is from the forces of all such existences that
the efficient movements come which exist in the semen; potentially from
remoter ancestors but in a higher degree and more nearly from the individual
(and by the individual I mean e.g. Coriscus or Socrates). Now since
everything changes not into anything haphazard but into its opposite,
therefore also that which is not prevailed over in generation must change and
become the opposite, in respect of that particular force in which the paternal
and efficient or moving element has not prevailed. If then it has not prevailed
in so far as it is male, the offspring becomes female; if in so far as it is
Coriscus or Socrates, the offspring does not resemble the father but the
mother. For as ‘father’ and ‘mother’ are opposed as general terms, so also the
individual father is opposed to the individual mother. The like applies also to
the forces that come next in order, for the offspring always changes rather into
the likeness of the nearer ancestor than the more remote, both in the paternal
and in the maternal line.
Some of the movements exist in the semen actually, others potentially;
actually, those of the father and the general type, as man and animal;
potentially those of the female and the remoter ancestors. Thus the male and
efficient principle, if it lose its own nature, changes to its opposites, but the
movements which form the embryo change into those nearly connected with
them; for instance, if the movement of the male parent be resolved, it changes
by a very slight difference into that of his father, and in the next instance into
that of his grandfather; and in this way not only in the male but also in the
female line the movement of the female parent changes into that of her
mother, and, if not into this, then into that of her grandmother; and similarly
also with the more remote ancestors.
Naturally then it is most likely that the characteristics of ‘male’ and of the
individual father will go together, whether they prevail or are prevailed over.
For the difference between them is small so that there is no difficulty in both
concurring, for Socrates is an individual man with certain characters. Hence
for the most part the male offspring resemble the father, and the female the
mother. For in the latter case the loss of both characters takes place at once,
and the change is into the two opposites; now is opposed to male, and the
individual mother to the individual father.
But if the movement coming from the male principle prevails while that
1477
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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