Page - 1497 - in The Complete Aristotle
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Everything then exists for a final cause, and all those things which are
included in the definition of each animal, or which either are means to an end
or are ends in themselves, come into being both through this cause and the
rest. But when we come to those things which come into being without falling
under the heads just mentioned, their course must be sought in the movement
or process of coming into being, on the view that the differences which mark
them arise in the actual formation of the animal. An eye, for instance, the
animal must have of necessity (for the fundamental idea of the animal is of
such a kind), but it will have an eye of a particular kind of necessity in
another sense, not the sense mentioned just above, because it is its nature to
act or be acted on in this or that way.
These distinctions being drawn let us speak of what comes next in order.
As soon then as the offspring of all animals are born, especially those born
imperfect, they are in the habit of sleeping, because they continue sleeping
also within the mother when they first acquire sensation. But there is a
difficulty about the earliest period of development, whether the state of
wakefulness exists in animals first, or that of sleep. Since they plainly wake
up more as they grow older, it is reasonable to suppose that the opposite state,
that of sleep, exists in the first stages of development. Moreover the change
from not being to being must pass through the intermediate condition, and
sleep seems to be in its nature such a condition, being as it were a boundary
between living and not living, and the sleeper being neither altogether non-
existent nor yet existent. For life most of all appertains to wakefulness, on
account of sensation. But on the other hand, if it is necessary that the animal
should have sensation and if it is then first an animal when it has acquired
sensation, we ought to consider the original condition to be not sleep but only
something resembling sleep, such a condition as we find also in plants, for
indeed at this time animals do actually live the life of a plant. But it is
impossible that plants should sleep, for there is no sleep which cannot be
broken, and the condition in plants which is analogous to sleep cannot be
broken.
It is necessary then for the embryo animal to sleep most of the time because
the growth takes place in the upper part of the body, which is consequently
heavier (and we have stated elsewhere that such is the cause of sleep). But
nevertheless they are found to wake even in the womb (this is clear in
dissections and in the ovipara), and then they immediately fall into a sleep
again. This is why after birth also they spend most of their time in sleep.
When awake infants do not laugh, but while asleep they both laugh and cry.
For animals have sensations even while asleep, not only what are called
dreams but also others besides dreams, as those persons who arise while
1497
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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