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Anaxagoras of the infinity of things composed of similar parts. These, then,
have all had a notion of this kind of cause, and so have all who speak of air or
fire or water, or something denser than fire and rarer than air; for some have
said the prime element is of this kind.
These thinkers grasped this cause only; but certain others have mentioned
the source of movement, e.g. those who make friendship and strife, or reason,
or love, a principle.
The essence, i.e. the substantial reality, no one has expressed distinctly. It is
hinted at chiefly by those who believe in the Forms; for they do not suppose
either that the Forms are the matter of sensible things, and the One the matter
of the Forms, or that they are the source of movement (for they say these are
causes rather of immobility and of being at rest), but they furnish the Forms
as the essence of every other thing, and the One as the essence of the Forms.
That for whose sake actions and changes and movements take place, they
assert to be a cause in a way, but not in this way, i.e. not in the way in which it
is its nature to be a cause. For those who speak of reason or friendship class
these causes as goods; they do not speak, however, as if anything that exists
either existed or came into being for the sake of these, but as if movements
started from these. In the same way those who say the One or the existent is
the good, say that it is the cause of substance, but not that substance either is
or comes to be for the sake of this. Therefore it turns out that in a sense they
both say and do not say the good is a cause; for they do not call it a cause qua
good but only incidentally.
All these thinkers then, as they cannot pitch on another cause, seem to
testify that we have determined rightly both how many and of what sort the
causes are. Besides this it is plain that when the causes are being looked for,
either all four must be sought thus or they must be sought in one of these four
ways. Let us next discuss the possible difficulties with regard to the way in
which each of these thinkers has spoken, and with regard to his situation
relatively to the first principles.
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8
Those, then, who say the universe is one and posit one kind of thing as
matter, and as corporeal matter which has spatial magnitude, evidently go
astray in many ways. For they posit the elements of bodies only, not of
incorporeal things, though there are also incorporeal things. And in trying to
1530
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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