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things); so that that causes derivative truths to be true is most true. Hence the
principles of eternal things must be always most true (for they are not merely
sometimes true, nor is there any cause of their being, but they themselves are
the cause of the being of other things), so that as each thing is in respect of
being, so is it in respect of truth.
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2
But evidently there is a first principle, and the causes of things are neither
an infinite series nor infinitely various in kind. For neither can one thing
proceed from another, as from matter, ad infinitum (e.g. flesh from earth,
earth from air, air from fire, and so on without stopping), nor can the sources
of movement form an endless series (man for instance being acted on by air,
air by the sun, the sun by Strife, and so on without limit). Similarly the final
causes cannot go on ad infinitum,-walking being for the sake of health, this
for the sake of happiness, happiness for the sake of something else, and so
one thing always for the sake of another. And the case of the essence is
similar. For in the case of intermediates, which have a last term and a term
prior to them, the prior must be the cause of the later terms. For if we had to
say which of the three is the cause, we should say the first; surely not the last,
for the final term is the cause of none; nor even the intermediate, for it is the
cause only of one. (It makes no difference whether there is one intermediate
or more, nor whether they are infinite or finite in number.) But of series which
are infinite in this way, and of the infinite in general, all the parts down to that
now present are alike intermediates; so that if there is no first there is no cause
at all.
Nor can there be an infinite process downwards, with a beginning in the
upward direction, so that water should proceed from fire, earth from water,
and so always some other kind should be produced. For one thing comes from
another in two ways-not in the sense in which âfromâ means âafterâ (as we say
âfrom the Isthmian games come the Olympianâ), but either (i) as the man
comes from the boy, by the boyâs changing, or (ii) as air comes from water.
By âas the man comes from the boyâ we mean âas that which has come to be
from that which is coming to beâ or âas that which is finished from that which
is being achievedâ (for as becoming is between being and not being, so that
which is becoming is always between that which is and that which is not; for
the learner is a man of science in the making, and this is what is meant when
we say that from a learner a man of science is being made); on the other hand,
1540
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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