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coming from another thing as water comes from air implies the destruction of
the other thing. This is why changes of the former kind are not reversible, and
the boy does not come from the man (for it is not that which comes to be
something that comes to be as a result of coming to be, but that which exists
after the coming to be; for it is thus that the day, too, comes from the
morning-in the sense that it comes after the morning; which is the reason why
the morning cannot come from the day); but changes of the other kind are
reversible. But in both cases it is impossible that the number of terms should
be infinite. For terms of the former kind, being intermediates, must have an
end, and terms of the latter kind change back into one another, for the
destruction of either is the generation of the other.
At the same time it is impossible that the first cause, being eternal, should
be destroyed; for since the process of becoming is not infinite in the upward
direction, that which is the first thing by whose destruction something came to
be must be non-eternal.
Further, the final cause is an end, and that sort of end which is not for the
sake of something else, but for whose sake everything else is; so that if there
is to be a last term of this sort, the process will not be infinite; but if there is
no such term, there will be no final cause, but those who maintain the infinite
series eliminate the Good without knowing it (yet no one would try to do
anything if he were not going to come to a limit); nor would there be reason
in the world; the reasonable man, at least, always acts for a purpose, and this
is a limit; for the end is a limit.
But the essence, also, cannot be reduced to another definition which is
fuller in expression. For the original definition is always more of a definition,
and not the later one; and in a series in which the first term has not the
required character, the next has not it either. Further, those who speak thus
destroy science; for it is not possible to have this till one comes to the
unanalysable terms. And knowledge becomes impossible; for how can one
apprehend things that are infinite in this way? For this is not like the case of
the line, to whose divisibility there is no stop, but which we cannot think if we
do not make a stop (for which reason one who is tracing the infinitely
divisible line cannot be counting the possibilities of section), but the whole
line also must be apprehended by something in us that does not move from
part to part.-Again, nothing infinite can exist; and if it could, at least the
notion of infinity is not infinite.
But if the kinds of causes had been infinite in number, then also knowledge
would have been impossible; for we think we know, only when we have
ascertained the causes, that but that which is infinite by addition cannot be
gone through in a finite time.
1541
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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