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4
Since things which differ may differ from one another more or less, there is
also a greatest difference, and this I call contrariety. That contrariety is the
greatest difference is made clear by induction. For things which differ in
genus have no way to one another, but are too far distant and are not
comparable; and for things that differ in species the extremes from which
generation takes place are the contraries, and the distance between extremes-
and therefore that between the contraries-is the greatest.
But surely that which is greatest in each class is complete. For that is
greatest which cannot be exceeded, and that is complete beyond which
nothing can be found. For the complete difference marks the end of a series
(just as the other things which are called complete are so called because they
have attained an end), and beyond the end there is nothing; for in everything it
is the extreme and includes all else, and therefore there is nothing beyond the
end, and the complete needs nothing further. From this, then, it is clear that
contrariety is complete difference; and as contraries are so called in several
senses, their modes of completeness will answer to the various modes of
contrariety which attach to the contraries.
This being so, it is clear that one thing have more than one contrary (for
neither can there be anything more extreme than the extreme, nor can there be
more than two extremes for the one interval), and, to put the matter generally,
this is clear if contrariety is a difference, and if difference, and therefore also
the complete difference, must be between two things.
And the other commonly accepted definitions of contraries are also
necessarily true. For not only is (1) the complete difference the greatest
difference (for we can get no difference beyond it of things differing either in
genus or in species; for it has been shown that there is no ‘difference’ between
anything and the things outside its genus, and among the things which differ
in species the complete difference is the greatest); but also (2) the things in
the same genus which differ most are contrary (for the complete difference is
the greatest difference between species of the same genus); and (3) the things
in the same receptive material which differ most are contrary (for the matter is
the same for contraries); and (4) of the things which fall under the same
faculty the most different are contrary (for one science deals with one class of
things, and in these the complete difference is the greatest).
The primary contrariety is that between positive state and privation-not
every privation, however (for ‘privation’ has several meanings), but that
which is complete. And the other contraries must be called so with reference
to these, some because they possess these, others because they produce or
1668
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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