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Metaphysics5.htm
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Metaphysics5.htm
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<!DOCTYPE html>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<title>Thomas Aquinas: Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics, Book 5: English</title>
<body style="text-align:justify;font-family: unicode">
<blockquote>
<center>
<h1>METAPHYSICS<br>
BOOK V</h1>
<h2>DEFINITIONS</h2>
<hr>
<p><b>CONTENTS</b>
</center>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 1:
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#1">Five Senses of the Term "Principle." The Common Definition of Principle</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 2
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#2">The Four Classes of Causes. Several Causes of the Same Effect. Causes May Be Causes of Each Other. Contraries Have the Same Cause</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 3
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#3">All Causes Reduced to Four Classes</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 4
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#4">The Proper Meaning of Element; Elements in Words, Natural Bodies, and Demonstrations. Transferred Usages of "Element" and Their Common Basis</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 5
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#5">Five Senses of the Term Nature</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 6
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#6">Four Senses of the Term Necessary. Its First and Proper Sense. Immobile Things, though Necessary, Are Exempted from Force</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 7
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#7">The Kinds of Accidental Unity and of Essential Unity</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 8
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#3">The Primary Sense of One. One in the Sense of Complete. One as the Principle of Number. The Ways in Which Things Are One. The Ways in Which Things Are Many</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 9
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#9">Division of Being into Accidental and Essential. The Types of Accidental and of Essential Being</a>
<tr>
<td width="100">LESSON 10
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#10">Meanings of Substance</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 11
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#11">The Ways in Which Things Are the Same Essentially and Accidentally</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 12
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#12">Various Senses of Diverse, Different, Like, Contrary, and Diverse in Species</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 13
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#13">The Ways in Which Things Are Prior and Subsequent</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 14
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#14">Various Senses of the Terms Potency, Capable, Incapable, Possible and Impossible</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 15
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#15">The Meaning of Quantity. Its Kinds. The Essentially and Accidentally Quantitative</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 16
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#16">The Senses of Quality</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 17
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#17">The Senses of Relative</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 18
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#18">The Senses of Perfect</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 19
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#19">The Senses of Limit, of "According to Which," of "In Itself," and of Disposition</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 20
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#20">The Meanings of Disposition, of Having, of Affection, of Privation, and of "To Have"</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 21
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#21">The Meanings of "To Come from Something," Part, Whole, and Mutilated</a>
<tr>
<td>LESSON 22
<td>
<a href="Metaphysics5.htm#22">The Meanings of Genus, of Falsity, and of Accident</a>
</table>
<hr>
<a name="1" id="1">
<table cellpadding="12">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="center" colspan="2"><b>LESSON I</b>
<tr>
<td align="center" colspan="2">
<b>Five Senses of the Term "Principle." The Common Definition of Principle</b>
<blockquote>
<table cellpadding="12">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="center" colspan="2">ARISTOTLE'S TEXT Chapter 1: 1012b 34-1013a 23
<tr valign="top">
<td style="text-align:justify">[1012β] [34] ἀρχὴ λέγεται ἡ μὲν ὅθεν ἄν τις τοῦ πράγματος [35] κινηθείη πρῶτον, οἷον τοῦ μήκους καὶ ὁδοῦ ἐντεῦθεν μὲν αὕτη ἀρχή, ἐξ ἐναντίας δὲ ἑτέρα: [1013α] [1] ἡ δὲ ὅθεν ἂν κάλλιστα ἕκαστον γένοιτο, οἷον καὶ μαθήσεως οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ πρώτου καὶ τῆς τοῦ πράγματος ἀρχῆς ἐνίοτε ἀρκτέον ἀλλ᾽ ὅθεν ῥᾷστ᾽ ἂν μάθοι: ἡ δὲ ὅθεν πρῶτον γίγνεται ἐνυπάρχοντος, οἷον ὡς πλοίου [5] τρόπις καὶ οἰκίας θεμέλιος, καὶ τῶν ζῴων οἱ μὲν καρδίαν οἱ δὲ ἐγκέφαλον οἱ δ᾽ ὅ τι ἂν τύχωσι τοιοῦτον ὑπολαμβάνουσιν: ἡ δὲ ὅθεν γίγνεται πρῶτον μὴ ἐνυπάρχοντος καὶ ὅθεν πρῶτον ἡ κίνησις πέφυκεν ἄρχεσθαι καὶ ἡ μεταβολή, οἷον τὸ τέκνον ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τῆς μητρὸς καὶ ἡ μάχη [10] ἐκ τῆς λοιδορίας: ἡ δὲ οὗ κατὰ προαίρεσιν κινεῖται τὰ κινούμενα καὶ μεταβάλλει τὰ μεταβάλλοντα, ὥσπερ αἵ τε κατὰ πόλεις ἀρχαὶ καὶ αἱ δυναστεῖαι καὶ αἱ βασιλεῖαι καὶ τυραννίδες ἀρχαὶ λέγονται καὶ αἱ τέχναι, καὶ τούτων αἱ ἀρχιτεκτονικαὶ μάλιστα. ἔτι ὅθεν γνωστὸν τὸ πρᾶγμα [15] πρῶτον, καὶ αὕτη ἀρχὴ λέγεται τοῦ πράγματος, οἷον τῶν ἀποδείξεων αἱ ὑποθέσεις. ἰσαχῶς δὲ καὶ τὰ αἴτια λέγεται: πάντα γὰρ τὰ αἴτια ἀρχαί.
<td style="text-align:justify">403. In one sense the term principle [beginning or starting point] means that from which someone first moves something; for example, in the case of a line or a journey, if the motion is from here, this is the principle, but if the motion is in the opposite direction, this is something different. In another sense principle means that from which a thing best comes into being, as the starting point of instruction; for sometimes it is not from what is first or from the starting point of the thing that one must begin, but from that from which one learns most readily. Again, principle means that first inherent thing from which something is brought into being, as the keel of a ship and the foundation of a house, and as some suppose the heart to be the principle in animals, and others the brain, and others anything else of the sort. In another sense it means that non-inherent first thing from which something comes into being; and that from which motion and change naturally first begins, as a child comes from its father and mother, and a fight from abusive language. In another sense principle means that according to whose will movable things are moved and changeable things are changed; in states, for example, princely, magisterial, imperial, or tyrannical power are all principles. And so also are the arts, especially the architectonic arts, called principles. And that from which a thing can first be known is also called a principle of that thing, as the postulates of demonstrations. And causes are also spoken of in the same number of senses, for all causes are principles.
<tr valign="top">
<td style="text-align:justify">πασῶν μὲν οὖν κοινὸν τῶν ἀρχῶν τὸ πρῶτον εἶναι ὅθεν ἢ ἔστιν ἢ γίγνεται ἢ γιγνώσκεται: τούτων δὲ αἱ μὲν ἐνυπάρχουσαί εἰσιν αἱ δὲ [20] ἐκτός. διὸ ἥ τε φύσις ἀρχὴ καὶ τὸ στοιχεῖον καὶ ἡ διάνοια καὶ ἡ προαίρεσις καὶ οὐσία καὶ τὸ οὗ ἕνεκα: πολλῶν γὰρ καὶ τοῦ γνῶναι καὶ τῆς κινήσεως ἀρχὴ τἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ καλόν.
<td style="text-align:justify">404. Therefore, it is common to all principles to be the first thing from which a thing either is, comes to be, or is known. And of these some are intrinsic and others extrinsic. And for this reason nature is a principle, and so also is an element, and mind, purpose, substance, and the final cause; for good and evil are the principles both of the knowledge and motion of many things.
</table>
</blockquote>
<tr>
<td align="center" colspan="2"><b>COMMENTARY</b>
<tr valign="top">
<td style="text-align:justify">
<td style="text-align:justify"><i>Principle</i>
<tr valign="top">
<td style="text-align:justify">In praecedenti libro determinavit philosophus quid pertineat ad considerationem huius scientiae; hic incipit determinare de rebus, quas scientia ista considerat.
<td style="text-align:justify">749. Having established in the preceding book the things which pertain to the consideration of this science, here the Philosopher begins to deal with the things which this science considers.
<tr valign="top">
<td style="text-align:justify">Et quia ea quae in hac scientia considerantur, sunt omnibus communia, nec dicuntur univoce, sed secundum prius et posterius de diversis, ut in quarto libro est habitum; ideo prius distinguit intentiones nominum, quae in huius scientiae consideratione cadunt. Secundo incipit determinare de rebus, quae sub consideratione huius scientiae cadunt, in sexto libro, qui incipit, ibi, principia et causae.
<td style="text-align:justify">And since the attributes considered in this science are common to all things, they are not predicated of various things univocally but in a prior and subsequent way, as has been stated in Book IV (535). Therefore, first (751), he distinguishes the meanings of the terms which come under the consideration of this science. Second (751), he begins to deal with the things which come under the consideration of this science. He does this in the sixth book, which begins with the words, “The principles”.
<tr valign="top">
<td style="text-align:justify">Cuiuslibet autem scientiae est considerare subiectum, et passiones, et causas; et ideo hic quintus liber dividitur in tres partes. Primo determinat distinctiones nominum quae significant causas, secundo, illorum nominum quae significant subiectum huius scientiae vel partes eius, ibi, unum dicitur aliud secundum accidens. Tertio nominum quae significant passiones entis inquantum est ens, ibi, perfectum vero dicitur et cetera.
<td style="text-align:justify">Now since it is the office of each science to consider both its subject and the properties and causes of its subject, this fifth book is accordingly divided into three parts. First, he establishes the various senses of the terms which signify causes; second (843), the various senses of the terms which signify the subject or parts of the subject of this science (“The term <i>one</i> ”); and third (1034), the various senses of the terms which signify the properties of beingas beng (“That thing”).
<tr valign="top">
<td style="text-align:justify">Prima in duas. Primo distinguit nomina significantia causas. Secundo quoddam nomen significans quoddam quod consequitur ad causam, scilicet necessarium. Nam causa est ad quam de necessitate sequitur aliud, ibi, necessarium dicitur sine quo non contingit.
<td style="text-align:justify">The first part is divided into two members. First, he distinguishes the various senses in which the term <i>cause</i> is used. Second (827), he explains the meaning of a term which signifies something associated with a cause—the term <i>necessary</i>; for a cause is that on which something else follows of necessity (“ <i>Necessary</i> means”).
<tr valign="top">
<td style="text-align:justify">Prima dividitur in duas. Primo distinguit nomina significantia causas generaliter. Secundo distinguit quoddam nomen, quod significat quamdam causam in speciali, scilicet hoc nomen natura, ibi, natura vero dicitur et cetera.
<td style="text-align:justify">The first part is divided into two members. First, he distinguishes the vairous senses of the terms which signify cause in a general way. Second (808), he gives the meaning of ta term which signifies a special kind of cause, i.e., the term <i>nature</i> (“ <i>Nature</i> means”).
<tr valign="top">
<td style="text-align:justify">Prima dividitur in tres. Primo distinguit hoc nomen, principium. Secundo hoc nomen, causa, ibi, causa vero dicitur. Tertio hoc nomen, elementum, ibi, elementum vero dicitur.
<td style="text-align:justify">The first part is divided into three members. First, he gives the various meanings of the term <i>principle</i>; second (763), of the term <i>cause</i> (“In one sense the term <i>cause</i>); and third (795), of the term <i>element</i> (The inherent principle”).
<tr valign="top">
<td style="text-align:justify">Procedit autem hoc ordine, quia hoc nomen principium communius est quam causa: aliquid enim est principium, quod non est causa; sicut principium motus dicitur terminus a quo. Et iterum causa est in plus quam elementum. Sola enim causa intrinseca potest dici elementum.
<td style="text-align:justify">He follows this order because the term principle is more common than the term cause, for something may be a principle and not be a cause; for example, the principle of motion is said to be the point from which motion begins. Again, a cause is found in more things than an element is, for only an intrinsic cause can be called an element.
<tr valign="top">
<td style="text-align:justify">Circa primum duo facit. Primo ponit significationes huius nominis principium. Secundo reducit omnes ad unum commune, ibi, omnium igitur principiorum.
<td style="text-align:justify">In regard to the first he does two things. First, he gives the meanings of the term principle. Second (761), he reduces all of these to one common notion (“Therefore, it is common”).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Sciendum est autem, quod principium et causa licet sint idem subiecto, differunt tamen ratione. Nam hoc nomen principium ordinem quemdam importat; hoc vero nomen causa, importat influxum quemdam ad esse causati. Ordo autem prioris et posterioris invenitur in diversis; sed secundum id, quod primo est nobis notum, est ordo inventus in motu locali, eo quod ille motus est sensui manifestior. Sunt autem trium rerum ordines sese consequentes; scilicet magnitudinis, motus, et temporis. Nam secundum prius et posterius in magnitudine est prius et posterius in motu; et secundum prius et posterius in motu est prius et posterius in tempore, ut habetur quarto physicorum. Quia igitur principium dicitur quod in aliquo ordine, et ordo qui attenditur secundum prius et posterius in magnitudine, est prius nobis notus, secundum autem quod res sunt nobis notae secundum hoc a nobis nominantur, ideo hoc nomen principium secundum propriam sui inquisitionem significat id quod est primum in magnitudine, super quam transit motus. Et ideo dicit, quod principium dicitur illud unde aliquis rem primo moveat, idest aliqua pars magnitudinis, a qua incipit motus localis. Vel secundum aliam literam, unde aliquid rei primo movebitur, idest ex qua parte rei aliquid incipit primo moveri. Sicut in longitudine et in via quacumque, ex illa parte est principium, unde incipit motus. Ex parte vero opposita sive contraria, est diversum vel alterum, idest finis vel terminus. Sciendum est, quod ad hunc modum pertinet principium motus et principium temporis ratione iam dicta.
<td style="text-align:justify">751. Now it should be noted that, although a principle and a cause are the same in subject, they nevertheless differ in meaning; for the term principle implies an order or sequence, whereas the term cause implies some influence on the being of the thing caused. Now an order of priority and posteriority is found in different things; but according to what is first known by us order is found in local motion, because that kind of motion is more evident to the senses. Further, order is found in three classes of things, one of which is naturally associated with the other, i.e., continuous quantity, motion and time. For insofar as there is priority and posteriority in continuous quantity, there is priority and posteriority in motion; and insofar as there is priority and posteriority in motion, there is priority and posteriority in time, as is stated in Book IV of the <i>Physics</i>. Therefore, because a principle is said to be what is <b>first in any order</b>, and the order which is considered according to priority and posteriority in continuous quantity is first known by us (and things are named by us insofar as they are known to us), for this reason the term principle, properly considered, designates what is first in a continuous quantity over which motion passes. Hence he says that a principle is said to be “that from which someone first moves something,” i.e., any part of a continuous quantity <b>from which local motion begins</b>. Or, according to another reading, “Some part of a thing from which motion will first begin”; i.e., some part of a thing from which it first begins to be moved; for example in the case of a line and in that of any kind of journey the principle is the point from which motion begins. But the opposite or contrary point is “something different or other,” i.e., the end or terminus. It should also be noted that a principle of motion and a principle of time belong to this class for the reason just given.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Quia vero motus non semper incipit a principio magnitudinis, sed ab ea parte unde est unicuique in promptu magis ut moveatur, ideo ponit secundum modum, dicens, quod alio modo dicitur principium motus unde unumquodque fiet maxime optime, idest unusquisque incipit optime moveri. Et hoc manifestat per simile, in disciplinis scilicet in quibus non semper incipit aliquis addiscere ab eo quod est principium simpliciter et secundum naturam, sed ab eo unde aliquid facilius sive opportunius valet addiscere, idest ab illis, quae sunt magis nota quo ad nos, quae quandoque posteriora sunt secundum naturam.
<td style="text-align:justify">752. But because motion does not always begin from the starting point of a continuous quantity but from that part from which the motion of each thing begins most readily, he therefore gives a second meaning of principle, saying that we speak of a principle of motion in another way “as that from which a thing best comes into being,” i.e., the point from which each thing begins to be moved most easily. He makes this clear by an example; for in the disciplines one does not always begin to learn from something that is a beginning in an absolute sense and by nature, but from that from which one “is able to learn” most readily, i.e., from those things which are <b>better known to us</b>, even though they are sometimes more remote by their nature.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Differt autem hic modus a primo. Nam in primo modo ex principio magnitudinis designatur principium motus. Hic autem ex principio motus designatur principium in magnitudine. Et ideo etiam in illis motibus, qui sunt super magnitudines circulares non habentes principium, accipitur aliquod principium a quo optime vel opportune movetur mobile secundum suam naturam. Sicut in motu primi mobilis principium est ab oriente. In motibus etiam nostris non semper incipit homo moveri a principio viae, sed quandoque a medio, vel a quocumque termino, unde est ei opportunum primo moveri.
<td style="text-align:justify">753. Now this sense of principle differs from the first. For in the first sense a principle of motion gets its name from the starting point of a continuous quantity, whereas here the principle of continuous quantity gets its name from the starting point of motion. Hence in the case of those motions which are over circular continuous quantities and have no starting point, the principle is also considered to be the point from which the movable body is best or most fittingly moved according to its nature. For example, in the case of the first thing moved [the first sphere] the starting point is in the east. The same thing is true in the case of our own movements; for a man does not always start to move from the beginning of a road but sometimes from the middle or from any terminus at all from which it is convenient for him to start moving.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Ex ordine autem, qui consideratur in motu locali, fit nobis etiam notus ordo in aliis motibus; et ideo sequuntur significationes principii, quae sumuntur secundum principium in generatione vel fieri rerum. Quod quidem principium dupliciter se habet. Aut enim est inexistens, idest intrinsecum; vel non est inexistens, idest extrinsecum.
<td style="text-align:justify">754. Now from the order considered in local motion we come to know the order in other motions. And for this reason we have the senses of principle based upon the principle of generation or coming to be of things. But this is taken in two ways; for it is either “inherent,” i.e., <b>intrinsic</b>, or “non-inherent,” i.e., <b>extrinsic</b>.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Dicitur ergo primo modo principium illa pars rei, quae primo generatur, et ex qua generatio rei incipit; sicut in navi fit primo sedile vel carina, quae est quasi navis fundamentum, super quod omnia ligna navis compaginantur. Similiter quod primo in domo fit, est fundamentum. In animali vero primo fit cor secundum quosdam, et secundum alios cerebrum, aut aliud tale membrum. Animal enim distinguitur a non animali, sensu et motu. Principium autem motus apparet esse in corde. Operationes autem sensus maxime manifestantur in cerebro. Et ideo qui consideraverunt animal ex parte motus, posuerunt cor principium esse in generatione animalis. Qui autem consideraverunt animal solum ex parte sensus, posuerunt cerebrum esse principium; quamvis etiam ipsius sensus primum principium sit in corde, etsi operationes sensus perficiantur in cerebro. Qui autem consideraverunt animal inquantum agit vel secundum aliquas eius operationes, posuerunt membrum adaptatum illi operationi, ut hepar vel aliud huiusmodi, esse primam partem generatam in animali. Secundum autem philosophi sententiam, prima pars est cor, quia a corde omnes virtutes animae per corpus diffunduntur.
<td style="text-align:justify">755. In the first way, then, a principle means that part of a thing which is first generated and from which the generation of the thing begins; for example, in the case of a ship the first thing to come into being is the base or keel, which is in a certain sense the foundation on which the whole superstructure of the ship is raised. And, similarly, in the case of a house the first thing that comes into being is the foundation. And in the case of an animal the first thing that comes into being, according to some, is the heart, and according to others, the brain or some such member of the body. For an animal is distinguished from a non-animal by reason of sensation and motion. Now the principle of motion appears to be in the heart, and sensory operations are most evident in the brain. Hence those who considered an animal from the viewpoint of motion held that the heart is the principle in the generation of an animal. But those who considered an animal only from the viewpoint of the senses held that the brain is this principle; yet the first principle of sensation is also in the heart even though the operations of the senses are completed in the brain. And those who considered an animal from the viewpoint of operation, or according to some of its activities, held that the organ which is naturally disposed for that operation, as the liver or some other such part is the first part which is generated in an animal. But according to the view of the Philosopher the first part is the heart because all of the soul’s powers are diffused throughout the body by means of the heart.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Alio autem modo dicitur principium, unde incipit rei generatio, quod tamen est extra rem; et hoc quidem manifestatur in tribus. Primo quidem in rebus naturalibus, in quibus principium generationis dicitur, unde primum natus est motus incipere in his quae fiunt per motum, sicut in his quae acquiruntur per alterationem, vel per aliquem alium motum huiusmodi. Sicut dicitur homo fieri magnus vel albus. Vel unde incipit permutatio, sicut in his quae non per motum, sed per solam fiunt mutationem; ut patet in factione substantiarum, sicut puer est ex patre et matre qui sunt eius principium, et bellum ex convitio, quod concitat animos hominum ad bellum.
<td style="text-align:justify">756. In the second way, a principle means that from which a thing’s process of generation begins but which is <b>outside</b> the thing. This is made clear in the case of three classes of things. The first is that of natural beings, in which the principle of generation is said to be the first thing from which motion naturally begins in those things which come about through motion (as those which come about through alteration or through some similar kind of motion; for example, a man is said to become large or white); or that from which a complete change begins (as in the case of those things which are not a result of motion but come into being through mutation alone). This is evident in the case of substantial generation; for example, a child comes from its father and mother, who are its principles, and a fight from abusive language, which stirs the souls of men to quarrel.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Secundo etiam manifestat in rebus agibilibus sive moralibus aut politicis, in quibus dicitur principium id, ex cuius voluntate vel proposito moventur et mutantur alia; et sic dicuntur principatus in civitatibus illi qui obtinent potestates et imperia, vel etiam tyrannides in ipsis. Nam ex eorum voluntate fiunt et moventur omnia in civitatibus. Dicuntur autem potestates habere homines, qui in particularibus officiis in civitatibus praeponuntur, sicut iudices et huiusmodi. Imperia autem illi, qui universaliter quibuscumque imperant, ut reges. Tyrannides autem obtinent, qui per violentiam et praeter iuris ordinem ad suam utilitatem civitates et regnum detinent.
<td style="text-align:justify">757. The second class in which this is made clear is that of <b>human acts</b>, whether ethical or political, in which that by whose will or intention others are moved or changed is called a principle. Thus those who hold civil, imperial, or even tyrannical power in states are said to have the principal places; for it is by their will that all things come to pass or are put into motion in states. Those men are said to have civil power who are put in command of particular offices in states, as judges and persons of this kind. Those are said to have imperial power who govern everyone without exception, as kings. And those hold tyrannical power who through violence and disregard for law keep royal power within their grip for their own benefit.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Tertium exemplum ponit in artificialibus, quia artes etiam simili modo principia esse dicuntur artificiatorum, quia ab arte incipit motus ad artificii constructionem. Et inter has maxime dicuntur principia architectonicae, quae a principio nomen habent, idest principales artes dictae. Dicuntur enim artes architectonicae quae aliis artibus subservientibus imperant, sicut gubernator navis imperat navifactivae, et militaris equestri.
<td style="text-align:justify">758. He gives as the third class things made by <b>art</b>; for the arts too in a similar way are called principles of artificial things, because the motion necessary for producing an artifact begins from an art. And of these arts the architectonic, which “derive their name” from the word principle, i.e., those called principal arts, are said to be principles in the highest degree. For by architectonic arts we mean those which govern subordinate arts, as the art of the navigator governs the art of ship-building, and the military art governs the art of horsemanship.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Ad similitudinem autem ordinis, qui in motibus exterioribus consideratur, attenditur etiam quidam ordo in rerum cognitione; et praecipue secundum quod intellectus noster quamdam similitudinem motus habet, discurrens de principiis in conclusiones. Et ideo alio modo dicitur principium, unde res primo innotescit; sicut dicimus principia demonstrationum esse suppositiones, idest dignitates et petitiones.
<td style="text-align:justify">759. Again, in likeness to the order considered in external motions a certain order may also be observed in our <b>apprehensions</b> of things, and especially insofar as our act of understanding, by proceeding from principles to conclusions, bears a certain resemblance to motion. Therefore in another way that is said to be a principle from which a thing first becomes known; for example, we say that “postulates,” i.e., axioms and assumptions, are principles of demonstrations.
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<td style="text-align:justify">His etiam modis et causae dicuntur quaedam principia. Nam omnes causae sunt quaedam principia. Ex causa enim incipit motus ad esse rei, licet non eadem ratione causa dicatur et principium, ut dictum est.
<td style="text-align:justify">760. Causes are also said to be principles in these ways, “for all causes are principles.” For the motion that terminates in a thing’s being begins from some cause, although it is not designated a cause and a principle from the same point of view, as was pointed out above (750).
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<td style="text-align:justify">761. <b>Therefore, it is</b> (404).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Deinde cum dicit omnium igitur reducit omnes praedictos modos ad aliquid commune; et dicit quod commune in omnibus dictis modis est, ut dicatur principium illud, quod est primum, aut in esse rei, sicut prima pars rei dicitur principium, aut in fieri rei, sicut primum movens dicitur principium, aut in rei cognitione.
<td style="text-align:justify">Then he reduces all of the abovementioned senses of principle to one that is common. He says that all of the foregoing senses have something in common inasmuch as that is said to be a principle which comes first (1) either with reference to a thing’s <b>being</b> (as the first part of a thing is said to be a principle) or (2) with reference to its <b>coming to be</b> (as the first mover is said to be a principle) or with reference to the knowing of it.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Sed quamvis omnia principia in hoc, ut dictum est, conveniant, differunt tamen, quia quaedam sunt intrinseca, quaedam extrinseca, ut ex praedictis patet. Et ideo natura potest esse principium et elementum, quae sunt intrinseca. Natura quidem, sicut illud a quo incipit motus: elementum autem sicut pars prima in generatione rei. Et mens, idest intellectus, et praevoluntas, idest propositum, dicuntur principia quasi extrinseca. Et iterum quasi intrinsecum dicitur principium substantia rei, idest forma quae est principium in essendo, cum secundum eam res sit in esse. Et secundum etiam praedicta, finis cuius causa fit aliquid, dicitur etiam esse principium. Bonum enim, quod habet rationem finis in prosequendo, et malum in vitando, in multis sunt principia cognitionis et motus, sicut in omnibus quae aguntur propter finem. In naturalibus enim, et moralibus et artificialibus, praecipue demonstrationes ex fine sumuntur.
<td style="text-align:justify">762. But while all principles agree in the respect just mentioned, they nevertheless differ, because some are intrinsic and others extrinsic, as is clear from the above. Hence nature and element, which are intrinsic, can be principles-nature as that from which motion begins, and element as the first part in a thing's generation. "And mind," i.e., intellect, and "purpose," i.e., a man's intention, are said to be principles as extrinsic ones. Again, "a thing's substance," i.e., its form, which is its principle of being, is called an intrinsic principle, since a thing has being by its form. Again, according to what has been said, that for the sake of which something comes to be is said to be one of its principles. For the good, which has the character of an end in the case of pursuing, and evil in that of shunning, are principles of the knowledge and motion of many things; that is, all those which are done for the sake of some end. For in the realm of nature, in that of moral acts, and in that of artifacts, demonstrations make special use of the final cause.
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<td align="center" colspan="2"><b>LESSON 2</b>
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<b>The Four Classes of Causes. Several Causes of the Same Effect. Causes May Be Causes of Each Other. Contraries Have the Same Cause</b>
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<td align="center" colspan="2">ARISTOTLE'S TEXT Chapter 2: 1013a 24-1013b 16
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<td style="text-align:justify">αἴτιον λέγεται ἕνα μὲν τρόπον ἐξ οὗ γίγνεταί τι ἐνυπάρχοντος, [25] οἷον ὁ χαλκὸς τοῦ ἀνδριάντος καὶ ὁ ἄργυρος τῆς φιάλης καὶ τὰ τούτων γένη: ἄλλον δὲ τὸ εἶδος καὶ τὸ παράδειγμα, τοῦτο δ᾽ ἐστὶν ὁ λόγος τοῦ τί ἦν εἶναι καὶ τὰ τούτου γένη (οἷον τοῦ διὰ πασῶν τὸ δύο πρὸς ἓν καὶ ὅλως ὁ ἀριθμός) καὶ τὰ μέρη τὰ ἐν τῷ λόγῳ. ἔτι ὅθεν ἡ [30] ἀρχὴ τῆς μεταβολῆς ἡ πρώτη ἢ τῆς ἠρεμήσεως, οἷον ὁ βουλεύσας αἴτιος, καὶ ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ τέκνου καὶ ὅλως τὸ ποιοῦν τοῦ ποιουμένου καὶ τὸ μεταβλητικὸν τοῦ μεταβάλλοντος. ἔτι ὡς τὸ τέλος: τοῦτο δ᾽ ἐστὶ τὸ οὗ ἕνεκα, οἷον τοῦ περιπατεῖν ἡ ὑγίεια. διὰ τί γὰρ περιπατεῖ; φαμέν. ἵνα ὑγιαίνῃ. καὶ [35] εἰπόντες οὕτως οἰόμεθα ἀποδεδωκέναι τὸ αἴτιον. καὶ ὅσα δὴ κινήσαντος ἄλλου μεταξὺ γίγνεται τοῦ τέλους, [1013β] [1] οἷον τῆς ὑγιείας ἡ ἰσχνασία ἢ ἡ κάθαρσις ἢ τὰ φάρμακα ἢ τὰ ὄργανα: πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα τοῦ τέλους ἕνεκά ἐστι, διαφέρει δὲ ἀλλήλων ὡς ὄντα τὰ μὲν ὄργανα τὰ δ᾽ ἔργα. τὰ μὲν οὖν αἴτια σχεδὸν τοσαυταχῶς λέγεται,
<td style="text-align:justify">405. In one sense the term cause means that from which, as something intrinsic, a thing comes to be, as the bronze of a statue and the silver of a goblet, and the genera of these. In another sense it means the form and pattern of a thing, i.e., the intelligible expression of the quiddity and its genera (for example, the ratio of 2: 1 and number in general are the cause of an octave chord) and the parts which are included in the intelligible expression. Again, that from which the first beginning of change or of rest comes is a cause; for example, an adviser is a cause, and a father is the cause of a child, and in general a maker is a cause of the thing made, and a changer a cause of the thing changed. Further, a thing is a cause inasmuch as it is an end, i.e., that for the sake of which something is done; for example, health is the cause of walking. For if we are asked why someone took a walk, we answer, "in order to be healthy"; and in saying this we think we have given the cause. And whatever occurs on the way to the end under the motion of something else is also a cause. For example, reducing, purging, drugs and instruments are causes of health; for all of these exist for the sake of the end, although they differ from each other inasmuch as some are instruments and others are processes. These, then, are nearly all the ways in which causes are spoken of.
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<td style="text-align:justify">συμβαίνει δὲ πολλαχῶς [5] λεγομένων τῶν αἰτίων καὶ πολλὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ αἴτια εἶναι οὐ κατὰ συμβεβηκός (οἷον τοῦ ἀνδριάντος καὶ ἡ ἀνδριαντοποιητικὴ καὶ ὁ χαλκὸς οὐ καθ᾽ ἕτερόν τι ἀλλ᾽ ᾗ ἀνδριάς: ἀλλ᾽ οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ὡς ὕλη τὸ δ᾽ ὡς ὅθεν ἡ κίνησις),
<td style="text-align:justify">406. And since there are several senses in which causes are spoken of, it turns out that there are many causes of the same thing, and not in an accidental way. For example, both the maker of a statue and the bronze are causes of a statue not in any other respect but insofar as it is a statue. However, they are not causes in the same way, but the one as matter and the other as the source of motion.
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<td style="text-align:justify">καὶ ἀλλήλων αἴτια (οἷον τὸ πονεῖν [10] τῆς εὐεξίας καὶ αὕτη τοῦ πονεῖν: ἀλλ᾽ οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ὡς τέλος τὸ δ᾽ ὡς ἀρχὴ κινήσεως).
<td style="text-align:justify">407. And there are things which are causes of each other. Pain, for example, is a cause of health, and health is a cause of pain, although not in the same way, but one as an end and the other as a source of motion.
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<td style="text-align:justify">ἔτι δὲ ταὐτὸ τῶν ἐναντίων ἐστίν: ὃ γὰρ παρὸν αἴτιον τουδί, τοῦτ᾽ ἀπὸν αἰτιώμεθα ἐνίοτε τοῦ ἐναντίου, οἷον τὴν ἀπουσίαν τοῦ κυβερνήτου τῆς ἀνατροπῆς, οὗ ἦν ἡ παρουσία αἰτία τῆς [15] σωτηρίας: ἄμφω δέ, καὶ ἡ παρουσία καὶ ἡ στέρησις, αἴτια ὡς κινοῦντα.
<td style="text-align:justify">408. Further, the same thing is sometimes the cause of contraries; for that which when present is the cause of some particular thing, this when absent we sometimes blame for the contrary. Thus the cause of the loss of a ship is the absence of the pilot whose presence is the cause of the ship's safety. And both of these—the absence and the presence—are moving causes.
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<td style="text-align:justify"><i>The four causes</i>
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<td style="text-align:justify">Hic philosophus distinguit quot modis dicitur causa. Et circa hoc duo facit. Primo assignat species causarum. Secundo modos causarum, ibi, modi vero causarum.
<td style="text-align:justify">763. Here the Philosopher distinguishes the various senses in which the term cause is used; and in regard to this he does two things. First, he enumerates the classes of causes. Second (783), he gives the modes of causes (“Now the modes”).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Circa primum duo facit. Primo enumerat diversas species causarum. Secundo reducit eas ad quatuor, ibi, omnes vero causae dictae.
<td style="text-align:justify">In regard to the first part he does two things. First, he enumerates the various classes of causes. Second (777), he reduces them to four (“All the causes”).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Circa primum duo facit. Primo enumerat diversas species causarum. Secundo manifestat quaedam circa species praedictas, ibi, accidit autem multoties et cetera.
<td style="text-align:justify">In regard to the first part he does two things. First, he enumerates the different classes of causes. Second (773), he clarifies certain things about the classes of causes (“And since”).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Dicit ergo primo, quod uno modo dicitur causa id ex quo fit aliquid, et est ei inexistens, idest intus existens. Quod quidem dicitur ad differentiam privationis, et etiam contrarii. Nam ex contrario vel privatione dicitur aliquid fieri sicut ex non inexistente, ut album ex nigro vel album ex non albo. Statua autem fit ex aere, et phiala ex argento, sicut ex inexistente. Nam cum statua fit, non tollitur ratio aeris, nec si fit phiala, tollitur ratio argenti. Et ideo aes statuae, et argentum phialae sunt causa per modum materiae. Et horum genera, quia cuiuscumque materia est species aliqua, materia est eius genus, sicut si materia statuae est aes, eius materia erit metallum, et mixtum, et corpus, et sic de aliis.
<td style="text-align:justify">He accordingly says, first, that in one sense the term cause means that from which a thing comes to be and is “something intrinsic,” i.e., something which exists within the thing. This is said to distinguish it from a <b>privation</b> and also from a <b>contrary</b>; for a thing is said to come from a privation or from a contrary as from something which is not intrinsic; for example, white is said to come from black or from not-white. But a statue comes from bronze and a goblet from silver as from something which is intrinsic; for the nature bronze is not destroyed when a statue comes into being, nor is the nature silver destroyed when a goblet comes into being. Therefore the bronze of a statue and the silver of a goblet are causes in the sense of matter. He adds “and the genera of these,” because if matter is the species of anything it is also its genus. For example, if the matter of a statue is bronze, its matter will also be metal, compound and body. The same holds true of other things.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Alio autem modo dicitur causa, species et exemplum, id est exemplar; et haec est causa formalis, quae comparatur dupliciter ad rem. Uno modo sicut forma intrinseca rei; et haec dicitur species. Alio modo sicut extrinseca a re, ad cuius tamen similitudinem res fieri dicitur; et secundum hoc, exemplar rei dicitur forma. Per quem modum ponebat Plato ideas esse formas. Et, quia unumquodque consequitur naturam vel generis vel speciei per formam suam, natura autem generis vel speciei est id quod significat definitio, dicens quid est res, ideo forma est ratio ipsius quod quid erat esse, idest definitio per quam scitur quid est res. Quamvis enim in definitione ponantur aliquae partes materiales, tamen id quod est principale in definitione, oportet quod sit ex parte formae. Et ideo haec est ratio quare forma est causa, quia perficit rationem quidditatis rei. Et sicut id quod est genus materiae, est etiam materia, ita etiam genera formarum sunt formae rerum; sicut forma consonantiae diapason, est proportio duorum ad unum. Quando enim duo soni se habent adinvicem in dupla proportione, tunc est inter eos consonantia diapason, unde dualitas est forma eius. Nam proportio dupla ex dualitate rationem habet. Et, quia numerus est genus dualitatis, ideo ut universaliter loquamur, etiam numerus est forma diapason, ut scilicet dicamus quod diapason est secundum proportionem numeri ad numerum. Et non solum tota definitio comparatur ad definitum ut forma, sed etiam partes definitionis, quae scilicet ponuntur in definitione in recto. Sicut enim animal gressibile bipes est forma hominis, ita animal, et gressibile, et bipes. Ponitur autem interdum materia in definitione, sed in obliquo; ut cum dicitur, quod anima est actus corporis organici physici potentia vitam habentis.
<td style="text-align:justify">764. In another sense cause means the <b>form and pattern</b> of a thing, i.e., its exemplar. This is the formal cause, which is related to a thing in two ways. (1) In one way it stands as the intrinsic form of a thing, and in this respect it is called the formal principle of a thing. (2) In another way it stands as something which is extrinsic to a thing but is that in likeness to which it is made, and in this respect an <b>exemplar</b> is also called a thing’s form. It is in this sense that Plato held the Ideas to be forms. Moreover, because it is from its form that each thing derives its nature, whether of its genus or of its species, and the nature of its genus or of its species is what is signified by the definition, which expresses its quiddity, the form of a thing is therefore the intelligible expression of its quiddity, i.e., the formula by which its quiddity is known. For even though certain material parts are given in the definition, still it is from a thing’s <b>form</b> that the <b>principal part of the definition</b> comes. The reason why the form is a cause, then, is that it completes the intelligible expression of a thing’s quiddity. And just as the genus of a particular matter is also matter, in a similar way the genera of forms are the forms of things; for example, the form of the octave chord is the ratio of 2:1. For when two notes stand to each other in the ratio of 2:1, the interval between them is one octave. Hence twoness is its form; for the ratio of 2:1 derives its meaning from twoness. And because number is the genus of twoness, we may therefore say in a general way that number is also the form of the octave, inasmuch as we may say that the octave chord involves the ratio of one number to another. And not only is the whole definition related to the thing defined as its form, but so also are the parts of the definition, i.e., those which are given directly in the definition. For just as two-footed animal capable of walking is the form of man, so also are animal, capable of walking and two-footed. But sometimes <b>matter</b> is given <b>indirectly</b> in the definition, as when the soul is said to be the actuality of a physical organic body having life potentially.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Tertio modo dicitur causa unde primum est principium permutationis et quietis; et haec est causa movens, vel efficiens. Dicit autem, motus, aut etiam quietis, quia motus naturalis et quies naturalis in eamdem causam reducuntur, et similiter quies violenta et motus violentus. Ex eadem enim causa ex qua movetur aliquid ad locum, quiescit in loco. Sicut consiliator est causa. Nam ex consiliatore incipit motus in eo, qui secundum consilium agit ad rei conservationem. Et similiter pater est causa filii. In quibus duobus exemplis duo principia motus tetigit ex quibus omnia fiunt, scilicet propositum in consiliatore, et naturam in patre. Et universaliter omne faciens est causa facti per hunc modum, et permutans permutati.
<td style="text-align:justify">765. In a third sense cause means that from which the first beginning of change or of rest comes, i.e., a moving or <b>efficient</b> cause. He says “of change or of rest,” because motion and rest which are natural are traced back to the same cause, and the same is true of motion and of rest which are a result of force. For that cause by which something is moved to a place is the same as that by which it is made to rest there. “An adviser” is an example of this kind of cause, for it is as a result of an adviser that motion begins in the one who acts upon his advice for the sake of safeguarding something. And in a similar way “a father is the cause of a child.” In these two examples Aristotle touches upon the, two principles of motion from which all things come to be, namely, purpose in the case of an adviser, and nature in the case of a father. And in general every maker is a cause of the thing made and every changer a cause of the thing changed.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Sciendum est autem quod secundum Avicennam quatuor sunt modi causae efficientis; scilicet perficiens, disponens, adiuvans, et consilians.
<td style="text-align:justify">766. Moreover, it should be noted that according to Avicenna, there are four modes of efficient cause, namely, perfective, dispositive, auxiliary and advisory.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Perficiens autem dicitur causa efficiens, quae ultimam rei perfectionem causat, sicut quod inducit formam substantialem in rebus naturalibus, vel artificialem in artificialibus, ut aedificator domus.
<td style="text-align:justify">An efficient cause is said to be <b>perfective</b> inasmuch as it causes the final perfection of a thing, as the one who induces a substantial form in natural things or artificial forms in things made by art, as a builder induces the form of a house.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Disponens autem quod non inducit ultimam formam perfectivam, sed tantummodo praeparat materiam ad formam; sicut ille, qui dolat ligna et lapides, dicitur domum facere. Et haec non proprie dicitur efficiens domus; quia id, quod ipse facit, non est domus nisi in potentiam. Magis tamen proprie erit efficiens, si inducat ultimam dispositionem ad quam sequitur de necessitate forma; sicut homo generat hominem non causans intellectum, qui est ab extrinseco.
<td style="text-align:justify">767. An efficient cause is said to be <b>dispositive</b> if it does not induce the final form that perfects a thing but only prepares the matter for that form, as one who hews timbers and stones is said to build a house. This cause is not properly said to be the efficient cause of a house, because what he produces is only potentially a house. But he will be more properly an efficient cause if he induces the ultimate disposition on which the form necessarily follows; for example, man generates man without causing his intellect, which comes from an extrinsic cause.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Adiuvans autem dicitur causa secundum quod operatur ad principalem effectum. In hoc tamen differt ab agente principali, quia principale agens agit ad finem proprium, adiuvans autem ad finem alienum; sicut qui adiuvat regem in bello, operatur ad finem regis. Et haec est dispositio causae secundariae ad primam; nam causa secunda operatur propter finem primae causae in omnibus agentibus per se ordinatis, sicut militaris propter finem civilis.
<td style="text-align:justify">768. And an efficient cause is said to be <b>auxiliary</b> insofar as it contributes to the principal effect. Yet it differs from the principal efficient cause in that the principal efficient cause acts for its own end, whereas an auxiliary cause acts for an end which is not its own. For example, one who assists a king in war acts for the king’s end. And this is the way in which a <b>secondary</b> cause is disposed for a primary cause. For in the case of all efficient causes which are directly <b>subordinated</b> to each other, a secondary cause acts because of the end of a primary cause; for example, the military art acts because of the end of the political art.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Consilians autem differt ab efficiente principali, inquantum dat finem et formam agendi. Et haec est habitudo primi agentis per intellectum ad omne agens secundum, sive sit naturale, sive intellectuale. Nam primum agens intellectuale in omnibus dat finem et formam agendi secundo agenti, sicut architector navis navim operanti, et primus intellectus toti naturae.
<td style="text-align:justify">769. And an <b>advisory</b> cause differs from a principal efficient cause inasmuch as it specifies the end and form of the activity. This is the way in which the first agent acting by intellect is related to every secondary agent, whether it be natural or intellectual. For in every case a first intellectual agent gives to a secondary agent its end and its form of activity; for example, the naval architect gives these to the shipwright, and the first intelligence does the same thing for everything in the natural world.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Ad hoc autem genus causae reducitur quicquid facit aliquid quocumque modo esse, non solum secundum esse substantiale, sed secundum accidentale; quod contingit in omni motu. Et ideo non solum dicit quod faciens sit causa facti, sed etiam mutans mutati.
<td style="text-align:justify">770. Further, to this genus of cause is reduced everything that makes anything to be in any manner whatsoever, not only as regards <b>substantial</b> being, but also as regards <b>accidental</b> being, which occurs in every kind of motion. Hence he says not only that the <b>maker</b> is the cause of the thing made, but also that the <b>changer</b> is the cause of the thing changed.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Quarto modo dicitur causa finis; hoc autem est cuius causa aliquid fit, sicut sanitas est causa ambulandi. Et quia de fine videbatur minus quod esset causa, propter hoc quod est ultimum in esse, unde etiam ab aliis prioribus philosophis haec causa est praetermissa, ut in primo libro praehabitum est, ideo specialiter probat de fine quod sit causa. Nam haec quaestio quare, vel propter quid, quaerit de causa: cum enim quaeritur quare, vel propter quid quis ambulat, convenienter respondentes dicimus, ut sanetur. Et sic respondentes opinamur reddere causam. Unde patet quod finis est causa. Non solum autem ultimum, propter quod efficiens operatur, dicitur finis respectu praecedentium; sed etiam omnia intermedia quae sunt inter primum agens et ultimum finem, dicuntur finis respectu praecedentium; et eodem modo dicuntur causa unde principium motus respectu sequentium: sicut inter medicinam, quae est primum agens in hoc ordine, et sanitatem quae est ultimus finis, sunt ista media: scilicet attenuatio, quae est propinquissima sanitati in his, qui superabundant in humoribus, et purgatio, per quam acquiritur attenuatio, et pharmacia, idest medicina laxativa, et ex qua purgatio causatur, et organa idest instrumenta quibus medicina vel pharmacia praeparatur et ministratur. Huiusmodi etiam omnia sunt propter finem; et tamen unum eorum est finis alterius. Nam attenuatio est finis purgationis, et purgatio pharmaciae. Haec autem intermedia posita differunt adinvicem in hoc, quaedam eorum sunt organa, sicut instrumenta quibus medicina praeparatur et ministratur, et ipsa medicina ministrata qua natura utitur ut instrumento; quaedam vero sunt opera, idest operationes, sive actiones, ut purgatio et attenuatio.
<td style="text-align:justify">771. In a fourth sense cause means a thing’s <b>end</b>, i.e., that for the sake of which something is done, as health is the cause of walking. And since it is less evident that the end is a cause in view of the fact that it comes into being last of all (which is also the reason why this cause was overlooked by the earlier philosophers, as was pointed out in Book I (1771), he therefore gives a special proof that an end is a cause. For to ask <b>why</b> or for what reason is to ask about a cause, because when we are asked why or for what reason someone walks, we reply properly by answering that he does so in order to be healthy. And when we answer in this way we think that we are stating the cause. Hence it is evident that the end is a cause. Moreover, not only the <b>ultimate</b> reason for which an agent acts is said to be an end with respect to those things which precede it, but everything that is <b>intermediate</b> between the first agent and the ultimate end is also said to be an end with respect to the preceding agents. And similarly those things are said to be causes from which motion arises in subsequent things. For example, between the art of medicine, which is the first efficient cause in this order, and health, which is the ultimate end, there are these <b>intermediates</b>: reducing, which is the most proximate cause of health in those who have a superfluity of humors; purging, by means of which reducing is brought about; “drugs,” i.e., laxative medicine, by means of which purging is accomplished; and “instruments,” i.e., the instruments by which medicine or drugs are prepared and administered. And all such things exist for the sake of the end, although one of them is the end of another. For reducing is the end of purging, and purging is the end of purgatives. However, these intermediates differ from each other in that (1) some are instruments, i.e., the instruments by means of which medicine is prepared and administered (and the administered medicine itself is something which nature employs as an instrument); and (2) some—purging and reducing—are processes, i.e., operations or activities.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Concludit ergo quod causae toties dicuntur, idest quatuor modis. Et addit fere propter modos causarum quos infra ponet. Vel etiam ideo, quia illae eaedem species non eadem ratione in omnibus inveniuntur.
<td style="text-align:justify">772. He concludes, then, that “these are the ways in which causes are spoken of (405),” i.e., the four ways; and he adds “nearly all” because of the modes of causes which he gives below. Or he also adds this because the same classes of causes are not found for the same reason in all things.
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<td style="text-align:justify">773. <b>And since</b> (406).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Deinde cum dicit accidit autem ponit quaedam, quae consequuntur circa causas ex praedictis; et sunt tria: quorum primum est, quod quia causa multis modis dicitur, contingit multas causas esse unius rei non secundum accidens, sed secundum se. Quod enim secundum accidens multae sint causae unius rei, hoc difficile non videbatur; quia rei, quae est causa per se alicuius effectus, multa possunt accidere, qua omnia illius effectus possunt etiam causa per accidens dici: sed, quod causae per se sint multae unius, hoc fit manifestum ex hoc, quod causae multipliciter dicuntur. Statuae enim causa per se et non per accidens est factor statuae, et aes; sed non eodem modo. Hoc enim est impossibile quod eiusdem secundum idem genus, sint multae causae per se eodem ordine; licet possint esse plures causae hoc modo, quod una sit proxima, alia remota: vel ita, quod neutrum sit causa sufficiens, sed utrumque coniunctim; sicut patet in multis, qui trahunt navem. Sed in proposito diversis modis ista duo sunt causa statuae: aes quidem ut materia, artifex vero ut efficiens.
<td style="text-align:justify">Then he indicates certain points which follow from the things said above about the causes, and there are four of these. The first is that, since the term cause is used in many senses, there may be <b>several causes</b> of one thing not accidentally but properly. For the fact that there are many causes of one thing accidentally presents no difficulty, because many things may be accidents of something that is the proper cause of some effect, and all of these can be said to be accidental causes of that effect. But that there are <b>several proper causes</b> of one thing becomes evident from the fact that causes are spoken of in various ways. For the maker of a statue is a proper cause and not an accidental cause of a statue, and so also is the bronze, but not in the same way. For it is impossible that there should be many proper causes of the same thing within the same genus and in the same order, although there can be many causes providing that (1) one is proximate and another remote; or (2) that neither of them is of itself a sufficient cause, but both together. An example would be many men rowing a boat. Now in the case in point these two things are causes of a statue in different ways: the bronze as matter, and the artist as efficient cause.
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<td style="text-align:justify">774. <b>And there are</b> (407).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Secundum ponit ibi, et adinvicem dicit, quod etiam contingit, quod aliqua duo adinvicem sibi sunt causae: quod impossibile est in eodem genere causae. Manifestum vero fit multipliciter dictis causis. Sicut dolor ex incisione vulneris est causa sanitatis, ut efficiens sive principium motus: sanitas autem est causa illius doloris, ut finis. Secundum enim idem genus causae aliquid esse causam et causatum est impossibile. Alia litera habet melius laborare causa est euexiae, idest bonae dispositionis, quae causatur ex labore moderato, qui ad digestionem confert et superfluos humores consumit.
<td style="text-align:justify">Then he sets down the second fact that may be drawn from the foregoing discussion. He says that it may also happen that any two things may be the cause of each other, although this is impossible in the same class of cause. But it is evident that this may happen when causes are spoken of in different senses. For example, the pain resulting from a wound is a cause of health as an efficient cause or source of motion, whereas health is the cause of pain as an end. For it is impossible, that a thing should be both a cause and something caused. Another text states this better, saying that “exercise is the cause of physical fitness,” i.e., of the good disposition caused by moderate exercise, which promotes digestion and uses up superfluous humors.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Sciendum est autem, quod cum sint quatuor causae superius positae, earum duae sibiinvicem correspondent, et aliae duae similiter. Nam efficiens et finis sibi correspondent invicem, quia efficiens est principium motus, finis autem terminus. Et similiter materia et forma: nam forma dat esse, materia autem recipit. Est igitur efficiens causa finis, finis autem causa efficientis. Efficiens est causa finis quantum ad esse quidem, quia movendo perducit efficiens ad hoc, quod sit finis. Finis autem est causa efficientis non quantum ad esse, sed quantum ad rationem causalitatis. Nam efficiens est causa inquantum agit: non autem agit nisi causa finis. Unde ex fine habet suam causalitatem efficiens. Forma autem et materia sibiinvicem sunt causa quantum ad esse. Forma quidem materiae inquantum dat ei esse actu; materia vero formae inquantum sustentat ipsam. Dico autem utrumque horum sibi invicem esse causam essendi vel simpliciter vel secundum quid. Nam forma substantialis dat esse materiae simpliciter. Forma autem accidentalis secundum quid, prout etiam forma est. Materia etiam quandoque non sustentat formam secundum esse simpliciter, sed secundum quod est forma huius, habens esse in hoc, sicut se habet corpus humanum ad animam rationalem.
<td style="text-align:justify">775. Now it must be borne in mind that, although four causes are given above, two of these are related to one another, and so also are the other two. (1) The efficient cause is related to the final cause, and (2) the material cause is related to the formal cause. The efficient cause is related to the final cause because the efficient cause is the starting point of motion and the final cause is its terminus. There is a similar relationship between matter and form. For form gives being, and matter receives it. Hence the efficient cause is the cause of the final cause, and the final cause is the cause of the efficient cause. The efficient cause is the cause of the final cause inasmuch as it makes the final cause be, because by causing motion the efficient cause brings about the final cause. But the final cause is the cause of the efficient cause, not in the sense that it makes it be, but inasmuch as it is the reason for the causality of the efficient cause. For an efficient cause is a cause inasmuch as it acts, and it acts only because of the final cause. Hence the efficient cause derives its causality from the final cause. And form and matter are mutual causes of being: form is a cause of matter inasmuch as it gives actual being to matter, and matter is a cause of form inasmuch as it supports form in being. And I say that both of these together are causes of being either in an unqualified sense or with some qualification. For substantial form gives being absolutely to matter, whereas accidental form, inasmuch as it is a form, gives being in a qualified sense. And matter sometimes does not support a form in being in an unqualified sense but according as it is the form of this particular thing and has being in this particular thing. This is what happens in the case of the human body in relation to the rational soul.
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<td style="text-align:justify">776. <b>Further, the same thing</b> (408).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Tertium ponit ibi, amplius autem dicit, quod idem contrariorum contingit esse causam. Quod etiam difficile videbatur vel impossibile, si similiter ad utrumque referatur; sed dissimiliter est causa utriusque. Illud enim, quod per sui praesentiam est causa huius, quando est absens causamur idest accusamus ipsum de contrario, idest dicimus ipsum esse causam contrarii. Sicut patet, quod gubernator per sui praesentiam est causa salutis navis, dicimus eius absentiam esse causam perditionis. Ne autem putetur quod hoc sit referendum ad diversa genera causarum sicut et priora duo, ideo subiungit quod utrumque istorum reducitur ad idem genus causae, scilicet ad causam moventem. Eodem enim modo oppositum est causa oppositi, quo haec est causa huius.
<td style="text-align:justify">Then he gives the third conclusion that may be drawn from the foregoing discussion. He says that the same thing can be the cause of <b>contraries</b>. This would also seem to be difficult or impossible if it were related to both in the same way. But it is the cause of each in a different way. For that which when present is the cause of some particular thing, this when absent “we blame,” i.e., we hold it responsible, “for the contrary.” For example, it is evident that by his presence the pilot is the cause of a ship’s safety, and we say that his absence is the cause of the ship’s loss. And lest someone might think that this is to be attributed to different classes of causes, just as the preceding two were, he therefore adds that both of these may be reduced to the same class of cause—the <b>moving</b> cause. For the opposite of a cause is the cause of an opposite effect in the same line of causality as that in which the original cause was the cause of its effect.
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<td align="center" colspan="2"><b>LESSON 3</b>
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<b>All Causes Reduced to Four Classes</b>
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<td align="center" colspan="2">ARISTOTLE'S TEXT Chapter 2: 1013b 16-1014a 25
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<td style="text-align:justify">ἅπαντα δὲ τὰ νῦν εἰρημένα αἴτια εἰς τέτταρας τρόπους πίπτει τοὺς φανερωτάτους. τὰ μὲν γὰρ στοιχεῖα τῶν συλλαβῶν καὶ ἡ ὕλη τῶν σκευαστῶν καὶ τὸ πῦρ καὶ ἡ γῆ καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα πάντα τῶν σωμάτων καὶ τὰ [20] μέρη τοῦ ὅλου καὶ αἱ ὑποθέσεις τοῦ συμπεράσματος ὡς τὸ [21] ἐξ οὗ αἴτιά ἐστιν: τούτων δὲ τὰ μὲν ὡς τὸ ὑποκείμενον, οἷον τὰ μέρη, τὰ δὲ ὡς τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι, τό τε ὅλον καὶ ἡ σύνθεσις καὶ τὸ εἶδος. τὸ δὲ σπέρμα καὶ ὁ ἰατρὸς καὶ ὁ βουλεύσας καὶ ὅλως τὸ ποιοῦν, πάντα ὅθεν ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς μεταβολῆς [25] ἢ στάσεως. τὰ δ᾽ ὡς τὸ τέλος καὶ τἀγαθὸν τῶν ἄλλων: τὸ γὰρ οὗ ἕνεκα βέλτιστον καὶ τέλος τῶν ἄλλων ἐθέλει εἶναι: διαφερέτω δὲ μηδὲν αὐτὸ εἰπεῖν ἀγαθὸν ἢ φαινόμενον ἀγαθόν. τὰ μὲν οὖν αἴτια ταῦτα καὶ τοσαῦτά ἐστι τῷ εἴδει,
<td style="text-align:justify">409. All the causes mentioned fall under one of the four classes which are most evident. For the elements of syllables, the matter of things made by art, fire and earth and all such elements of bodies, the parts of a whole, and the premises of a conclusion, are all causes in the sense of that from which things are made. But of these some are causes as a subject, for example, parts, and others as the essence, for example, the whole, the composition and the species, whereas the seed, the physician, the adviser, and in general every agent, are all sources of change or of rest. But the others are causes as the end and the good of other things. For that for the sake of which other things come to be is the greatest good and the end of other things. And it makes no difference whether we say that it is a good or an apparent good. These, then, are the causes, and this the number of their classes.
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<td style="text-align:justify">τρόποι δὲ τῶν αἰτίων ἀριθμῷ μέν [30] εἰσι πολλοί, κεφαλαιούμενοι δὲ καὶ οὗτοι ἐλάττους. λέγονται γὰρ αἴτια πολλαχῶς, καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν ὁμοειδῶν προτέρως καὶ ὑστέρως ἄλλο ἄλλου, οἷον ὑγιείας ὁ ἰατρὸς καὶ ὁ τεχνίτης, καὶ τοῦ διὰ πασῶν τὸ διπλάσιον καὶ ἀριθμός, καὶ ἀεὶ τὰ περιέχοντα ὁτιοῦν τῶν καθ᾽ ἕκαστα. ἔτι δ᾽ ὡς τὸ συμβεβηκὸς [35] καὶ τὰ τούτων γένη, οἷον ἀνδριάντος ἄλλως Πολύκλειτος καὶ ἄλλως ἀνδριαντοποιός, ὅτι συμβέβηκε τῷ ἀνδριαντοποιῷ Πολυκλείτῳ εἶναι: [1014α] [1] καὶ τὰ περιέχοντα δὲ τὸ συμβεβηκός, οἷον ἄνθρωπος αἴτιος ἀνδριάντος, ἢ καὶ ὅλως ζῷον, ὅτι ὁ Πολύκλειτος ἄνθρωπος ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος ζῷον. ἔστι δὲ καὶ τῶν συμβεβηκότων ἄλλα ἄλλων πορρώτερον καὶ [5] ἐγγύτερον, οἷον εἰ ὁ λευκὸς καὶ ὁ μουσικὸς αἴτιος λέγοιτο τοῦ ἀνδριάντος, ἀλλὰ μὴ μόνον Πολύκλειτος ἢ ἄνθρωπος. παρὰ πάντα δὲ καὶ τὰ οἰκείως λεγόμενα καὶ τὰ κατὰ συμβεβηκός, τὰ μὲν ὡς δυνάμενα λέγεται τὰ δ᾽ ὡς ἐνεργοῦντα, οἷον τοῦ οἰκοδομεῖσθαι οἰκοδόμος ἢ οἰκοδομῶν οἰκοδόμος. [10] ὁμοίως δὲ λεχθήσεται καὶ ἐφ᾽ ὧν αἴτια τὰ αἴτια τοῖς εἰρημένοις, οἷον τοῦδε τοῦ ἀνδριάντος ἢ ἀνδριάντος ἢ ὅλως εἰκόνος, καὶ χαλκοῦ τοῦδε ἢ χαλκοῦ ἢ ὅλως ὕλης: καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν συμβεβηκότων ὡσαύτως. ἔτι δὲ συμπλεκόμενα καὶ ταῦτα κἀκεῖνα λεχθήσεται, οἷον οὐ Πολύκλειτος οὐδὲ ἀνδριαντοποιὸς [15] ἀλλὰ Πολύκλειτος ἀνδριαντοποιός. ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως ἅπαντά γε ταῦτ᾽ ἐστὶ τὸ μὲν πλῆθος ἕξ, λεγόμενα δὲ διχῶς: ἢ γὰρ ὡς τὸ καθ᾽ ἕκαστον ἢ ὡς τὸ γένος, ἢ ὡς τὸ συμβεβηκὸς ἢ ὡς τὸ γένος τοῦ συμβεβηκότος, ἢ ὡς συμπλεκόμενα ταῦτα ἢ ὡς ἁπλῶς λεγόμενα, πάντα δὲ ἢ ὡς [20] ἐνεργοῦντα ἢ κατὰ δύναμιν. διαφέρει δὲ τοσοῦτον, ὅτι τὰ μὲν ἐνεργοῦντα καὶ τὰ καθ᾽ ἕκαστον ἅμα ἔστι καὶ οὐκ ἔστι καὶ ὧν αἴτια, οἷον ὅδε ὁ ἰατρεύων τῷδε τῷ ὑγιαζομένῳ καὶ ὅδε ὁ οἰκοδόμος τῷδε τῷ οἰκοδομουμένῳ, τὰ δὲ κατὰ δύναμιν οὐκ ἀεί: φθείρεται γὰρ οὐχ ἅμα ἡ οἰκία καὶ ὁ [25] οἰκοδόμος.
<td style="text-align:justify">410. Now the modes of causes are many in number, but these become fewer when summarized. For causes are spoken of in many senses; and of those which belong to the same class, some are prior and some subsequent. For example, both the physician and one possessing an art are causes of health, and both the ratio of 2:1 and number are causes of the octave chord; and always those classes which contain singulars. Further, a thing may be a cause in the sense of an accident, and the classes which contain these; for example, in one sense the cause of a statue is Polyclitus and in another a sculptor, because it is accidental that a sculptor should be Polyclitus. And the universals which contain accidents are causes; for example, man is the cause of a statue, and even generally animal, because Polyclitus is a man and an animal. And of accidental causes some are more remote and some more proximate than others. Thus what is white and what is musical might be said to be the causes of a statue, and not just Polyclitus or man. Again, in addition to all of these, i.e., both proper causes and accidental causes, some are said to be causes potentially and some actually, as a builder and one who is building. And the distinctions which have been made will apply in like manner to the effects of these causes, for example, to this statue, or to a statue, or to an image generally, or to this bronze, or to bronze, or to matter in general. And the same applies to accidental effects. Again, both proper and accidental causes may be spoken of together, so that the cause of a statue may be referred to as neither Polyclitus nor a sculptor but the sculptor Polyclitus. But while all these varieties of causes are six in number, each is spoken of in two ways; for causes are either singular or generic; either proper or accidental, or generically accidental; or they are spoken of in combination or singly; and again they are either active or potential causes. But they differ in this respect, that active causes, i.e. singular causes, exist or cease to exist simultaneously with their effects, as this particular one who is healing with this particular person who is being healed, and as this particular builder with this particular thing which is being built. But this is not always true of potential causes; for the builder and the thing built do not cease to exist at the same time.
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<td align="center" colspan="2"><b>COMMENTARY</b>
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<td style="text-align:justify"><i>Four modes of causes</i>
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<td style="text-align:justify">Hic philosophus reducit omnes causas in quatuor modos causarum praedictos; dicens, quod omnia quae dicuntur causae, incidunt in praedictos quatuor modos. Dicuntur enim elementa, idest literae, causae syllabarum, et materia artificialium dicitur esse causa factorum per artem, et ignis et terra et huiusmodi omnia simplicia corpora, dicuntur esse causae corporum mixtorum. Et partes dicuntur esse causa totius. Et suppositiones, idest propositiones praemissae, ex quibus propositis syllogizatur, dicuntur esse causa conclusionis. Et in omnibus istis est una ratio causae, secundum quod dicitur causa illud ex quo fit aliquid, quod est ratio causae materialis.
<td style="text-align:justify">777. Here the philosopher reduces all causes to the classes of causes mentioned above (409), saying that all those things which are called causes fall into one of the four classes mentioned above. For “elements,” i.e., letters, are said to be the causes of syllables; and the matter of artificial things is said to be their cause; and fire and earth and all simple bodies of this kind are said to be the causes of compounds. And parts are said to be the causes of a whole, and “premises,” i.e., propositions previously set down from which conclusions are drawn, are said to be the causes of the conclusion. And in all of these cases cause has a single formal aspect according as cause means that from which a thing is produced, and this is the formal aspect of material cause.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Sciendum est autem, quod propositiones dicuntur esse materia conclusionis, non quidem secundum quod sub tali forma existunt, vel secundum virtutem earum; (sic enim magis se habent in ratione causae efficientis); sed quantum ad terminos, ex quibus componuntur. Nam ex terminis praemissarum componitur conclusio, scilicet ex maiori et ex minori extremitate.
<td style="text-align:justify">778. Now it must be noted that propositions are said to constitute the matter of a conclusion, not inasmuch as they exist under such a form, or according to their force (for in this way they would rather have the formal aspect of an efficient cause), but with reference to the terms of which they are composed. For a conclusion is constituted of the terms contained in the premises, i.e., of the major and minor terms.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Inter ea autem ex quibus res integratur, aliquid se habet per modum subiecti, sicut partes et alia quae praedicta sunt; alia vero se habent ut quod quid erat esse, scilicet totum, et compositio, et species, quae pertinent ad rationem formae, secundum quam quidditas rei completur. Sciendum est enim, quod quandoque una res simpliciter est alicuius materia, sicut argentum phialae; et tunc forma correspondens tali materiae potest dici species. Quandoque autem plures adinvicem adunatae sunt materia alicuius rei. Quod quidem contingit tripliciter. Quandoque enim adunantur secundum ordinem tantum, sicut homines in exercitu, vel domus in civitate; et sic pro forma respondet totum, quod designatur nomine exercitus vel civitatis. Quandoque autem non solum adunantur ordine, sed contactu et colligatione, sicut apparet in partibus domus; et tunc respondet pro forma compositio. Quandoque autem super hoc additur alteratio componentium, quod contingit in mixtione; et tunc forma est ipsa mixtio, quae tamen est quaedam compositionis species. Ex quolibet autem trium horum sumitur quod quid est rei, scilicet ex compositione et specie et toto: sicut patet si definiretur exercitus, domus et phiala. Sic ergo habemus duos modos causae.
<td style="text-align:justify">779. And of those things of which something is composed, some are like a subject, for example, parts and the other things mentioned above, whereas some are like the essence, for example, the whole, the composition and the species, which have the character of a form whereby a thing’s essence is made complete. For it must be borne in mind that (1) sometimes one thing is the matter of something else in an <b>unqualified</b> sense (for example, silver of a goblet), and then the form corresponding to such a matter can be called the species. (2) But sometimes many things taken together constitute the matter of a thing; and this may occur in three ways. (a) For sometimes things are united merely by their <b>arrangement</b>, as the men in an army or the houses in a city; and then the whole has the role of a form which is designated by the term army or city. (b) And sometimes things are united not just by arrangement alone but by contact and a <b>bond</b>, as is evident in the parts of a house; and then their composition has the role of a form. (c) And sometimes the <b>alteration</b> of the component parts is added to the above, as occurs in the case of a compound; and then the compound state itself is the form, and this is still a kind of composition. And a thing’s essence is derived from any one of these three—the composition’ species, or whole—as becomes clear when an army, a house, or a goblet is defined. Thus we have two classes of cause.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Secundum autem aliam rationem dicitur causa sperma et medicus et consiliator, et universaliter omne faciens, ex eo scilicet quod sunt principia motus et quietis. Unde iam hoc est aliud genus causae, propter aliam rationem causandi. Ponit autem sperma in hoc genere causae, quia secundum eius sententiam sperma vim habet activam, menstruum autem mulieris cedit in materiam concepti.
<td style="text-align:justify">780. But the seed, the physician and the adviser, and in general every agent, are called causes for a different reason, namely, because they are the sources of motion and rest. Hence this is now a different class of cause because of a different formal aspect of causality. He puts seed in this class of cause because he is of the opinion that the seed has active power, whereas a woman’s menstrual fluid has the role of the matter of the offspring.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Quarta vero ratio causandi est secundum quod aliqua dicuntur causae per modum finis et boni respectu aliorum. Illud enim cuius causa fit aliquid, est optimum inter alia et vult esse idest habet aptitudinem ut sit aliorum finis. Quia vero posset aliquis obiicere quod non semper bonum est finis, cum quandoque aliqui inordinate agentes malum finem sibi constituant, ideo respondet, quod nihil ad propositum differt dicere quod simpliciter sit bonum vel apparens bonum. Qui enim agit, agit per se loquendo propter bonum; hoc enim intendit; per accidens autem propter malum, inquantum accidit ei quod existimat bonum esse. Nullus enim agit propter aliquid intendens malum.
<td style="text-align:justify">781. There is a fourth formal aspect of causality inasmuch as some things are said to be causes in the sense of the end and good of other things. For that for the sake of which something else comes to be is the greatest good “and the end” of other things, i.e., it is naturally disposed to be their end. But because someone could raise the objection that an end is not always a good since certain agents sometimes inordinately set up an evil as their end, he therefore replies that it makes no difference to his thesis whether we speak of what is good without qualification or of an apparent good. For one who acts does so, properly speaking, because of a good, for this is what he has in mind. And one acts for the sake of an evil accidentally inasmuch as he happens to think that it is good. For no one acts for the sake of something with evil in view.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Sciendum autem est, quod licet finis sit ultimus in esse in quibusdam, in causalitate tamen est prior semper. Unde dicitur causa causarum, quia est causa causalitatis in omnibus causis. Est enim causa causalitatis efficientis, ut iam dictum est. Efficiens autem est causa causalitatis et materiae et formae. Nam facit per suum motum materiam esse susceptivam formae, et formam inesse materiae. Et per consequens etiam finis est causa causalitatis et materiae et formae; et ideo potissimae demonstrationes sumuntur a fine, in illis in quibus agitur aliquid propter finem, sicut in naturalibus, in moralibus et artificialibus. Concludit igitur, quod praedicta sunt causae, et quod causae secundum tot species distinguuntur.
<td style="text-align:justify">782. Moreover, it must be noted that, even though the <b>end</b> is the last thing to come into being in some cases, it is always prior in causality. Hence it is called the “cause of causes”, because it is the cause of the causality of all causes. For it is the cause of efficient causality, as has already been pointed out (775); and the efficient cause is the cause of the causality of both the matter and the form, because by its motion it causes matter to be receptive of form and makes form exist in matter. Therefore the final cause is also the cause of the causality of both the matter and the form. Hence in those cases in which something is done for an end (as occurs in the realm of natural things, in that of moral matters, and in that of art), the most forceful demonstrations are derived from the final cause. Therefore he concludes that the foregoing are causes, and that causes are distinguished into this number of classes.
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<td style="text-align:justify">783. <b>Now the modes</b> (410).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Deinde cum dicit modi vero distinguit modos causarum. Est autem distinctio causae per species et per modos. Nam distinctio per species est penes diversas rationes causandi; et ideo est quasi divisio per differentias essentiales species constituentes. Divisio autem per modos est penes diversas habitudines causae ad causatum. Et ideo est in his quae habent eamdem rationem causandi, sicut per se et per accidens, remotum et propinquum. Unde est quasi per differentias accidentales non diversificantes speciem.
<td style="text-align:justify">Then he distinguishes between the modes of causes. And causes are distinguished into <b>classes</b> and into <b>modes</b>. For the division of causes into classes is based on different formal aspects of causality, and is therefore equivalently a division based on essential differences, which constitute species. But the division of causes into modes is based on the different relationships between causes and things caused, and therefore pertains to those causes which have the same formal aspect of causality. An example of this is the division of causes into proper and accidental causes, and into remote and proximate causes. Therefore this division is equivalently a division based on accidental differences, which do not constitute different species.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Dicit ergo, quod multi sunt modi causarum, sed pauciores inveniuntur quando capitulatim, idest quodam compendio comprehenduntur. Per se enim et per accidens sunt duo modi; tamen reducuntur ad unum capitulum, secundum quod est eadem consideratio de utroque. Et similiter est de aliis modis oppositis. Causae enim multis modis dicuntur, non solum quantum ad diversas species causae, sed etiam quantum ad causas conspeciales, quae scilicet reducuntur ad unam speciem causae.
<td style="text-align:justify">784. He accordingly says that there are many modes of causes, but that these are found to be fewer in number when “summarized,” i.e., when brought together under one head. For even though proper causes and accidental causes are two modes, they are still reduced to one head insofar as both may be considered from the same point of view. The same thing is true of the other different modes. For many different modes of causes are spoken of, not only with reference to the different species of causes, but also with reference to causes of the same species, namely, those which are reduced to one class of cause.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Dicitur enim una prior, et altera posterior. Prius autem et posterius in causis invenitur dupliciter. Uno modo in causis diversis numero adinvicem ordinatis, quarum una est prima et remota, et alia secunda et propinqua; sicut in causis efficientibus homo generat hominem ut causa propinqua et posterior, sol autem ut causa prior et remota: et similiter potest considerari in aliis speciebus causarum. Alio modo in una et eadem causa numero secundum ordinem rationis qui est inter universale et particulare. Nam universale naturaliter est prius, particulare posterius.
<td style="text-align:justify">785. (1) For one cause is said to be <b>prior</b> and another <b>subsequent</b>; and causes are prior or subsequent in two ways: (1) In one way, when there are many distinct causes which are related to each other, one of which is <b>primary</b> and remote, and another <b>secondary</b> and proximate (as in the case of efficient causes man generates man as a proximate and subsequent cause, but the sun as a prior and remote cause); and the same thing can be considered in the case of the other classes of causes. (2) In another way, when the cause is numerically one and the same, but is considered according to the sequence which reason sets up between the <b>universal</b> and the <b>particular</b>; for the universal is naturally prior and the particular subsequent.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Praetermittit autem primum modum, et accipit secundum. In secundo enim modo immediate effectus ab utraque causa existit, scilicet priori et posteriori, quod in primo non convenit. Unde dicit, quod sanitatis causa est medicus et artifex in genere causae efficientis. Artifex quidem ut universale, et prius; medicus vero ut particulare, sive speciale, et posterius. Similiter etiam in causis formalibus dupliciter est causa formalis: ut diapason duplum, vel proportio dupla, vel dualitas est causa formalis, ut speciale et posterius; numerum autem, vel proportio numeri ad numerum vel ad unum, ut universale et prius. Et ita semper ea quae continent singularia, scilicet universalia, dicuntur causae priores.
<td style="text-align:justify">786. But he omits the first way and considers the second. For in the second way the effect is the immediate result of both causes, i.e., of both the prior and subsequent cause; but this cannot happen in the first way. Hence he says that the cause of health is both the physician and one possessing an art, who belong to the class of efficient cause: one possessing an art as a universal and prior cause, and the physician as a particular, or special, and subsequent cause. The same thing is true of the formal cause, since this cause may also be considered in two ways; for example, for an octave chord “double,” or the ratio of 2:1, or the number two, is a formal cause as one that is special and subsequent, whereas number, or the ratio of one number to another or to the unit, is like a universal and prior cause. And in this way too “always those classes which contain singulars,” i.e., universals, are said to be prior causes.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Alia divisio est causarum, secundum quod aliquid dicitur esse causa per se et per accidens. Sicut enim causa per se dividitur in universale et particulare, sive in prius et posterius, ita etiam causa per accidens. Unde non solum ipsae causae accidentales dicuntur causae per accidens, sed etiam ipsarum genera. Ut statuae factor, statuae causa est per se; Polycletus autem per accidens est causa, inquantum accidit ei factorem statuae esse. Et sicut Polycletus est causa statuae per accidens, ita omnia universalia continentia accidens, idest causam per accidens, dicuntur per accidens causae; sicut homo et animal, quae sub se continent Polycletum, qui est homo et animal.
<td style="text-align:justify">787. (2) Causes are distinguished in another way inasmuch as one thing is said to be a <b>proper</b> cause and another an <b>accidental</b> cause. For just as proper causes are divided into universal and particular, or into prior and subsequent, so also are accidental causes. Therefore, not only accidental causes themselves are called such, but so also are the classes which contain these. For example, a sculptor is the proper cause of a statue, and Polyclitus is an accidental cause inasmuch as he happens to be a sculptor. And just as Polyclitus is an accidental cause of a statue, in a similar way all universals “which contain accidents,” i.e., accidental causes, are said to be accidental causes, for example, man and animal, which contain under themselves Polyclitus, who is a man and an animal.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Et sicut causarum per se quaedam sunt propinquae, quaedam remotae, ut dictum est, ita et inter causas per accidens. Nam Polycletus est causa statuae magis propinqua quam album et musicum. Magis enim remotus modus praedicationis per accidens est, cum accidens praedicatur de accidente, quam cum accidens praedicatur de subiecto. Accidens enim non praedicatur de accidente, nisi quia ambo praedicantur de subiecto. Unde magis remotum est ut attribuatur uni accidenti quod est alterius, sicut musico quod est aedificatoris, quam quod attribuatur subiecto quod est accidentis, sicut Polycleto quod est aedificatoris.
<td style="text-align:justify">788. And just as some proper causes are proximate and some remote, as was pointed out above, so also is this the case with accidental causes. For Polyclitus is a more proximate cause of a statue than what is white or what is musical. For an accidental mode of predication is more remote when an accident is predicated of an accident than when an accident is predicated of a subject. For one accident is predicated of another only because both are predicated of a subject. Hence when something pertaining to one accident is predicated of another, as when something pertaining to a builder is predicated of a musician, this mode of predication is more remote than one in which something is predicated of the subject of an accident, as when something pertaining to a builder is predicated of Polyclitus.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Sciendum autem est, quod aliquid potest dici causa per accidens alterius dupliciter. Uno modo ex parte causae; quia scilicet illud quod accidit causae, dicitur causa per accidens, sicut si album dicatur causa domus. Alio modo ex parte effectus; ut scilicet aliquid dicatur causa per accidens alicuius, quod accidit ei quod est effectus per se. Quod quidem potest esse tripliciter.
<td style="text-align:justify">789. Now it must be borne in mind that one thing can be said to be the <b>accidental</b> cause of something else in two ways: (1) in one way, from the viewpoint of the <b>cause</b>; because whatever is accidental to a cause is itself called an accidental cause, for example, when we say that something white is the cause of a house. (2) In another way, from the viewpoint of the <b>effect</b>, i.e., inasmuch as one thing is said to be an accidental cause of something else because it is accidental to the proper effect. This can happen in three ways:
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<td style="text-align:justify">Uno modo, quia habet ordinem necessarium ad effectum, sicut remotio impedimenti habet ordinem necessarium ad effectum. Unde removens prohibens dicitur movens per accidens; sive illud accidens sit contrarium, sicut cholera prohibet frigiditatem, unde scamonaea dicitur infrigidare per accidens, non quia causet frigiditatem sed quia tollit impedimentum frigiditatis, quod est ei contrarium, scilicet choleram: sive etiam si non sit contrarium, sicut columna impedit motum lapidis, unde removens columnam dicitur per accidens movere lapidem superpositum.
<td style="text-align:justify">The first is that the thing has a <b>necessary</b> connection with the effect. Thus that which removes an obstacle is said to be a mover accidentally. This is the case whether that accident is a contrary, as when bile prevents coolness (and thus scammony is said to produce coolness accidentally, not because it causes coolness, but because it removes the obstacle preventing coolness, i.e., bile, which is its contrary); or even if it is not a contrary, as when a pillar hinders the movement of a stone which rests upon it, so that one who removes the pillar is said to move the stone accidentally.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Alio modo, quando accidens habet ordinem ad effectum, non tamen necessarium, nec ut in pluribus, sed ut in paucioribus, sicut inventio thesauri ad fossionem in terra. Et hoc modo fortuna et casus dicuntur causae per accidens.
<td style="text-align:justify">In a second way, something is accidental to the proper effect when the accident is connected with the effect neither necessarily nor in the majority of cases but <b>seldom</b>, as the discovery of a treasure is connected with digging in the soil. It is in this way that fortune and chance are said to be accidental causes.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Tertio, quando nullum ordinem habent, nisi forte secundum existimationem; sicut si aliquis dicat se esse causam terraemotus, quia eo intrante domum accidit terraemotus.
<td style="text-align:justify">In a third way things are accidental to the effect when they have no connection except perhaps <b>in the mind</b>, as when someone says that he is the cause of an earthquake because an earthquake took place when he entered the house.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Tertia distinctio est, secundum quod prae omnibus his vel praeter omnia haec, quae dicuntur esse secundum se sive per se, et secundum accidens, quaedam sunt causae in potentia, quaedam ut agentia, idest in actu. Sicut aedificationis causa est aedificator in potentia. Hoc enim sonat habitum vel officium. Vel aedificans actu.
<td style="text-align:justify">790. [Cross-division of all] And besides the distinction of all things into causes in themselves or proper causes and accidental causes, there is a third division of causes inasmuch as some things are causes <b>potentially</b> and some <b>actually</b>, i.e., actively. For example, the cause of building is a builder in a state of potency (for this designates his habit or office), or one who is actually building.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Et eisdem modis, quibus dividuntur causae, possunt dividi causata in quibus vel quorum causae sunt causae. Potest enim dividi causatum per prius et posterius sive particulare et universale; sicut si dicamus, quod statuae factor est causa huius statuae, quod est posterius, aut statuae, quod est universalius et prius, aut imaginis, quod est adhuc universalius. Et similiter aliquid est causa formalis huius aeris, aut aeris, quod est universalius, aut materiae, quod est adhuc universalius. Et similiter potest dici in accidentalibus, scilicet in effectibus per accidens. Nam statuae factor qui est causa statuae, est etiam causa gravis vel albi vel rubei quae accidunt ex parte materiae, et non sunt ab hoc agente causata.
<td style="text-align:justify">791. And the same distinctions which apply to causes can apply to the effects of which these causes are the causes. For effects, whether particular or universal, can be divided into prior and subsequent, as a sculptor may be called the cause of this statue, which is subsequent; or of a statue, which is more universal and prior; or of an image, which is still more universal. And similarly something is the formal cause of this particular bronze; or of bronze, which is more universal; or of matter, which is still more universal. The same things can be said of accidental effects, i.e., of things produced by accident. For a sculptor who is the cause of a statue is also the cause of the heaviness, whiteness or redness which are in it as accidents from the matter and are not caused by this agent.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Ulterius ponit quartam distinctionem causae, quae est in simplex et in compositum; ut simplex causa dicatur secundum quod accipitur causa statuae per se totum ut statuae factor, sive per accidens tantum, scilicet Polycletus. Composita autem secundum quod utrumque simul accipitur, ut dicatur causa statuae Polycletus statuae factor.
<td style="text-align:justify">792. (3) Again, he gives a fourth division of causes, namely, the division into <b>simple</b> causes and <b>composite</b> causes. A cause is said to be simple (a) when, for example, in the case of a statue, the <b>proper cause alone</b> is considered, as a sculptor, or when an <b>accidental cause alone</b> is considered, as Polyclitus. But a cause is said to be composite when both are taken together, for example, when we say that the cause of a statue is the sculptor Polyclitus.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Est autem alius modus quo causae possunt dici compositae, secundum quod plures causae concurrunt ad unius rei constitutionem; sicut plures homines ad trahendum navem, vel plures lapides, ut sint materia domus. Sed hoc praetermisit, quia nullum illorum est causa, sed pars causae.
<td style="text-align:justify">793. (b) There is moreover another way in which causes are said to be composite, i.e., when <b>several causes act together</b> to produce one effect, for example, when many men act together in order to row a boat, or when many stones combine in order to constitute the matter of a house. But he omits the latter way because no one of these things taken in itself is the cause, but a part of the cause.
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<td style="text-align:justify">His autem modis positis, colligit istorum modorum numerum, dicens, quod isti modi causarum sunt sex et variantur dupliciter, et ita efficiuntur duodecim. Hi enim modi sex sunt aut singulare, aut genus, quod superius dixit prius et posterius. Et secundum se et per accidens, ad quod etiam reducitur genus accidentis, nam genus accidentis est causa per accidens. Et iterum per complexum et simplex. Hi autem sex modi ulterius dividuntur per potentiam et per actum, et sunt duodecim. Ideo autem oportet omnes istos modos per potentiam et actum dividi, quia potentia et actus diversificant habitudinem causae ad effectum. Nam causae in actu particulares sunt simul et tolluntur cum suis effectibus, sicut hic medicans cum hoc convalescente, et hic aedificans cum hoc aedificato: non enim potest aliquid actu aedificari, nisi sit actu aedificans. Sed causae secundum potentiam non semper removentur cum effectibus; sicut domus et aedificator non simul corrumpuntur. In quibusdam tamen contingit, quod remota actione efficientis tollitur substantia effectus, sicut in his quorum esse est in fieri, vel quorum causa non solum est effectui causa fiendi sed essendi. Unde remota illuminatione solis ab aere, tollitur lumen. Dicit autem causas singulares, quia actus singularium sunt, ut in primo huius habitum est.
<td style="text-align:justify">794. And having given these different modes of causes, he brings out their number, saying that these modes of causes are six in number, and that each of these have two alternatives so that twelve result. For these six modes are (1-2) either singular or generic (or, as he called them above, prior and subsequent); (3-4) either proper or accidental (to which the genus of the accident is also reduced, for the genus to which an accident belongs is an accidental cause); and again, (5-6) either composite or simple. Now these six modes are further divided by <b>potency</b> and <b>actuality</b> and thus are twelve in number. Now the reason why all these modes must be divided by potency and actuality is that potency and actuality distinguish the connection between cause and effect. For active causes are at one and the same time particulars and cease to exist along with their effects; for example, this act of healing ceases with this act of recovering health, and this act of building with this thing being built; for a thing cannot be actually being built unless something is actually building. But potential causes do not always cease to exist when their effects cease; for example, a house and a builder do not cease to exist at one and the same time. In some cases, however, it does happen that when the activity of the efficient cause ceases the substance of the effect ceases. This occurs in the case of those things whose being consists in coming to be, or whose cause is not only the cause of their coming to be but also of their being. For example, when the sun’s illumination is removed from the atmosphere, light ceases to be. He says “singular causes” because acts belong to singular things, as was stated in Book I of this work (21).
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<td align="center" colspan="2"><b>LESSON 4</b>
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<b>The Proper Meaning of Element; Elements in Words, Natural Bodies, and Demonstrations.<br>
Transferred Usages of "Element" and Their Common Basis</b>
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<td align="center" colspan="2">ARISTOTLE'S TEXT Chapter 3: 1014a 25-1014b 15
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<td style="text-align:justify">στοιχεῖον λέγεται ἐξ οὗ σύγκειται πρώτου ἐνυπάρχοντος ἀδιαιρέτου τῷ εἴδει εἰς ἕτερον εἶδος, οἷον φωνῆς στοιχεῖα ἐξ ὧν σύγκειται ἡ φωνὴ καὶ εἰς ἃ διαιρεῖται ἔσχατα, ἐκεῖνα δὲ μηκέτ᾽ εἰς ἄλλας φωνὰς ἑτέρας τῷ [30] εἴδει αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ κἂν διαιρῆται, τὰ μόρια ὁμοειδῆ, οἷον ὕδατος τὸ μόριον ὕδωρ, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ τῆς συλλαβῆς. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰ τῶν σωμάτων στοιχεῖα λέγουσιν οἱ λέγοντες εἰς ἃ διαιρεῖται τὰ σώματα ἔσχατα, ἐκεῖνα δὲ μηκέτ᾽ εἰς ἄλλα εἴδει διαφέροντα: καὶ εἴτε ἓν εἴτε πλείω τὰ τοιαῦτα, [35] ταῦτα στοιχεῖα λέγουσιν. παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τὰ τῶν διαγραμμάτων στοιχεῖα λέγεται, καὶ ὅλως τὰ τῶν ἀποδείξεων: αἱ γὰρ πρῶται ἀποδείξεις καὶ ἐν πλείοσιν ἀποδείξεσιν ἐνυπάρχουσαι, [1014β] [1] αὗται στοιχεῖα τῶν ἀποδείξεων λέγονται: εἰσὶ δὲ τοιοῦτοι συλλογισμοὶ οἱ πρῶτοι ἐκ τῶν τριῶν δι᾽ ἑνὸς μέσου.
<td style="text-align:justify">411. The inherent principle of which a thing is first composed and which is not divisible into another species is called an element. For example, the elements of a word are the parts of which a word is composed and into which it is ultimately divided and which are not further divided into other words specifically different from them. But if they are divided, their parts are alike, as the parts of water are water; but this is not true of the syllable. Similarly, people who speak of the elements of bodies mean the component parts into which bodies are ultimately divided and which are not divided into other bodies specifically different. And whether such parts are one or many, they call them elements. And similarly the parts of diagrams are called elements, and in general the parts of demonstrations; for the primary demonstrations which are contained in many other demonstrations are called the elements of demonstrations; and such are the primary syllogisms which are composed of three terms and proceed through one middle term.
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<td style="text-align:justify">καὶ μεταφέροντες δὲ στοιχεῖον καλοῦσιν ἐντεῦθεν ὃ ἂν ἓν ὂν καὶ μικρὸν ἐπὶ πολλὰ ᾖ χρήσιμον, [5] διὸ καὶ τὸ μικρὸν καὶ ἁπλοῦν καὶ ἀδιαίρετον στοιχεῖον λέγεται. ὅθεν ἐλήλυθε τὰ μάλιστα καθόλου στοιχεῖα εἶναι, ὅτι ἕκαστον αὐτῶν ἓν ὂν καὶ ἁπλοῦν ἐν πολλοῖς ὑπάρχει ἢ πᾶσιν ἢ ὅτι πλείστοις, καὶ τὸ ἓν καὶ τὴν στιγμὴν ἀρχάς τισι δοκεῖν εἶναι. ἐπεὶ οὖν τὰ καλούμενα γένη [10] καθόλου καὶ ἀδιαίρετα (οὐ γὰρ ἔστι λόγος αὐτῶν), στοιχεῖα τὰ γένη λέγουσί τινες, καὶ μᾶλλον ἢ τὴν διαφορὰν ὅτι καθόλου μᾶλλον τὸ γένος: ᾧ μὲν γὰρ ἡ διαφορὰ ὑπάρχει, καὶ τὸ γένος ἀκολουθεῖ, ᾧ δὲ τὸ γένος, οὐ παντὶ ἡ διαφορά. ἁπάντων δὲ κοινὸν τὸ εἶναι στοιχεῖον ἑκάστου τὸ [15] πρῶτον ἐνυπάρχον ἑκάστῳ.
<td style="text-align:justify">412. People also use the term element in a transferred sense of anything which is one and small and useful for many purposes; and for this reason anything which is small and simple and indivisible is called an element. Hence it follows that the most universal things are elements, because each of them, being one and simple, is found in many things, either in all or in most of them. And to some the unit and the point seem to be principles. Therefore, since what are called genera are universal and indivisible (for their formal character is one), some men call the genera elements, and these more than a difference, since a genus is more universal. For where the difference is present the genus also follows, but the difference is not always present where the genus is. And in all these cases it is common for the element of each thing to be the primary component of each thing.
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<td style="text-align:justify"><i>Element</i>
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<td style="text-align:justify">Hic distinguit hoc nomen elementum. Circa quod duo facit. Primo assignat diversos modos elementi. Secundo ostendit quid in omnibus sit commune, ibi, omnium autem commune.
<td style="text-align:justify">795. Here he distinguishes the different senses of the term element, and in regard to this lie does two things. First, he gives the different senses in which the term element is used. Second (807), he indicates what all of them have in common (“And in all these”).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Circa primum duo facit. Primo ostendit quomodo elementum proprie dicatur. Secundo quomodo dicatur transumptive, ibi, et transferentes elementum et cetera.
<td style="text-align:justify">In regard to the first he does two things. First, he explains how the term element is used in its proper sense; and second (802), how it is used in transferred senses (“People also use”).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Ponit ergo primo, quamdam elementi descriptionem; ex qua colligi potest, quod quatuor sunt de ratione elementi. Quorum primum est, ut sit causa sicut ex quo: per quod patet, quod elementum ponitur in genere causae materialis.
<td style="text-align:justify">First, he gives a sort of description of an element, and from this one can gather the four notes contained in its definition. The first is that an element is a cause in the sense of that <b>from which</b> a thing comes to be; and from this it is clear that an element is placed in the class of <b>material</b> cause.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Secundum est, quod sit principium ex quo aliquid fiat primo. Cuprum enim est ex quo fit statua; non tamen est elementum, quia habet aliquam aliam materiam ex qua fit.
<td style="text-align:justify">796. The second is that an element is the principle <b>from which</b> something <b>first</b> comes to be. For copper is that from which a statue comes to be, but it is still not an element because it has some matter from which it comes to be.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Tertium est, quod sit inexistens sive intrinsecum: per quod differt elementum ab omni eo ex quo fit aliquid sicut ex transeunte, sive sit privatio, aut contrarium, sive materia contrarietati et privationi subiecta, quae est materia transiens. Ut cum dicimus, quod homo musicus fit ex homine non musico, vel musicum ex non musico. Elementa enim oportet manere in his quorum sunt elementa.
<td style="text-align:justify">797. The third is that an element is inherent or <b>intrinsic</b>; and for this reason. it differs from everything of a transitory nature from which a thing comes to be, whether it be a privation or a contrary or the matter subject to contrariety and privation, which is transitory; for example, when we say that a musical man comes from a nonmusical man, or that the musical comes from the non-musical. For elements must <b>remain</b> in the things of which they are the elements.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Quartum est, quod habeat aliquam speciem, quae non dividatur in diversas species: per quod differt elementum a materia prima, qua nullam speciem habet, et etiam ab omnibus materiis, quae in diversas species resolvi possunt, sicut sanguis et huiusmodi.
<td style="text-align:justify">798. The fourth is that an element has a species which is <b>not divisible</b> into different species; and thus an element differs from first matter, which has no species, and also from every sort of matter which is capable of being divided into different species, as blood and things of this kind.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Propter hoc dicit, quod elementum est ex quo aliquid componitur, quantum ad primum. Primo, quantum ad secundum. Inexistente, quantum ad tertium. Indivisibili specie in aliam speciem, quantum ad quartum.
<td style="text-align:justify">Hence he says, as the first note, that an element is that of which a thing is composed; as the second, that it is that of which a thing is “first” composed; as the third, that it is “an inherent principle”; and as the fourth, that it is “not divisible into another species.”
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<td style="text-align:justify">Hanc autem definitionem manifestat in quatuor, in quibus utimur nomine elementi. Dicimus enim ipsas literas esse elementa vocis, quia ex eis omnis vox componitur, et primo. Quod ex hoc patet, quia omnes voces in literas resolvuntur, sicut in ultima. Quod est enim ultimum in resolutione, oportet esse primum in compositione. Literae autem non resolvuntur ulterius in alias voces specie diversas. Sed, si aliquo modo dividantur, particulae in quas fit divisio, erunt conformes, idest unius speciei, sicut omnes particulae aquae sunt aqua. Dividitur autem litera secundum tempora prolationis, prout litera longa dicitur habere duo tempora, brevis vero unum. Nec tamen partes, in quas sic dividuntur literae, sunt diversae secundum speciem vocis. Non est autem ita de syllaba: nam eius partes sunt diversae secundum speciem: alius enim sonus est secundum speciem, quem facit vocalis et consonans, ex quibus syllaba componitur.
<td style="text-align:justify">799. He illustrates this definition of element in four cases in which we use the term element. For we say that letters are the elements of a word because every word is composed of them, and of them primarily. This is evident from the fact that all words are divided into letters as ultimate things; for what is last in the process of dissolution must be first in the process of composition. But letters are not further divided into other words which are specifically different. Yet if they should be divided in any way, the parts in which the division results would be “alike,” i.e., specifically the same, just as all parts of water are water. Now letters are divided according to the amount of time required to pronounce them, inasmuch as a long letter is said to require two periods of time, and a short letter one. But while the parts into which letters are so divided do not differ as the species of words do, this is not the case with a syllable; for its parts are specifically different, since the sounds which a vowel and a consonant make, of which a syllable is composed, are specifically different.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Secundum exemplum ponit in corporibus naturalibus, in quibus etiam quaedam dicimus elementa quorumdam. Illa enim dicuntur corporum esse elementa, in quae ultimo resolvuntur omnia corpora mixta: et per consequens ea sunt, ex quibus primo componuntur huiusmodi corpora. Ipsa autem corpora, quae elementa dicuntur, non dividuntur in alia corpora specie differentia, sed in partes consimiles, sicut quaelibet pars aquae est aqua. Et quicumque posuerunt tale corpus esse unum, scilicet in quod omnia resolvuntur, et ipsum non resolvitur in alia, dixerunt unum esse elementum. Quidam vero aquam, quidam autem aerem, quidam autem ignem. Qui vero posuerunt plura talia corpora, dixerunt etiam esse elementa plura. Sciendum est, quod cum in definitione elementi ponatur, quod non dividitur in diversa secundum speciem, non est intelligendum de partibus in quas aliquid dividitur divisione quantitatis: sic enim lignum esset elementum, quia quaelibet pars ligni est lignum: sed de divisione, quae fit secundum alterationem, sicut corpora mixta resolvuntur in simplicia.
<td style="text-align:justify">800. He gives as a second example natural bodies, certain of which we also call the elements of certain others. For those things into which all compounds are ultimately dissolved are called their elements; and therefore they are the things of which bodies of this kind are composed. But those bodies which are called elements are not divisible into other bodies which are specifically different, but into like parts, as any part of water is water. And all those who held for one such body into which every body is dissolved and which is itself incapable of being further divided, said that there is one element. Some said that it is water, some air, and some fire. But those who posited many such bodies also said there are many elements. Now it should be borne in mind that when it is set down in the definition of an element that an element is not divisible into different species, this should not be understood of the parts into which a thing is divided in a quantitative division (for wood would then be an element, since any part of wood is wood), but in a division made by alteration, as compounds are dissolved into simple bodies.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Tertium exemplum ponit in demonstrationibus; in quibus etiam utimur nomine elementi, sicut dicitur liber elementorum Euclidis. Et dicit, quod modo simili et propinquo dictis dicuntur elementa, quae sunt diagrammatum, idest descriptionum geometralium elementa. Et non solum hoc potest dici in geometria, sed universaliter in omnibus demonstrationibus. Illae enim demonstrationes, quae existunt in tribus terminis tantum, dicuntur esse aliorum elementa. Nam ex his componuntur aliae demonstrationes, et in ea resolvuntur. Quod sic patet. Secunda enim demonstratio accipit pro principio conclusionem primae demonstrationis, inter cuius terminos intelligitur medium, quod fuit primae demonstrationis principium. Et sic secunda demonstratio erit ex quatuor terminis; prima ex tribus tantum, tertia vero ex quinque, quarta ex sex, et sic quaelibet demonstratio unum terminum addit. In quo manifestum est demonstrationes primas in postremis includi: ut si sit haec demonstratio prima: omne b est a: omne c est b: ergo omne c est a: hoc includetur in hac, omne c est a: omne d est c: ergo omne d est a. Et ulterius ista in alia, quae concludit, omne e est a: ut quasi videatur esse ad hanc ultimam conclusionem unus syllogismus ex pluribus syllogismis compositus plura media habens, ut dicatur sic, omne b est a: et omne c est b: et omne d est c: et omne e est d: ergo omne e est a. Prima igitur demonstratio, quae habebat unum medium et solum tres terminos, est simplex et non resolvitur in aliam demonstrationem, sed omnes aliae resolvuntur in ipsam. Et ideo syllogismi primi, qui fiunt ex terminis tribus per unum medium, elementa dicuntur.
<td style="text-align:justify">801. As a third example he gives the order of demonstrations, in which we also employ the word element; for example, we speak of Euclid’s <i>Book of Elements</i>. And he says that, in a way similar and close to those mentioned, those things which “are parts of diagrams,” i.e., the constituents of geometrical figures, are called elements. This can be said not only of the demonstrations in geometry but universally of all demonstrations. For those demonstrations which have only three terms are called the elements of other demonstrations, because the others are composed of them and resolved into them. This is shown as follows: a second demonstration takes as its starting point the conclusion of a first demonstration, whose terms are understood to contain the middle term which was the starting point of the first demonstration. Thus the second demonstration will proceed from four terms the first from three only, the third from five, and the fourth from six; so that each demonstration adds one term. Thus it is clear that first demonstrations are included in subsequent ones, as when this first demonstration—every B is A, every C is B, therefore every C is A—is included in this demonstration—every C is A, every D is C, therefore every D is A; and this again is included in the demonstration whose conclusion is that every E is A, so that for this final conclusion there seems to be one syllogism composed of several syllogisms having several middle terms. This may be expressed thus: every B is A, every C is B, every D is C, every E is D, therefore every E is A. Hence a first demonstration, which has one middle term and only three terms, is simple and not reducible to another demonstration, whereas all other demonstrations are reducible to it. Hence first syllogisms, which come from three terms by way of one middle term, are called elements.
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<td style="text-align:justify">802. <b>People also use</b> (412).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Deinde cum dicit et transferentes ostendit quomodo elementum dicatur transumptive; dicens, quod ex hac praemissa ratione et significatione elementi transtulerunt quidam hoc nomen elementum ad significandum aliquid, quod est unum, et parvum, et ad multa utile. Ex hoc enim quod elementum est indivisibile in diversas species, acceperunt quod sit unum. Ex eo vero quod est primum, quod sit simplex. Ex eo vero, quod ex elementis alia componuntur, acceperunt quod sit utile ad multa. Unde hanc rationem elementi constituerunt, ut elementum dicerent omne illud, quod est parvum in quantitate, et simplex, quasi ex aliis non compositum, et indivisibile in diversa.
<td style="text-align:justify">Here he shows how the term element is used in a <b>transferred</b> sense. He says that some men, on the basis of the foregoing notion or meaning of element, have used the term in a transferred sense to signify <b>anything</b> that is one and small and useful for many purposes. For from the fact that an element is indivisible they understood that it is one; and from the fact that it is first they understood that it is simple; and from the fact that other things are composed of elements they understood that an element is useful for many purposes. Hence they set up this definition of an element in order that they might say that everything which is smallest in quantity and simple (inasmuch as it is not composed of other things) and incapable of division into different species, is an element.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Hac autem ratione elementi constituta, per transumptionem contingebat eis ut duos modos elementorum adinvenirent; quorum primus est, ut ea quae sunt maxime universalia, dicerent elementa. Universale enim est unum secundum rationem, et est simplex, quia eius definitio non componitur ex diversis, et est in multis, et sic est ad multa utile, sive sit in omnibus, sicut unum et ens; sive in pluribus, sicut alia genera. Per eamdem vero rationem contingebat eis secundo, quod punctum et unitatem dicerent esse principia vel elementa, quia utrumque eorum est unum simplex et ad multa utile.
<td style="text-align:justify">803. But when they had set up this definition of element, it turned out that by using it in a transferred sense they had invented two senses of element. First, they called the most universal things elements; for a universal is one in definition and is simple (because its definition is not composed of different parts) and is found in many things, and thus is useful for many purposes, whether it be found in all things, as unity and being are, or in most things, as the other genera. And by the same reasoning it came about, second, that they called points and units principles or elements because each of them is one simple thing and useful for many purposes.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Sed in hoc a vera ratione elementi defecerunt, quia universalia non sunt materia, ex quibus componuntur particularia, sed praedicant eorum substantiam. Similiter et punctus non est materia linearum; non enim linea ex punctis componitur.
<td style="text-align:justify">804. But in this respect they fell short of the true notion of a principle, because <b>universals</b> are not the matter of which particular things are composed but predicate their very substance. And similarly <b>points</b> are not the matter of a line, for a line is not composed of points.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Hac autem transumptiva elementi ratione constituta, patet solutio cuiusdam quaestionis in tertio libro disputatae; scilicet quid sit magis elementum, utrum genus vel species, et utrum genus magis quam differentia. Patet enim consequi quod genera magis sunt elementa, quia genera magis sunt universalia et indivisibilia. Non enim est ratio eorum et definitio, quam oporteat componi ex genere et differentia; sed definitiones proprie dantur de speciebus. Et si aliquod genus definitur, non definitur inquantum est genus, sed inquantum est species; et ideo species dividitur in diversa, et propter hoc non habent rationem elementi. Genus autem non dividitur in diversa: et ideo dixerunt genera esse elementa magis quam species. Alia translatio habet una enim est eorum ratio idest indivisibilis, quia genera, etsi non habeant definitionem, tamen id quod significatur per nomen generis, est quaedam conceptio intellectus simplex, quae ratio dici potest.
<td style="text-align:justify">805. Now with this transferred notion of element established, the solution to a question disputed in Book III (431-36) becomes clear, i.e., whether a <b>genus</b> or a species is more an element, and whether a genus or a difference is more an element; for it clearly follows that genera are elements to a greater degree because genera are more universal and indivisible. For there is no concept or definition of them which must be composed of genera and differences, but it is species which are properly defined. And if a genus is defined, it is not defined insofar as it is a genus but insofar as it is a species. Hence a species is divided into different parts and thus does not have the character of an element. But a genus is not divisible into different parts, and therefore they said that genera are elements more than species. Another translation reads, “For their formal character is one,” that is, indivisible, because even though genera do not have a definition, still what is signified by the term genus is a simple conception of the intellect which can be called a definition.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Et sicut genus est magis elementum quam species, quia est simplicius; ita etiam magis quam differentia, licet ipsa simplex sit, quia genus est universalius. Quod ex hoc patet: quia cuicumque inest differentia, inest genus, cum per se differentiae non transcendant genus: non tamen oportet quod ad omne id sequatur differentia cui convenit genus.
<td style="text-align:justify">806. And just as a genus is more an element than a species is because it is simpler, in a similar way it is more an element than a difference is, even though a difference is simple, because a genus is more universal. This is clear from the fact that anything which has a difference has a genus, since essential differences do not transcend a genus; but not everything which has a genus necessarily has a difference.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Ultimo autem dicit, quod omnibus praedictis modis elementi hoc est commune, esse primum in unoquoque, sicut dictum est.
<td style="text-align:justify">807. Last of all he says that all of the foregoing senses of element have this note in common, that an element is the primary component of each being, as has been stated.
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<td align="center" colspan="2"><b>LESSON 5</b>
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<b>Five Senses of the Term Nature</b>
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<td align="center" colspan="2">ARISTOTLE'S TEXT Chapter 4: 1014b 15-1015a 20
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φύσις λέγεται ἕνα μὲν τρόπον ἡ τῶν φυομένων γένεσις, οἷον εἴ τις ἐπεκτείνας λέγοι τὸ υ, ἕνα δὲ ἐξ οὗ φύεται πρώτου τὸ φυόμενον ἐνυπάρχοντος: ἔτι ὅθεν ἡ κίνησις ἡ πρώτη ἐν ἑκάστῳ τῶν φύσει ὄντων ἐν αὐτῷ ᾗ αὐτὸ [20] ὑπάρχει: φύεσθαι δὲ λέγεται ὅσα αὔξησιν ἔχει δι᾽ ἑτέρου τῷ ἅπτεσθαι καὶ συμπεφυκέναι ἢ προσπεφυκέναι ὥσπερ τὰ ἔμβρυα: διαφέρει δὲ σύμφυσις ἁφῆς, ἔνθα μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲν παρὰ τὴν ἁφὴν ἕτερον ἀνάγκη εἶναι, ἐν δὲ τοῖς συμπεφυκόσιν ἔστι τι ἓν τὸ αὐτὸ ἐν ἀμφοῖν ὃ ποιεῖ ἀντὶ τοῦ [25] ἅπτεσθαι συμπεφυκέναι καὶ εἶναι ἓν κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς καὶ ποσόν, ἀλλὰ μὴ κατὰ τὸ ποιόν. ἔτι δὲ φύσις λέγεται ἐξ οὗ πρώτου ἢ ἔστιν ἢ γίγνεταί τι τῶν φύσει ὄντων, ἀρρυθμίστου ὄντος καὶ ἀμεταβλήτου ἐκ τῆς δυνάμεως τῆς αὑτοῦ, οἷον ἀνδριάντος καὶ τῶν σκευῶν τῶν χαλκῶν ὁ χαλκὸς ἡ [30] φύσις λέγεται, τῶν δὲ ξυλίνων ξύλον: ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων: ἐκ τούτων γάρ ἐστιν ἕκαστον διασωζομένης τῆς πρώτης ὕλης: τοῦτον γὰρ τὸν τρόπον καὶ τῶν φύσει ὄντων τὰ στοιχεῖά φασιν εἶναι φύσιν, οἱ μὲν πῦρ οἱ δὲ γῆν οἱ δ᾽ ἀέρα οἱ δ᾽ ὕδωρ οἱ δ᾽ ἄλλο τι τοιοῦτον λέγοντες, οἱ δ᾽ [35] ἔνια τούτων οἱ δὲ πάντα ταῦτα. ἔτι δ᾽ ἄλλον τρόπον λέγεται ἡ φύσις ἡ τῶν φύσει ὄντων οὐσία, οἷον οἱ λέγοντες τὴν φύσιν εἶναι τὴν πρώτην σύνθεσιν, [1015α] [1] ἢ ὥσπερ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς λέγει ὅτι
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<dd>φύσις; οὐδενὸς ἔστιν ἐόντων,
<dd>ἀλλὰ μόνον μῖξίς τε διάλλαξίς τε μιγέντων
<dd>ἔστι, φύσις δ᾽ ἐπὶ τοῖς ὀνομάζεται ἀνθρώποισιν.<br>
διὸ καὶ ὅσα φύσει ἔστιν ἢ γίγνεται, ἤδη ὑπάρχοντος ἐξ οὗ πέφυκε γίγνεσθαι ἢ εἶναι, οὔπω φαμὲν [5] τὴν φύσιν ἔχειν ἐὰν μὴ ἔχῃ τὸ εἶδος καὶ τὴν μορφήν. φύσει μὲν οὖν τὸ ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τούτων ἐστίν, οἷον τὰ ζῷα καὶ τὰ μόρια αὐτῶν:
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<td style="text-align:justify">413. Nature means, in one sense, the generation of things that are born, as if one were to pronounce the letter υ [in φύσις] long. And in another sense it means the immanent principle from which anything generated is first produced. Again, it means the source of the primary motion in any beings which are by nature, and it is in each inasmuch as it is such. Now all those things are said to be born which increase through something else by touching and by existing together, or by being naturally joined, as in the case of embryos. But being born together differs from touching, for in the latter case there need be nothing but contact. But in things which are naturally joined together there is some one same thing in both, instead of contact, which causes them to be one, and which makes them to be one in quantity and continuity but not in quality. Again, nature means the primary thing of which a natural being is composed or from which it comes to be, when it is unformed and immutable by its own power; for example, the bronze of a statue or of bronze articles is said to be their nature, and the wood of wooden things, and the same applies in the case of other things. For each thing comes from these though its primary matter is preserved. For it is also in this sense that men speak of the elements of natural beings as their nature; some calling it fire, others earth, others water, others air, and others something similar to these, whereas others call all of them nature. In still another sense nature means the substance of things which are by nature, as those who say that nature is the primary composition of a thing, as Empedocles says, "Of nothing that exists is there nature, but only the mixing and separating-out of what has been mixed. Nature is but the name men give to these. For this reason we do not say that things which are or come to be by nature have a nature, even when that from which they can be or come to be is already present, so long as they do not have their form or species. Hence that which is composed of both of these exists by nature, as animals and their parts.
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<td style="text-align:justify">φύσις δὲ ἥ τε πρώτη ὕλη (καὶ αὕτη διχῶς, ἢ ἡ πρὸς αὐτὸ πρώτη ἢ ἡ ὅλως πρώτη, οἷον τῶν χαλκῶν ἔργων πρὸς αὐτὰ μὲν πρῶτος ὁ χαλκός, ὅλως δ᾽ [10] ἴσως ὕδωρ, εἰ πάντα τὰ τηκτὰ ὕδωρ) καὶ τὸ εἶδος καὶ ἡ οὐσία: τοῦτο δ᾽ ἐστὶ τὸ τέλος τῆς γενέσεως. μεταφορᾷ δ᾽ ἤδη καὶ ὅλως πᾶσα οὐσία φύσις λέγεται διὰ ταύτην, ὅτι καὶ ἡ φύσις οὐσία τίς ἐστιν.
<td style="text-align:justify">414. Again, nature is the primary matter of a thing, and this in two senses: either what is primary with respect to this particular thing, or primary in general; for example, the primary matter of bronze articles is bronze, but in general it is perhaps water, if everything capable of being liquefied is water. And nature is also a thing's form or substance, i.e., the terminus of the process of generation. But metaphorically speaking every substance in general is called nature because of form or species, for the nature of a thing is also a kind of substance.
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<td style="text-align:justify">ἐκ δὴ τῶν εἰρημένων ἡ πρώτη φύσις καὶ κυρίως λεγομένη ἐστὶν ἡ οὐσία ἡ τῶν ἐχόντων [15] ἀρχὴν κινήσεως ἐν αὑτοῖς ᾗ αὐτά: ἡ γὰρ ὕλη τῷ ταύτης δεκτικὴ εἶναι λέγεται φύσις, καὶ αἱ γενέσεις καὶ τὸ φύεσθαι τῷ ἀπὸ ταύτης εἶναι κινήσεις. καὶ ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς κινήσεως τῶν φύσει ὄντων αὕτη ἐστίν, ἐνυπάρχουσά πως ἢ δυνάμει ἢ ἐντελεχείᾳ. [20]
<td style="text-align:justify">415. Hence, from what has been said, in its primary and proper sense nature is the substance of those things which have within themselves as such the source of their motion. For matter is called nature because it is receptive of this. And processes of generation and growth are called nature because they are motions proceeding from it. And nature is the source of motion in those things which are by nature, and it is something present in them either potentially or in complete actuality.
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<td style="text-align:justify"><i>Nature</i>
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<td style="text-align:justify">Hic distinguit hoc nomen natura: cuius quidem consideratio, licet non videatur ad primum philosophum, sed magis ad naturalem pertinere, ideo tamen hic hoc nomen natura distinguitur, quia natura secundum sui quamdam acceptionem de omni substantia dicitur, ut patebit. Et per consequens cadit in consideratione philosophi primi, sicut et substantia universalis.
<td style="text-align:justify">808. Here he gives the different meanings of the term nature. And even though an investigation of the term nature appears not to belong to first philosophy but rather to the philosophy of nature, he nevertheless gives the different meanings of this term here, because according to one of its common meanings nature is predicated of every substance, as he will make clear. Hence it falls under the consideration of first philosophy just as universal substance does.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Circa hoc autem duo facit. Primo distinguit diversos modos, quibus natura dicitur. Secundo reducit omnes ad unum primum, ibi, ex dictis igitur.
<td style="text-align:justify">In regard to the first he does two things. First (808), he distinguishes the different senses in which the term nature is used. Second (824), he reduces all of these to one primary notion (“Hence, from what”).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Circa primum duo facit. Primo ponit quinque modos principales. Secundo ponit duos alios adiunctos duobus ultimis, ibi, natura autem prima materia.
<td style="text-align:justify">In regard to the first he does two things. First, he gives five principal senses in which the term, nature is used. Second (821), he gives two additional senses connected with the last two of these (“Again, nature”).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Dicit ergo primo, quod natura dicitur uno modo generatio generatorum, vel ut alia litera habet melius, nascentium. Non enim omnia generata nascentia dici possunt; sed solum in viventibus, sicut in plantis, sive in animalibus, et in partibus eorum. Non autem generatio rerum non viventium potest dici natura proprie loquendo secundum communem usum vocabuli, sed solum generatio viventium; ut dicatur natura ipsa nativitas vel ipsa nascentia, quod ipsum nomen sonare videtur. Ut si quis porrigens dicat naturam. Litera ista corrupta est. Quod ex alia translatione patet, quae sic habet ut si quis producens dicat ypsilon. Physis enim, quod apud Graecos naturam significat, si pro generatione viventium accipiatur, habet primum ypsilon productum; si vero pro principio, sicut communiter utitur, habet primum ypsilon breve. Posset tamen per hanc literam intelligi quod hoc nomen natura de generatione viventium dicatur secundum quamdam porrectionem idest extensionem.
<td style="text-align:justify">(1) He accordingly says, first, that in one sense nature means the <b>process of generation</b> of things that are generated, or, according to another text which states this in a better way, “of things that are born.” For not everything that is generated can be said to be born but only living things, for example, plants and animals and their parts. The generation of non-living things cannot be called nature, properly speaking, according to the common use of the term, but only the generation of living things inasmuch as nature may mean the nativity or birth of a thing... Yet even from this text it can be understood that the term nature means the generation of living things by a certain lengthening or extension of usage.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Ex hoc autem quod ipsa nativitas primo natura dicta est, secutus est modus secundus, ut scilicet generationis principium, ex quo aliquid generatur, sive ex quo illud, quod nascitur generatur primo, sicut ex intrinseco principio, dicatur natura.
<td style="text-align:justify">809. Again, from the fact that nature was first used to designate the birth of a thing there followed a second use of the term, so that nature came to mean the <b>principle of generation</b> from which a thing comes to be, or that from which as from an intrinsic principle something born is first generated.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Et per similitudinem nativitatis ad alios motus, ulterius processit huius nominis significatio, ut natura tertio modo dicatur id, unde est principium motus in quolibet entium secundum naturam, dummodo sit in eo inquantum huiusmodi, et non per accidens. Sicut in medico, qui infirmatur, inest principium sanationis, scilicet ars medicinae, non tamen inquantum est infirmus, sed inquantum medicus. Sanatur autem non inquantum est medicus, sed inquantum infirmus: et sic principium motus non est in eo inquantum movetur. Et haec est definitio naturae posita in secundo physicorum.
<td style="text-align:justify">810. And as a result of the likeness between birth and other kinds of motion the meaning of the term nature has been extended farther, so that in a third sense it means the <b>source</b> from which <b>motion</b> begins in any being <b>according to its nature</b>, provided that it is present in it insofar as it is such a being and not accidentally. For example, the principle of health, which is the medical art, is not present in a physician who is ill insofar as he is ill but insofar as he is a physician. And he is not healed insofar as he is a physician but insofar as he is ill; and thus the source of motion is not in him insofar as he is moved. This is the definition of nature given in Book II of the <i>Physics</i>.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Et, quia de nascentibus mentionem fecit, ostendit quid sit proprie nasci, ut habet alia litera, loco cuius haec litera improprie habet generari. Differt enim generatio in viventibus a generatione inanimatorum, quia inanimatum generatur, non ut coniunctum sive unitum generanti, ut ignis ab igne, et aqua ab aqua. In viventibus autem fit generatio per quamdam unionem ad generationis principium. Et, quia additio quanti ad quantum facit augmentum, ideo in generatione viventium videtur esse quoddam augmentum, sicut est cum ex arbore nascitur fructus, aut folium. Et ideo dicit, quod nasci dicuntur quaecumque augmentum habent, idest quoddam augmentum cum generationis principio.
<td style="text-align:justify">811. And because he mentioned things that are born, he also shows what it means in the <b>proper sense</b> “to be born,” as another text says, and in place of which this text incorrectly says “to be generated.” For the generation of living things differs from that of non-living things, because a non-living thing is not generated by being joined or united to its generator, as fire is generated by fire and water by water. But the generation of a living thing comes about through some kind of union with the principle of generation. And because the addition of quantity to quantity causes increase, therefore in the generation of living things there seems to be a certain increase, as when a tree puts forth foliage and fruit. Hence he says that those things are said to be born which “increase,” i.e., have some <b>increase</b> together with the principle of generation [i.e. multiply].
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<td style="text-align:justify">Differt autem hoc augmentum a specie motus quae augmentum dicitur, qua moventur iam nata. Nam in augmento aliquid augetur in seipso per hoc, quod id quod additur transit in substantiam eius cui additur, sicut nutrimentum in substantiam nutriti: id autem, quod nascitur apponitur ei ex quo nascitur, tamquam alterum et diversum, non sicut in eius substantiam transiens. Et ideo dicit, quod habet augmentum per diversum sive per alterum: quasi dicat, quod hoc augmentum fit per appositionem alicuius alterius, vel diversi.
<td style="text-align:justify">812. But this kind of increase differs from that class of motion which is called increase [or <b>augmentation</b> ], by which things that are <b>already born</b> are moved or changed. For a thing that increases within itself does so because the part added passes over into the substance of that thing, as food passes over into the substance of the one nourished. But anything that is born is added to the thing from which it is born as something other and different, and not as something that passes over into its substance. Hence he says that it increases “through something distinct” or something else, as if to say that this increase comes about through the addition of something that is other or different.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Sed appositio augmentum faciens potest intelligi dupliciter. Uno modo tangendo, idest per solum contactum. Alio modo per hoc quod est simul idest aliqua duo simul producuntur adinvicem coaptata, sicut brachium et nervus et aliquid esse apte, idest quod aliquid adaptetur ad alterum iam praeexistens, sicut capilli capiti, et dentes gingivis. Loco autem huius alia litera habet melius connasci et adnasci. In hac autem generatione viventium non solum fit appositio per tactum, sed etiam per quamdam coaptationem sive connascentiam; ut patet in embryonibus, qui non solum tanguntur in matrice, sed etiam alligantur in principio suae generationis.
<td style="text-align:justify">813. But addition that brings about increase can be understood to take place in two ways: in one way, “by touching,” i.e., by contact alone; in another way, “by existing together,” i.e., by the fact that two things are produced together and naturally connected with each other, as the arms and sinews; “and by being joined,” i.e., by the fact that something is naturally adapted to something else already existing, as hair to the head and teeth to the gums. In place of this another text reads, more appropriately, “by being born together with,” and “by being connected with at birth.” Now in the generation of living things addition comes about not only by contact but also by a kind of joining together or natural connection, as is evident in the case of embryos, which are not only in contact in the womb, but are also bound to it at the beginning of their generation.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Ostendit autem quid inter duo praedicta differat; dicens, quod conflatio, idest colligatio sive connascentia, ut alia litera habet, differt a tactu, quia in tactu non est necessarium aliquid esse praeter tangentia, quod ea faciat unum. In colligatis autem sive coaptatis sive connatis vel adnatis oportet esse quid unum in ambobus quod pro tactu, idest loco tactus faciat ea simul apta esse idest coaptata vel ligata sive simul nasci. Intelligendum est autem quod id, quod facit ea unum, facit esse unum secundum quantitatem et continuitatem, et non secundum qualitatem; quia ligamentum non alterat ligata a suis dispositionibus.
<td style="text-align:justify">814. Further, he indicates the difference between these two, saying that “being fused,” i.e., being bound together, or “being connected at birth,” as another text says, differs from contact, because in the case of contact there need be nothing besides the things in contact which makes them one. But in the case of things which are bound together, whether naturally connected or born together and joined at birth, there must be some one thing “instead of contact,” i.e., in the place of contact, which causes them “to be naturally joined,” i.e., joined or bound together or born together. Moreover, it must be understood that the thing which causes them to be one makes them one in quantity and continuity but not in quality; because a bond does not alter the things bound from their own dispositions.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Ex hoc autem apparet, quia quod nascitur semper est coniunctum ei ex quo nascitur. Ideo natura numquam dicit principium extrinsecum, sed secundum omnes suas acceptiones dicit principium intrinsecum.
<td style="text-align:justify">815. And from this it is evident that anything that is born is always connected with the thing from which it is born. Hence nature never means an extrinsic principle, but in every sense in which it is used it is taken to mean an intrinsic principle.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Ex hac autem tertia ratione naturae sequitur quarta. Si enim principium motus rerum naturalium natura dicitur, principium autem motus rerum naturalium quibusdam videbatur esse materia, consequens fuit ut materia natura diceretur, quae quidem est principium rei, et quantum ad esse et quantum ad fieri. Ipsa etiam absque omni forma consideratur, nec a seipsa movetur, sed ab alio. Et ideo dicit quod natura dicitur ex quo aliquod entium primo est aut fit.
<td style="text-align:justify">816. (4) And from this third meaning of nature there follows a fourth. For if the source of motion in natural bodies is called their nature, and it seemed to some that the principle of motion in natural bodies is <b>matter</b>, it was for this reason that matter came to be called nature, which is taken as a principle of a thing both as to its being and as to its becoming. And it is also considered to be without any form, and is not moved by itself but by something else. He accordingly says that nature is spoken of as that primary thing of which any being is composed or from which it comes to be.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Quod ideo dicit, quia materia essendi et fiendi est principium. Ex quo, dico, existente inordinato idest absque forma. Unde alia litera habet cum informe sit. In quibusdam enim ipse ordo habetur pro forma, sicut in exercitu et civitate. Ex quo, dico, immutabili ex sua potestate, idest, quod moveri non potest per suam potestatem, sed secundum potestatem sui superioris agentis. Nam materia non movet seipsam ad formam, sed movetur a superiori exteriori agente. Sicut si diceremus aes materiam statuae et vasorum aereorum, et ligna ligneorum, si huiusmodi vasa, naturalia corpora essent. Similiter est in omnibus aliis quae ex materia sunt vel fiunt. Unumquodque enim eorum fit ex sua materia, ea salvata. Dispositiones autem formae non salvantur in generatione; una enim forma introducitur altera abiecta. Et propter hoc formae videbantur esse quibusdam accidentia, et sola materia substantia et natura, ut dicitur secundo physicorum.
<td style="text-align:justify">817. He says this because matter is a principle both of being and of becoming. Hence he says that “it is without order,” i.e., form; and for this reason another text says “when it is unformed”; for in the case of some things their order (or arrangement) is regarded as their form, as in the case of an army or of a city. And for this reason he says that it is “immutable by its own power,” i.e., it cannot be moved by its own power but by that of a higher agent. For matter does not move itself to acquire a form but is moved by a higher and extrinsic agent. For instance, we might say that “bronze is the nature of a statue or of bronze vessels” or “wood of wooden,” as if such vessels were natural bodies. The same is true of everything else that is composed of or comes to be from matter; for each comes to be from its matter though this is preserved. But in the process of generation the dispositions of a form are not preserved; for when one form is introduced another is cast out. And for this reason it seemed to some thinkers that forms are <b>accidents</b> and that matter alone is substance and nature, as he points out in the <i>Physics</i>, Book II
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<td style="text-align:justify">Et hoc ideo, quia similiter existimabant formam et materiam in rebus naturalibus, sicut in rebus artificialibus, in quibus formae sunt accidentia, et sola materia substantia. Unde isto modo naturales dixerunt elementa esse materiam existentium secundum naturam, vel aquam, vel aerem, vel ignem aut terram, quam nullus elementum naturalium posuit solam, sed aliqui non naturales, ut in primo libro est habitum. Quidam autem posuerunt aliqua eorum esse elementa et naturam rerum, sicut Parmenides. Quidam vero omnia quatuor, sicut Empedocles. Quidam vero aliquid aliud, sicut Heraclitus vaporem.
<td style="text-align:justify">818. They held this view because they considered the matter and form of natural bodies in the same way as they did the matter and form of things made by art, in which forms are merely accidents and matter alone is substance. It was in this sense that the philosophers of nature said that the elements are the matter of things which come to be by nature, i.e., water, air, or fire, or earth, which no philosopher has held to be the element of natural beings all by itself, although some of those who were not philosophers of nature did hold this, as was stated in Book I (134). And some philosophers, such as Parmenides, held that some of these are the elements and natures of things; others, such as Empedocles, held that all four are the elements of things; and still others, such as Heraclitus, held that something different is the element of things, for he claimed that vapor plays this role.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Quia vero motus rerum naturalium magis causatur ex forma quam ex materia, ideo supervenit quintus modus quo ipsa forma dicitur natura. Et sic alio modo natura dicitur ipsa substantia, idest forma rerum existentium secundum naturam, sicut naturam rerum dixerunt esse ipsam compositionem mixtorum; sicut Empedocles dixit, quod non est aliquid entium absolutum, sed solummodo commutatio seu relaxatio vel commixtio permixtorum, secundum aliam translationem, natura apud homines dicitur. Dicuntur enim quae sunt permixtionis diversae, naturam diversam habere.
<td style="text-align:justify">819. (5) Now because motion is caused in natural bodies by the form rather than by the matter, he therefore adds a fifth sense in which the term nature is used: that in which nature means the <b>form</b> of a thing. Hence in another sense nature means “the substance of things,” i.e., the form of things, which are by nature. It was in this sense that some said that the nature of things is the composition of mixed bodies, as Empedocles said that there is nothing absolute in the world, but that only the alteration or loosening (or mixing, according to another text) of what has been mixed is called nature by men. For they said that things composed of different mixtures have different natures.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Ad ponendum autem formam esse naturam, hac ratione inducebantur, quia quaecumque sunt et fiunt naturaliter non dicuntur habere naturam, existente materia ex qua nata sunt fieri vel esse, nisi habeant speciem propriam et formam, per quam speciem consequantur. Videtur autem nomen speciei poni pro forma substantiali, et forma pro figura quae consequitur speciem, et est signum speciei. Si igitur forma est natura, nec aliquid potest dici habere naturam nisi quando habet formam, illud ergo quod compositum est ex materia et forma dicitur esse natura, idest secundum naturam, ut animalia et partes eorum, sicut caro et os et huiusmodi
<td style="text-align:justify">820. Now they were led to hold that form is nature by this process of reasoning: whatever things exist or come to be by nature are not said to have a nature, even though the matter from which they are naturally disposed to be or to come to be is already present, unless they have a proper species and a form through which they acquire their species. Now the term species seems to be given in place of substantial form and the term form in place of figure, which is a natural result of the species and a sign of it. Hence, if form is nature, a thing cannot be said to have a nature unless it has a form. Therefore, that which is composed of matter and form “is said to be by nature,” i.e., according to nature, as animals and the parts of animals, such as flesh and bones and the like.
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<td style="text-align:justify">821. <b>Again, nature</b> (414).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Deinde cum dicit natura autem ponit duos modos adiunctos duobus ultimis praecedentibus, quorum primus additur quarto modo quo materia dicebatur natura. Et dicit, quod materia dicitur natura non quaecumque, sed prima. Quod potest intelligi dupliciter aut quantum ad id quod est genus; aut ex toto vel simpliciter prima. Sicut operum artificialium quae fiunt ex aere, prima materia secundum genus illud est aes. Prima vero simpliciter est aqua. Nam omnia quae liquescunt calido et indurantur frigido sunt aquea magis, ut dicitur quarto Meteororum.
<td style="text-align:justify">Then he gives two meanings of nature which are connected with the last two preceding ones, and the first of these is added to the fourth sense of nature, in which it means the matter of a thing. And he says that not every kind of matter is said to be the nature of a thing but only <b>first matter</b>. This can be understood in two senses: either with reference to something generic, or with reference to something that is first absolutely or without qualification. For example, the first matter generically of artificial things produced from bronze is bronze; but their first matter without qualification is water; for all things which are liquefied by heat and solidified by cold have the character of water, as he says in Book IV of the <i>Meteors</i>.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Secundus modus adiacet quinto modo praedicto quo forma dicebatur natura. Et secundum hunc modum non solum forma partis dicitur natura, sed species ipsa est forma totius. Ut si dicamus quod hominis natura non solum est anima, sed humanitas et substantia quam significat definitio. Secundum hoc enim Boetius dicit, quod natura est unumquodque informans specifica differentia. Nam specifica differentia est, quae complet substantiam rei et dat ei speciem. Sicut autem forma vel materia dicebatur natura, quia est principium generationis, quae secundum primam nominis impositionem natura dicitur; ita species et substantia dicitur natura, quia est finis generationis. Nam generatio terminatur ad speciem generati, quae resultat ex unione formae et materiae.
<td style="text-align:justify">822. He links up the second of these additional meanings with the fifth sense of nature mentioned above, according to which nature means form. And in this sense not only the <b>form of a part</b> (<i>forma partis</i>) is called nature but the species is the <b>form of the whole</b> (<i>forma totius</i>). For example, we might say that the nature of man is not only a soul but humanity and the substance signified by the definition. For it is from this point of view that Boethius says that the nature of a thing is the specific difference which informs each thing, because the specific difference is the principle that completes a thing’s substance and gives it its species. And just as form or matter is called nature because it is a principle of generation, which is the meaning of nature according to the original use of the term, in a similar way the <b>species</b> or substance of a thing is called its nature because it is the end of the process of generation. For the process of generation terminates in the species of the thing generated, which is a result of the union of matter and form.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Et ex hoc secundum quamdam metaphoram et nominis extensionem omnis substantia dicitur natura; quia natura quam diximus quae est generationis terminus, substantia quaedam est. Et ita cum eo quod natura dicitur, omnis substantia similitudinem habet. Et hunc modum etiam ponit Boetius. Ratione autem istius modi distinguitur hoc nomen natura inter nomina communia. Sic enim commune est sicut et substantia.
<td style="text-align:justify">823. And because of this every substance is called nature according to a kind of metaphorical and extended use of the term; for the nature which we spoke of as the terminus of generation is a substance. Thus every substance is similar to what we call nature. Boethius also gives this meaning of the term. Moreover, it is because of this meaning that the term nature is distinguished from other common terms. For it is common in this way just as substance also is.
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<td style="text-align:justify">824. <b>Hence, from what</b> (415).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Deinde dum dicit ex dictis reducit omnes modos praedictos ad unum. Sciendum est autem, quod reductio aliorum modorum ad unum primum, fieri potest dupliciter. Uno modo secundum ordinem rerum. Alio modo secundum ordinem, qui attenditur quantum ad nominis impositionem. Nomina enim imponuntur a nobis secundum quod nos intelligimus, quia nomina sunt intellectuum signa. Intelligimus autem quandoque priora ex posterioribus. Unde aliquid per prius apud nos sortitur nomen, cui res nominis per posterius convenit: et sic est in proposito. Quia enim formae et virtutes rerum ex actibus cognoscuntur, per prius ipsa generatio vel nativitas, naturae nomen accepit, et ultimo forma.
<td style="text-align:justify">Then he reduces all of the foregoing senses of the term nature to one common notion. But it must be noted that the reduction of the other senses to one primary sense can happen in two ways: in one way, with reference to the order which things have; and in another way, with reference to the order which is observed in giving names to things. For names are given to things according as we understand them, because names are signs of what we understand; and sometimes we understand prior things from subsequent ones. Hence something that is prior for us receives a name which subsequently fits the object of that name. And this is what happens in the present case; for since the forms and powers of things are known from their activities, the process of generation or birth of a thing is the first to receive the name of nature and the last is the form.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Sed secundum rerum ordinem, formae prius competit ratio naturae, quia, ut dictum est, nihil dicitur habere naturam, nisi secundum quod habet formam.
<td style="text-align:justify">825. But with reference to the order which things have in reality the concept of nature primarily fits the <b>form</b>, because, as has been said (808), nothing is said to have a nature unless it has a form.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Unde patet ex dictis, quod primo et proprie natura dicitur substantia, idest forma rerum habentium in se principium motus inquantum huiusmodi. Materia enim dicitur esse natura, quia est formae susceptibilis. Et generationes habent nomen naturae, quia sunt motus procedentes a forma, et iterum ad formas. Et idipsum, scilicet forma est principium motus rerum existentium secundum naturam, aut in actu, aut in potentia. Forma enim non semper facit motum in actu, sed quandoque in potentia tantum: sicut quando impeditur motus naturalis ab aliquo exteriori prohibente, vel etiam quando impeditur actio naturalis ex materiae defectu.
<td style="text-align:justify">826. Hence from what has been said it is evident that “in its primary and proper sense nature is the substance,” i.e., the form, of those things which have within themselves as such the source of their motion. For <b>matter</b> is called nature because it is receptive of form; and processes of generation get the name of nature because they are motions proceeding from a form and terminating in further forms. And this, namely, the form, is the principle of motion in those things which are by nature, either potentially or actually. For a form is not always the cause of actual motion but sometimes only of potential motion, as when a natural motion is prevented by an external obstacle, or even when a natural action is prevented by a defect in the matter.
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<td align="center" colspan="2"><b>LESSON 6</b>
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<b>Four Senses of the Term Necessary. Its First and Proper Sense. Immobile Things, though Necessary, Are Exempted from Force</b>
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<td align="center" colspan="2">ARISTOTLE'S TEXT Chapter 5: 1015a 20-1015b 15
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<td style="text-align:justify">ἀναγκαῖον λέγεται οὗ ἄνευ οὐκ ἐνδέχεται ζῆν ὡς συναιτίου (οἷον τὸ ἀναπνεῖν καὶ ἡ τροφὴ τῷ ζῴῳ ἀναγκαῖον, ἀδύνατον γὰρ ἄνευ τούτων εἶναι),
<td style="text-align:justify">416. <i>Necessary</i> means that without which, as a contributing cause, a thing cannot be or live; for example, breathing and food are necessary to an animal because it cannot exist without them.
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<td style="text-align:justify">καὶ ὧν ἄνευ τὸ ἀγαθὸν μὴ ἐνδέχεται ἢ εἶναι ἢ γενέσθαι, ἢ τὸ κακὸν ἀποβαλεῖν ἢ στερηθῆναι (οἷον τὸ πιεῖν τὸ φάρμακον ἀναγκαῖον [25] ἵνα μὴ κάμνῃ, καὶ τὸ πλεῦσαι εἰς Αἴγιναν ἵνα ἀπολάβῃ τὰ χρήματα).
<td style="text-align:justify">417. And it also means that without which the good for man cannot be or come to be, and that without which one cannot get rid of or remain free of some evil; for example, the drinking of some drug is necessary in order that one may not be in distress, and sailing to Aegina is necessary in order that one may collect money.
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ἔτι τὸ βίαιον καὶ ἡ βία: τοῦτο δ᾽ ἐστὶ τὸ παρὰ τὴν ὁρμὴν καὶ τὴν προαίρεσιν ἐμποδίζον καὶ κωλυτικόν, τὸ γὰρ βίαιον ἀναγκαῖον λέγεται, διὸ καὶ λυπηρόν (ὥσπερ καὶ Εὔηνός φησι
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<dd>πᾶν γὰρ ἀναγκαῖον πρᾶγμ᾽ ἀνιαρὸν [30] ἔφυ),<br>
καὶ ἡ βία ἀνάγκη τις (ὥσπερ καὶ Σοφοκλῆς λέγει [31]
<dd>ἀλλ᾽ ἡ βία με ταῦτ᾽ ἀναγκάζει ποιεῖν),<br>
#954;αὶ δοκεῖ ἡ ἀνάγκη ἀμετάπειστόν τι εἶναι, ὀρθῶς: ἐναντίον γὰρ τῇ κατὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν κινήσει καὶ κατὰ τὸν λογισμόν.
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<td style="text-align:justify">418. Again, it means what applies force and force itself, and this is something which hinders and prevents, in opposition to desire and choice. For that which applies force is said to be necessary, and for this reason anything necessary is also said to be lamentable, as Evenus says, "For every necessary thing is mournful." And force is a kind of necessity, as Sophocles says, "But force compels me to do this." And necessity seems to be something blameless, and rightly so, for it is contrary to motion which stems from choice and from knowledge.
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<td style="text-align:justify">ἔτι τὸ μὴ ἐνδεχόμενον ἄλλως ἔχειν ἀναγκαῖόν φαμεν οὕτως [35] ἔχειν: καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο τὸ ἀναγκαῖον καὶ τἆλλα λέγεταί πως ἅπαντα ἀναγκαῖα:
<td style="text-align:justify">419. Again, we say that anything which cannot be otherwise is necessarily so.
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<td style="text-align:justify">τό τε γὰρ βίαιον ἀναγκαῖον λέγεται ἢ ποιεῖν ἢ πάσχειν τότε, [1015β] [1] ὅταν μὴ ἐνδέχηται κατὰ τὴν ὁρμὴν διὰ τὸ βιαζόμενον, ὡς ταύτην ἀνάγκην οὖσαν δι᾽ ἣν μὴ ἐνδέχεται ἄλλως, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν συναιτίων τοῦ ζῆν καὶ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ὡσαύτως: ὅταν γὰρ μὴ ἐνδέχηται ἔνθα [5] μὲν τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἔνθα δὲ τὸ ζῆν καὶ τὸ εἶναι ἄνευ τινῶν, ταῦτα ἀναγκαῖα καὶ ἡ αἰτία ἀνάγκη τίς ἐστιν αὕτη.
<td style="text-align:justify">420. And from this sense of the term necessary all the other senses are derived. For whatever is forced is said either to do or to undergo something necessary when it cannot do something according to its inclination as a result of force, as if there were some necessity by reason of which the thing could not be otherwise. The same thing applies to the contributing causes of life and of good. For when in the one case good, and in the other life or being, is impossible without certain contributing causes, these are necessary; and this cause is a kind of necessity.
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<td style="text-align:justify">ἔτι ἡ ἀπόδειξις τῶν ἀναγκαίων, ὅτι οὐκ ἐνδέχεται ἄλλως ἔχειν, εἰ ἀποδέδεικται ἁπλῶς: τούτου δ᾽ αἴτια τὰ πρῶτα, εἰ ἀδύνατον ἄλλως ἔχειν ἐξ ὧν ὁ συλλογισμός.
<td style="text-align:justify">421. Further, demonstration belongs to the class of necessary things, because whatever has been demonstrated in the strict sense cannot be otherwise. The reason for this is the principles, for the principles from which a syllogism proceeds cannot be otherwise.
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<td style="text-align:justify">τῶν μὲν [10] δὴ ἕτερον αἴτιον τοῦ ἀναγκαῖα εἶναι, τῶν δὲ οὐδέν, ἀλλὰ διὰ ταῦτα ἕτερά ἐστιν ἐξ ἀνάγκης. ὥστε τὸ πρῶτον καὶ κυρίως ἀναγκαῖον τὸ ἁπλοῦν ἐστίν: τοῦτο γὰρ οὐκ ἐνδέχεται πλεοναχῶς ἔχειν, ὥστ᾽ οὐδὲ ἄλλως καὶ ἄλλως: ἤδη γὰρ πλεοναχῶς ἂν ἔχοι. εἰ ἄρα ἔστιν ἄττα ἀΐδια καὶ ἀκίνητα, [15] οὐδὲν ἐκείνοις ἐστὶ βίαιον οὐδὲ παρὰ φύσιν.
<td style="text-align:justify">422. Now of necessary things some have something else as the cause of their necessity and others do not, but it is because of them that other things are necessary. Hence what is necessary in the primary and proper sense is what is simple, for this cannot be in more ways than one. Therefore it cannot be in one state and in another; otherwise there would be more ways than one. If, then, there are any beings which are eternal and immobile, in them nothing forced or contrary to nature is found.
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<td align="center" colspan="2"><b>COMMENTARY</b>
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<td style="text-align:justify"><i>Necessary</i>
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<td style="text-align:justify">Postquam philosophus distinxit nomina, quae significant causas, hic distinguit nomen quod significat aliquid pertinens ad orationem causae; scilicet necessarium. Causa enim est ad quam de necessitate sequitur aliud. Et circa hoc duo facit. Primo distinguit modos necessarii. Secundo reducit omnes ad unum primum, ibi, et secundum hoc necessarium.
<td style="text-align:justify">827. Having distinguished the different senses of the terms which signify causes, the Philosopher now gives the different senses of a term which designates something pertaining to the notion of cause, i.e., the term necessary; for a cause is that from which something else follows of necessity. In regard to this he does two things. First, he distinguishes the different senses of the term necessary. Second (836), he reduces all of these to one primary sense (“And from this sense”).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Ponit autem in prima parte quatuor modos necessarii.
<td style="text-align:justify">In the first part he gives four senses in which the term necessary is used:
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<td style="text-align:justify">Primus est, secundum quod dicitur aliquid necessarium, sine quo non potest aliquid vivere aut esse; quod licet non sit principalis causa rei, est tamen quaedam concausa. Sicut respirare est necessarium animali respiranti, quia sine respiratione vivere non potest. Ipsa enim respiratio, etsi non sit causa vitae, est tamen concausa, inquantum cooperatur ad contemperamentum caloris, sine quo non est vita. Et similiter est de cibo, sine quo animal vivere non potest, inquantum cooperatur ad restaurationem deperditi, et impedit totalem consumptionem humidi radicalis, quod est causa vitae. Igitur huiusmodi dicuntur necessaria, quia sine eis impossibile est esse.
<td style="text-align:justify">First, it means that <b>without which</b> a thing <b>cannot be</b> or live; and even when this is not the principal cause of a thing, it is still a contributing cause. Breathing, for example, is necessary to an animal which breathes, because it cannot live without this. And while breathing is not the [principal] cause of life, nonetheless it is still a contributing cause inasmuch as it helps to restore what is lost and prevents the total consumption of moisture, which is a cause of life. Hence things of this kind are said to be necessary because it is impossible for things to exist without them.
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<td style="text-align:justify">828. <b>And it also means</b> (417).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Secundum modum ponit ibi, et sine dicit, quod secundo modo dicuntur necessaria, sine quibus non potest esse vel fieri bonum aliquod, vel vitari aliquod malum, vel expelli; sicut bibere pharmacum, idest medicinam laxativam, dicimus esse necessarium, non quia sine hoc vivere animal non possit; sed ad expellendum, scilicet hoc malum quod est infirmitas, vel etiam vitandum. Est enim hoc necessarium ut non laboret, idest ut non infirmetur aliquis. Similiter navigare ad Aeginam, scilicet ad illum locum, est necessarium, non quia sine hoc non possit homo esse; sed quia sine hoc non potest acquirere aliquod bonum, idest pecuniam. Unde dicitur, quod necessaria est talis navigatio, ut aliquis pecuniam recipiat.
<td style="text-align:justify">Then he gives a second sense in which things are said to be necessary. He says that in a second way those things are said to be necessary <b>without which some good cannot be</b> or come about, or some evil be avoided or expelled. For example, we say that “the drinking of some drug,” i.e., a laxative medicine, is necessary, not because an animal cannot live without it, but because it is required to expel something, namely, an evil, illness, or even to avoid it. For this is necessary “in order that one may not be in distress,” i.e., to avoid being ill. And similarly “sailing to Aegina,” i.e., to a definite place, is necessary, not because a man cannot exist without this, but because he cannot acquire some good, i.e., money, without doing this. Hence, such a voyage is said to be necessary in order to collect a sum of money.
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<td style="text-align:justify">829. <b>Again, it means</b> (418).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Tertium modum ponit ibi, amplius enim dicit quod id quod infert violentiam, et etiam ipsa violentia necessarii nomen accepit; nam violentia necessaria dicitur, et qui vim patitur dicitur de necessitate id facere ad quod cogitur. Quid autem sit faciens vim, manifestat in naturalibus, et in voluntariis. In naturalibus quidem est impetus, sive inclinatio ad aliquem finem, cui respondet voluntas in natura rationali; unde et ipsa naturalis inclinatio appetitus dicitur. Utrumque autem, scilicet et impetum naturalis inclinationis, et propositum voluntatis, contingit impediri et prohiberi. Impediri quidem, in prosecutione motus iam incepti. Prohiberi autem, ne etiam motus incipiat. Illud ergo dicitur esse violentum, quod est praeter impetum, idest praeter inclinationem rei naturalis, et est impediens praevoluntatem, idest propositum in prosecutione motus voluntarii iam incepti, et prohibens etiam ne incipiat. Alia litera habet et hoc est secundum ormin, idest secundum impetum. Violentia enim est cum aliquid agit secundum impetum exterioris agentis, contra voluntatem vim passi. Violentum autem est secundum impetum vim faciens.
<td style="text-align:justify">Here he gives a third sense in which things are said to be necessary. He says that anything which exerts <b>force</b>, and even force itself, is termed necessary. For force is said to be necessary, and one who is forced is said to do of necessity whatever he is compelled to do. He shows what is meant by something that exerts force both in the case of natural beings and in that of beings endowed with will. In natural beings there is a desire for or an inclination toward some end or goal, to which the will of a rational nature corresponds; and for this reason a natural inclination is itself called an appetite. For both of these, i.e., both the desire of a natural inclination and the intention of the will, can be hindered and prevented—hindered in carrying out a motion already begun, and prevented from initiating motion. Therefore, that is said to be forced “which is done in opposition to desire,” ‘ i.e., against the inclination of a natural being; and it is “something that hinders choice,” i.e., the end intended in executing a voluntary motion already begun, and also something that prevents it from beginning. Another text says, “and this is according to impetuousness,” i.e., according to impulse. For force is found when something is done through the impulse of an external agent and is opposed to the will and power of the subject. And that is forced which is done as a result of an impulse applying force.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Ex hac autem violenti definitione duas conclusiones inducit. Quarum prima est, quod omne violentum est triste sive flebile. Quod probat per cuiusdam poetae sive doctoris dictum; dicens, quod omnis res necessaria sive violenta est tristis sive lamentabilis: necessitas enim est quaedam violentia; sicut Sophocles poeta dicit: violentia me facere coegit ea, idest necessitas. Dictum est enim, quod violentia est impediens voluntatem. Ea autem, qua voluntati sunt contraria, contristant. Tristitia enim est de his quae nobis nolentibus accidunt.
<td style="text-align:justify">830. Now from this definition of the forced he draws two conclusions. The first is that everything forced is <b>sad</b> or mournful. He proves this by using the statement of a certain poet or teacher, saying that everything which is necessary or forced is sad or lamentable; for force is a kind of necessity, as the poet Sophocles says: “Force,” i.e., necessity, “compelled me to do this.” For it has been said that force is something which hinders the will; and things which are opposed to the will cause sorrow, because sorrow has to do with things which happen to us against our will.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Secunda conclusio est, quod necessitas recte dicitur, quod est inculpabilis et irreprehensibilis. Dicitur enim quod necessitas magis meretur veniam quam increpationem. Et hoc ideo, quia non inculpamur nisi de his quae voluntarie facimus, de quibus etiam rationabiliter increpamur. Necessitas autem violentiae est contraria voluntati et excogitationi, ut dictum est; et ideo rationabilius dicitur, quod violenta non sunt culpabilia.
<td style="text-align:justify">831. The second conclusion is that anything which is necessary is rightly said to be <b>without blame</b> or reproach. For it is said that necessity deserves forgiveness rather than blame; and this is true because we deserve to be blamed only for the things which we do voluntarily and for which we may also be reasonably rebuked. But the kind of necessity which pertains to force is opposed to the will and to reason, as has been stated (829); and thus it is more reasonable to say that things done by force are not subject to blame.
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<td style="text-align:justify">832. <b>Again, we say</b> (419).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Quartum modum ponit ibi, amplius quod dicit, quod necessarium etiam dicimus sic se habere, quod non contingit aliter se habere: et hoc est necessarium absolute. Prima autem necessaria sunt secundum quid.
<td style="text-align:justify">He gives a fourth sense in which things are said to be necessary. He says that being in such a state that it <b>cannot be otherwise</b> we also call necessary, and this is what is necessary in an <b>absolute</b> sense. Things necessary in the first senses, however, are necessary in a relative sense.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Differt autem necessarium absolute ab aliis necessariis: quia necessitas absoluta competit rei secundum id quod est intimum et proximum ei; sive sit forma, sive materia, sive ipsa rei essentia; sicut dicimus animal necesse esse corruptibile, quia hoc consequitur eius materiam inquantum ex contrariis componitur. Dicimus etiam animal necessario esse sensibile, quia consequitur eius formam: et animal necessario esse substantiam animatam sensibilem, quia est eius essentia.
<td style="text-align:justify">833. Now whatever is <b>absolutely</b> necessary differs from the other types of necessity, because absolute necessity belongs to a thing by reason of something that is intimately and closely connected with it, whether it be the <b>form</b> or the <b>matter</b> or the very <b>essence</b> of a thing. For example, we say that an animal is necessarily corruptible because this is a natural result of its matter inasmuch as it is composed of contraries; and we say that an animal is necessarily capable of sensing because this is a result of its form; and we also say that an animal is necessarily a living sensible substance because this is its essence.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Necessarium autem secundum quid et non absolute est, cuius necessitas dependet ex causa extrinseca. Causa autem extrinseca est duplex; scilicet finis et efficiens. Finis autem est, vel ipsum esse absolutum, et ab hoc fine necessitas sumpta pertinet ad primum modum; vel bene esse, sive aliquod bonum habere, et ab hoc fine sumitur necessitas secundi modi.
<td style="text-align:justify">834. However, the necessity of something which is necessary in a <b>relative</b> sense and not absolutely depends on an <b>extrinsic</b> cause. And there are two kinds of extrinsic causes—the end and the agent. The end is either existence taken absolutely, and the necessity taken from this end pertains to the first kind; or it is well disposed existence or the possession of some good, and necessity of the second kind is taken from this end.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Necessitas autem quae est a movente exteriori, pertinet ad tertium modum. Nam violentia est quando aliquid movetur ab exteriori agente ad aliud ad quod ex propria natura aptitudinem non habet. Si enim secundum suam naturam ordinetur ad hoc quod recipiat motum ab exteriori agente, tunc motus non erit violentus, sed naturalis. Sicut patet de motu caelestium orbium a substantiis separatis, et de motu inferiorum corporum a superioribus.
<td style="text-align:justify">835. Again, the necessity which comes from an external agent pertains to the third kind of necessity. For force exists when a thing is moved by an external agent to something which it has no aptitude for by its own nature. For if something is disposed by its own nature to receive motion from an external agent, such motion will not be forced but natural. This is evident in the motion of the celestial bodies by separate substances, and in that of lower bodies by higher ones.
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<td style="text-align:justify">836. <b>And from this</b> (420).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Deinde cum dicit et secundum reducit omnes modos ad unum: et circa hoc tria facit. Primo ostendit quod omnes modi necessitatis, qui in rebus inveniuntur ad hunc ultimum modum pertinent. Secundo ostendit, quod secundum ultimum modum accipitur necessarium in demonstrativis, ibi, amplius demonstratio. Tertio infert quoddam corollarium ex praemissis, ibi, horum quidem itaque.
<td style="text-align:justify">Here he reduces all of the senses in which things are necessary to one; and in regard to this he does three things. First (836), he shows that all the types of necessity found in reality pertain to this last type. Second (838), he shows that necessity in matters of demonstration is taken in this last sense (“Further, demonstration”). Third (839), he draws a corollary from what has been set down above (“Now of necessary things”).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Dicit ergo primo, quod secundum istum ultimum modum necessarii, omnes alii modi aliqualiter dicuntur. Quod primo ostendit in tertio modo. Illud enim quod vim patitur, de necessitate dicitur aliquid facere vel pati, propter hoc quod non contingit secundum proprium impetum aliquid agere propter violentiam agentis, quae est quaedam necessitas propter quam non contingit aliter se habere.
<td style="text-align:justify">He accordingly says, first, that all the other senses of the term necessary are somehow referred to this last sense. He makes this clear, first, with reference to the third way in which things are said to be necessary. For whatever is forced is said to do or to undergo something of necessity on the grounds that it cannot act through its own power because of the force exerted on it by an agent; and this is a kind of necessity by which it cannot be otherwise than it is.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Et similiter ostendit hoc in primo et secundo modo, in quibus necessitas sumitur ex causis vivendi vel essendi simpliciter, quantum ad primum modum: vel ex causis boni, quantum ad secundum modum. Sic enim in aliis modis necessarium dicebatur, sine quo non poterat esse ex una parte bonum, et ex alia parte vivere et esse. Et sic illa causa, sine qua non contingit vivere vel esse, vel bonum habere, vel malo carere, necessitas dicitur; quasi ex hoc sit prima ratio necessarii, quia impossibile est aliter se habere.
<td style="text-align:justify">837. Then he shows that the same thing is true of the first and second ways in which things are said to be necessary: in the first way with reference to the causes of living and being absolutely, and in the second with reference to the causes of good. For the term necessary was so used in these other ways: in one way to designate that without which a thing cannot be well off, and in the other to designate that without which a thing cannot live or exist. Hence that cause without which a thing cannot live or exist or possess a good or avoid an evil is said to be necessary; the supposition being that the primary notion of the necessary derives from the fact that something cannot be otherwise.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Deinde cum dicit amplius demonstratio ostendit quod secundum ultimum modum accipitur necessarium in demonstrativis, et quantum ad conclusiones, et quantum ad principia. Demonstratio enim dicitur esse necessariorum, et dicitur esse ex necessariis. Necessariorum quidem esse dicitur, quia illud, quod simpliciter demonstratur, non contingit aliter se habere. Dicitur autem simpliciter demonstratum ad eius differentiam quod demonstratur in demonstratione quae est ad aliquem, et non simpliciter; quod in quarto libro dixit demonstrare ad hominem arguentem. In talibus enim demonstrationibus, quae sunt ad aliquem, contingit etiam impossibile concludi ex aliquibus impossibilibus positis. Sed, quia causae conclusionis in demonstrationibus sunt praemissae, cum demonstratio simpliciter scire faciat, quod non est nisi per causam, oportet etiam principia, ex quibus est syllogismus, esse necessaria quae impossibile sint aliter se habere. Nam ex causa non necessaria non potest sequi effectus necessarius.
<td style="text-align:justify">838. <b>Further, demonstration</b> (421).<br>
Then he shows that the necessary in matters of <b>demonstration</b> is taken from this last sense, and this applied both to principles and to conclusions. For demonstration is said to be about necessary things, and to proceed from necessary things. At is said to be about necessary things because what is demonstrated in the strict sense cannot be otherwise. He says “demonstrated in the strict sense” in order to distinguish this from what is demonstrated by the kind of demonstration which refutes an opponent, and does not strictly demonstrate. In the fourth book (609) he called this an <i>ad hominem</i> argument. In demonstrations of this kind which refute an opponent we conclude to the impossible from certain impossible premises. But since in demonstrations the premises are the causes of the conclusion, for demonstrations in the strict sense are productive of science and this is had only by way of a cause, the principles from which a syllogism proceeds must also be necessary and thus cannot be otherwise than they are. For a necessary effect cannot come from a non-necessary cause.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Deinde cum dicit horum quidem concludit ex praemissis tres conclusiones se invicem sequentes: quarum prima est, quod ex quo in demonstrationibus praemissae sunt causae conclusionis, et utraque sunt necessaria, sequitur quod aliqua sunt necessaria dupliciter. Quaedam quidem quorum altera sit causa necessitatis; quaedam vero quorum nulla sit causa necessitatis; et talia sunt necessaria propter seipsa. Et hoc est contra Democritum, qui dicebat quod necessariorum non sunt quaerendae causae, ut habetur in octavo physicorum.
<td style="text-align:justify">839. <b>Now of necessary things</b> (422).<br>
Here he draws three conclusions from the points set down above, one of which follows from the other. The first is that, since in demonstrations the premises are the causes of the conclusion and both of these are necessary, it follows that some things are necessary in one of two ways. For there are (1) some things whose necessity is caused by something else, and there are (2) others whose necessity has no cause; and such things are necessary of themselves. This is said against Democritus, who claimed that we must not look for the causes of necessary things, as is stated in Book VIII of the <i>Physics</i>.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Secunda conclusio, quia, cum oporteat esse unum primum necessarium, a quo alia necessitatem habent, quia in causis non est procedere in infinitum, ut in secundo ostensum est, oportet hoc primum necessarium, quod etiam maxime proprie est necessarium, quia est omnibus modis necessarium, quod ipsum sit simplex. Ea enim, quae sunt composita, sunt mutabilia, et ita pluribus modis se possunt habere: quae autem pluribus modis habere se possunt, possunt se habere aliter et aliter; quod est contra rationem necessarii. Nam necessarium est, quod est impossibile aliter se habere. Unde oportet, quod primum necessarium non aliter et aliter se habeat, et per consequens nec pluribus modis. Et ita oportet ipsum esse simplex.
<td style="text-align:justify">840. The second conclusion is that, since there must be <b>one first necessary being</b> from which other beings derive their necessity (for there cannot be an infinite regress in causes, as was shown in the second book (301), this first necessary being, which is also necessary in the most proper sense because it is necessary in all ways, must be <b>simple</b>. For composite things are changeable and thus can be in more ways than one. But things which can be in more ways than one can be now in one way and now in another, and this is opposed to the notion of necessity; for that is necessary which cannot be otherwise. Hence the first necessary being must not be now in one way and now in another, and consequently cannot be in more ways than one. Thus he must be simple.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Tertia conclusio est, quod, cum violentum sit quod movetur ab aliquo exteriori agente praeter naturam propriam, principia autem necessaria sunt simplicia et immobilia, ut ostensum est, necessarium est ut si sunt aliqua sempiterna et immobilia sicut sunt substantiae separatae, quod in illis non sit aliquid violentum nec praeter naturam. Et hoc dicit, ne deceptio accidat in nomine necessitatis, cum dicitur de substantiis immaterialibus, nec per hoc intelligitur aliqua violentia in eis esse.
<td style="text-align:justify">841. The third conclusion is that, since the forced is something which is moved by an external agent in opposition to its own nature, and necessary principles are simple and unchangeable, as has been shown (422:C 840), therefore if there are certain eternal and unchangeable beings, as the <b>separate substances</b> are, in them there must be <b>nothing forced</b> or contrary to their nature. He says this lest a mistake should be made in the case of the term necessity, since it is predicated of immaterial substances without implying on this account that anything forced is found in them.
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<td align="center" colspan="2"><b>LESSON 7</b>
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<b>The Kinds of Accidental Unity and of Essential Unity</b>
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<td align="center" colspan="2">ARISTOTLE'S TEXT Chapter 6: 1015b 16-1016b 3
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<td style="text-align:justify">ἓν λέγεται τὸ μὲν κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς τὸ δὲ καθ᾽ αὑτό, κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς μὲν οἷον Κορίσκος καὶ τὸ μουσικόν, καὶ Κορίσκος μουσικός (ταὐτὸ γὰρ εἰπεῖν Κορίσκος καὶ τὸ μουσικόν, καὶ Κορίσκος μουσικός), καὶ τὸ μουσικὸν καὶ τὸ [20] δίκαιον, καὶ μουσικὸς <�Κορίσκος> καὶ δίκαιος Κορίσκος: πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα ἓν λέγεται κατὰ συμβεβηκός, τὸ μὲν δίκαιον καὶ τὸ μουσικὸν ὅτι μιᾷ οὐσίᾳ συμβέβηκεν, τὸ δὲ μουσικὸν καὶ Κορίσκος ὅτι θάτερον θατέρῳ συμβέβηκεν: ὁμοίως δὲ τρόπον τινὰ καὶ ὁ μουσικὸς Κορίσκος τῷ Κορίσκῳ ἓν ὅτι θάτερον [25] τῶν μορίων θατέρῳ συμβέβηκε τῶν ἐν τῷ λόγῳ, οἷον τὸ μουσικὸν τῷ Κορίσκῳ: καὶ ὁ μουσικὸς Κορίσκος δικαίῳ Κορίσκῳ ὅτι ἑκατέρου μέρος τῷ αὐτῷ ἑνὶ συμβέβηκεν ἕν. ὡσαύτως δὲ κἂν ἐπὶ γένους κἂν ἐπὶ τῶν καθόλου τινὸς ὀνομάτων λέγηται τὸ συμβεβηκός, οἷον ὅτι ἄνθρωπος τὸ αὐτὸ [30] καὶ μουσικὸς ἄνθρωπος: ἢ γὰρ ὅτι τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ μιᾷ οὔσῃ οὐσίᾳ συμβέβηκε τὸ μουσικόν, ἢ ὅτι ἄμφω τῶν καθ᾽ ἕκαστόν τινι συμβέβηκεν, οἷον Κορίσκῳ. πλὴν οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἄμφω ὑπάρχει, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ἴσως ὡς γένος καὶ ἐν τῇ οὐσίᾳ τὸ δὲ ὡς ἕξις ἢ πάθος τῆς οὐσίας. ὅσα μὲν [35] οὖν κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς λέγεται ἕν, τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον λέγεται:
<td style="text-align:justify">423. The term one is used both of what is accidentally one and of what is essentially one. A thing is said to be accidentally one, for example, when we say "Coriscus" and "musical" and "musical Coriscus." For to say "Coriscus" and "musical" and "musical Coriscus" amounts to the same thing; and this is also true when we say "just" and "musical" and "just musical Coriscus." For all of these are said to be accidentally one; just and musical because they are accidents of one substance, and musical and Coriscus because the one is an accident of the other. And similarly in a sense musical Coriscus is one with Coriscus, because one of the parts of this expression is an accident of the other. Thus musical is an accident of Coriscus and musical Coriscus is an accident of just Coriscus, because one part of each expression is an accident of one and the same subject. For it makes no difference whether musical is an accident of Coriscus [or whether just Coriscus is an accident of musical Coriscus]. The same thing also holds true if an accident is predicated of a genus or of any universal term, for example, when one says that man and musical man are the same; for this occurs either because musical is an accident of man, which is one substance, or because both are accidents of some singular thing, for example, Coriscus. Yet both do not belong to it in the same way, but one perhaps as the genus and substance, and the other as a habit or modification of the substance. Therefore whatever things are said to be accidentally one are said to be such in this way.
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<td style="text-align:justify">τῶν δὲ καθ᾽ ἑαυτὰ ἓν λεγομένων τὰ μὲν λέγεται τῷ συνεχῆ εἶναι, οἷον φάκελος δεσμῷ καὶ ξύλα κόλλῃ: [1016α] [1] καὶ γραμμή, κἂν κεκαμμένη ᾖ, συνεχὴς δέ, μία λέγεται, ὥσπερ καὶ τῶν μερῶν ἕκαστον, οἷον σκέλος καὶ βραχίων. αὐτῶν δὲ τούτων μᾶλλον ἓν τὰ φύσει συνεχῆ ἢ τέχνῃ. [5] συνεχὲς δὲ λέγεται οὗ κίνησις μία καθ᾽ αὑτὸ καὶ μὴ οἷόν τε ἄλλως: μία δ᾽ οὗ ἀδιαίρετος, ἀδιαίρετος δὲ κατὰ χρόνον.
<td style="text-align:justify">424. But in the case of things which are said to be essentially one, some are said to be such by nature of their continuity; for example, a bundle becomes one by means of a binding, and pieces of wood become one by means of glue. And a continuous line, even if it is bent, is said to be one, just as each part [of the human body] is, for example, a leg or an arm. And of these things themselves those which are continuous by nature are one to a greater degree than those which are continuous by art. And that is said to be continuous whose motion is essentially one and cannot be otherwise. And motion is one when it is indivisible, i.e., indivisible in time.
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<td style="text-align:justify">καθ᾽ αὑτὰ δὲ συνεχῆ ὅσα μὴ ἁφῇ ἕν: εἰ γὰρ θείης ἁπτόμενα ἀλλήλων ξύλα, οὐ φήσεις ταῦτα εἶναι ἓν οὔτε ξύλον οὔτε σῶμα οὔτ᾽ ἄλλο συνεχὲς οὐδέν. τά τε δὴ ὅλως συνεχῆ [10] ἓν λέγεται κἂν ἔχῃ κάμψιν, καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον τὰ μὴ ἔχοντα κάμψιν, οἷον κνήμη ἢ μηρὸς σκέλους, ὅτι ἐνδέχεται μὴ μίαν εἶναι τὴν κίνησιν τοῦ σκέλους. καὶ ἡ εὐθεῖα τῆς κεκαμμένης μᾶλλον ἕν: τὴν δὲ κεκαμμένην καὶ ἔχουσαν γωνίαν καὶ μίαν καὶ οὐ μίαν λέγομεν, ὅτι ἐνδέχεται καὶ μὴ ἅμα τὴν [15] κίνησιν αὐτῆς εἶναι καὶ ἅμα: τῆς δ᾽ εὐθείας ἀεὶ ἅμα, καὶ οὐδὲν μόριον ἔχον μέγεθος τὸ μὲν ἠρεμεῖ τὸ δὲ κινεῖται, ὥσπερ τῆς κεκαμμένης.
<td style="text-align:justify">425. Again, all those things are essentially continuous which are one not merely by contact; for if you place pieces of wood so that they touch each other, you will not say that they are one, either one board or one body or any other continuous thing. Hence those things which are continuous throughout are said to be one even though they are bent. And those which are not bent are one to an even greater degree; for example, the lower leg or the thigh is one to a greater degree than the leg, because the motion of the leg may not be one. And a straight line is one to a greater degree than a bent line. But what is bent and angular we refer to as either one or not one, because its motion may be either simultaneous or not. But the motion of a straight line is always simultaneous, and no part of it which has extension is at rest when another moves, as in a bent line.
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<td style="text-align:justify">ἔτι ἄλλον τρόπον ἓν λέγεται τῷ τὸ ὑποκείμενον τῷ εἴδει εἶναι ἀδιάφορον: ἀδιάφορον δ᾽ ὧν ἀδιαίρετον τὸ εἶδος κατὰ τὴν αἴσθησιν: τὸ δ᾽ ὑποκείμενον [20] ἢ τὸ πρῶτον ἢ τὸ τελευταῖον πρὸς τὸ τέλος: καὶ γὰρ οἶνος εἷς λέγεται καὶ ὕδωρ ἕν, ᾗ ἀδιαίρετον κατὰ τὸ εἶδος, καὶ οἱ χυμοὶ πάντες λέγονται ἕν (οἷον ἔλαιον οἶνος) καὶ τὰ τηκτά, ὅτι πάντων τὸ ἔσχατον ὑποκείμενον τὸ αὐτό: ὕδωρ γὰρ ἢ ἀὴρ πάντα ταῦτα.
<td style="text-align:justify">426. Again, a thing is said to be one in another sense because its underlying subject is uniform in species; and it is uniform in species as those things whose form is indivisible from the viewpoint of sensory perception. And the underlying subject is either one that is primary or one that is last in relation to the end. For wine is said to be one and water is said to be one inasmuch as they are indivisible in species. And all liquids are said to be one, as oil, wine and fluids, because the ultimate subject of all is the same; for all of these are made up of water or of air.
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<td style="text-align:justify">λέγεται δ᾽ ἓν καὶ ὧν τὸ γένος ἓν [25] διαφέρον ταῖς ἀντικειμέναις διαφοραῖς—καὶ ταῦτα λέγεται πάντα ἓν ὅτι τὸ γένος ἓν τὸ ὑποκείμενον ταῖς διαφοραῖς (οἷον ἵππος ἄνθρωπος κύων ἕν τι ὅτι πάντα ζῷα), καὶ τρόπον δὴ παραπλήσιον ὥσπερ ἡ ὕλη μία. ταῦτα δὲ ὁτὲ μὲν οὕτως ἓν λέγεται, ὁτὲ δὲ τὸ ἄνω γένος ταὐτὸν λέγεται [30] —ἂν ᾖ τελευταῖα τοῦ γένους εἴδη—τὸ ἀνωτέρω τούτων, οἷον τὸ ἰσοσκελὲς καὶ τὸ ἰσόπλευρον ταὐτὸ καὶ ἓν σχῆμα ὅτι ἄμφω τρίγωνα: τρίγωνα δ᾽ οὐ ταὐτά.
<td style="text-align:justify">427. And those things are said to be one whose genus is one and differs by opposite differences. And all these things are said to be one because the genus, which is the subject of the differences, is one; for example, man, dog and horse are one because all are animals; and it is such in a way closest to that in which matter is one. And sometimes these things are said to be one in this way, and sometimes in their higher genus, which is said to be the same if those which are higher than these are the last species of the genus; for example, the isosceles and the equilateral triangle are one and the same figure because both are triangles; but they are not the same triangles.
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<td style="text-align:justify">ἔτι δὲ ἓν λέγεται ὅσων ὁ λόγος ὁ τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι λέγων ἀδιαίρετος πρὸς ἄλλον τὸν δηλοῦντα [τί ἦν εἶναι] τὸ πρᾶγμα (αὐτὸς γὰρ καθ᾽ αὑτὸν [35] πᾶς λόγος διαιρετός). οὕτω γὰρ καὶ τὸ ηὐξημένον καὶ φθῖνον ἕν ἐστιν, ὅτι ὁ λόγος εἷς, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπιπέδων ὁ τοῦ εἴδους.
<td style="text-align:justify">428. Further, any two things are said to be one when the definition expressing the essence of one is indistinguishable from that signifying the essence of the other. For in itself every definition is divisible. And what has increased and what has decreased are one in this way, because their definition is one. An example of this is found in plane figures, which are one in species.
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<td style="text-align:justify">[1016β] [1] ὅλως δὲ ὧν ἡ νόησις ἀδιαίρετος ἡ νοοῦσα τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι, καὶ μὴ δύναται χωρίσαι μήτε χρόνῳ μήτε τόπῳ μήτε λόγῳ, μάλιστα ταῦτα ἕν, καὶ τούτων ὅσα οὐσίαι:
<td style="text-align:justify">429. And those things are altogether one and in the highest degree whose concept, which grasps their essence, is indivisible and cannot be separated either in time or in place or in its intelligible structure; and of these, all those which are substances are especially such.
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<td align="center" colspan="2"><b>COMMENTARY</b>
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<td style="text-align:justify">Postquam philosophus distinxit nomina quae significant causas, hic distinguit nomina quae significant id quod est subiectum aliquo modo in ista scientia. Et dividitur in duas partes. Primo ponit sive distinguit nomina, quae significant subiectum huius scientiae. Secundo ea, quae significant partes subiecti, ibi, eadem dicuntur.
<td style="text-align:justify">842. Having given the various senses of the terms which signify causes, the Philosopher now proceeds to do the same thing with those terms which signify in some way the subject of this science. This is divided into two parts. In the first (423:C 843) he gives or distinguishes the different senses of the terms which signify the subject of this science; and in the second (445:C 908) he distinguishes the different senses of the terms which signify the parts of this subject ("Things are said to be the same").
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<td style="text-align:justify">Subiectum autem huius scientiae potest accipi, vel sicut communiter in tota scientia considerandum, cuiusmodi est ens et unum: vel sicut id de quo est principalis intentio, ut substantia. Et ideo primo distinguit hoc nomen unum. Secundo hoc nomen ens, ibi, ens dicitur et cetera. Tertio hoc nomen substantia, ibi, substantia dicitur et cetera.
<td style="text-align:justify">Now the subject of this science can be taken either as that which has to be considered generally in the whole science, and as such it is unity and being, or as that with which this science is chiefly concerned, and this is substance. Therefore, first (423), he gives the different senses of the term one; second (435:C 885) of the term being ("The term being"); and third (440:C 898), of the term substance ("The term substance").
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<td style="text-align:justify">Circa primum duo facit. Primo distinguit unum in per se et per accidens; et ostendit quot modis dicitur unum per accidens. Secundo quot modis dicitur unum per se, ibi secundum se vero unum et cetera.
<td style="text-align:justify">In regard to the first part of this division he does two things. First, he makes a distinction between what is essentially one and what is accidentally one, and he also indicates the various senses in which things are said to be accidentally one. Second (42VC 848), he notes the various senses in which things are said to be essentially one ("But in the case").
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<td style="text-align:justify">Dicit ergo, quod unum dicitur et per se et per accidens. Per accidens autem unum docet considerare primo in terminis singularibus; et hoc dupliciter. Uno modo secundum quod accidens comparatur ad subiectum. Alio modo secundum quod unum accidens comparatur ad aliud. In utroque autem istorum tria est accipere; scilicet unum compositum et duo simplicia. Si enim unum per accidens accipiatur secundum comparationem accidentis ad subiectum, sic sunt ista tria: primum est Coriscus, secundum est musicus, tertium Coriscus musicus. Et haec tria sunt unum per accidens. Nam idem subiecto est Coriscus et musicus. Et similiter, quando comparatur accidens ad accidens, tria est accipere; quorum primum est musicum, secundum est iustum, tertium est musicus iustus Coriscus. Et omnia praedicta dicuntur esse unum secundum accidens; tamen alia et alia ratione.
<td style="text-align:justify">843. He says (423), then, that the term one signifies both what is essentially one and what is accidentally one. And he tells us that what is accidentally one we should consider first in the case of singular terms. Now singular terms can be accidentally one in two ways: in one way according as an accident is related to a subject; and in another way according as one accident is related to another. And in both cases three things have to be considered—one composite thing and two simple ones. For if what is accidentally one is considered to be such according as an accident is related to a subject, then there are, for example, these three things: first, Coriscus; second, musical; and third, musical Coriscus. And these three are accidentally one; for Coriscus and what is musical are the same in subject. Similarly when an accident is related to an accident, three terms must be considered: first, musical; second, just; and third, just musical Coriscus. And all these are said to be accidentally one, but for different reasons.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Iustum enim et musicum, quae sunt duo simplicia in secunda acceptione, dicuntur unum per accidens, quia accidunt uni subiecto. Musicus vero et Coriscus, quae sunt duo simplicia in prima acceptione, dicuntur unum per accidens, quia alterum eorum, scilicet musicum accidit alteri, scilicet Corisco. Et similiter quantum ad aliquid musicus Coriscus cum Corisco, quod est compositum cum uno simplicium, in prima acceptione dicuntur unum per accidens, quia inter partes istas quae sunt in hac oratione, idest in hoc termino complexo, scilicet, Coriscus musicus, altera pars termini complexi, scilicet musicus, accidit alteri parti per se signatae, scilicet Corisco. Et eadem ratione potest dici, quod musicus Coriscus est unum cum iusto Corisco, quae sunt duo composita in secunda acceptione, quia ambae partes utriusque compositi accidunt uni, scilicet Corisco. Si enim idem est musicus et musicus Coriscus, et iustus et iustus Coriscus, cuicumque accidit musicum accidit musicus Coriscus; et quicquid accidit Corisco accidit Corisco iusto. Unde, si musicum accidit Corisco, sequitur, quod musicus Coriscus accidit iusto Corisco. Et sic nihil differt dicere musicum Coriscum accidere iusto Corisco, quam musicum accidere Corisco.
<td style="text-align:justify">844. For just and musical, which are two simple terms in the second way, are said to be accidentally one because both are accidents of one and the same subject. But musical and Coriscus, which are two simple terms in the first way, are said to be accidentally one because "the one," namely, musical, "is an accident of the other," namely, of Coriscus. And similarly in regard to the relationship of musical Coriscus to Coriscus (which is the relationship of a composite term to one of two simple terms), these are said to be accidentally one in the first way, because in this expression, i.e., in the complex term, musical Coriscus, one of the parts, namely, musical, is an accident of the other, which is designated as a substance, namely, Coriscus. And for the same reason it can be said that musical Coriscus is one with just Coriscus, which are two composites in the second way, because two of the parts of each composite are accidents of one subject, Coriscus. For if musical and musical Coriscus, and just and just Coriscus, are the same, then whatever is an accident of musical is also an accident of musical Coriscus; and whatever is an accident of Coriscus is also an accident of just Coriscus. Hence, if musical is an accident of Coriscus, it follows that musical Coriscus is an accident of just Coriscus. Therefore it makes no difference whether we say that musical Coriscus is an accident of just Coriscus, or that musical is an accident of Coriscus.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Quia vero huiusmodi praedicata per accidens per prius praedicantur de singularibus, et per posterius de universalibus, cum tamen e converso sit de praedicatis per se, manifestat consequenter in terminis universalibus quod in singularibus ostenderat; dicens, quod similiter accipitur unum per accidens, si aliquod accidens dicatur cum aliquo nomine alicuius generis, vel cuiuscumque universalis, sicut accipitur unum per accidens in praedictis, quando accidens adiungitur nomini singulari; sicut cum dicitur, quod homo et musicus homo sunt unum per accidens, licet quantum ad aliquid differant.
<td style="text-align:justify">845. But because accidental predicates of this kind are first applied to singular things and then to universals (although the reverse is true of essential predicates), he therefore makes clear that what he showed in the case of singular terms also applies in that of universal terms. He says that, if an accident is used along with the name of a genus or of any universal term, accidental unity is taken in the same way as it is in the above cases when an accident is joined to a singular term; for example, when it is said that man and musical man are accidentally one, although they differ in some respect.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Singulares enim substantiae nec sunt in subiecto, nec de subiecto praedicantur. Unde tantum substant et nihil eis substat. Substantiae quidem universales dicuntur de subiecto, sed non sunt in subiecto. Unde non substant accidentibus, et eis aliquid substat. Cum ergo accidens adiungitur particulari substantiae, non potest esse alia ratio dicti, nisi quia accidens inest substantiae particulari, ut quia musicum inest Corisco cum dicitur Coriscus musicus.
<td style="text-align:justify">846. For singular substances are neither present in a subject nor predicated of a subject, so that while they are the subject of other things, they themselves do not have a subject. Now universal substances are predicated of a subject but are not present in a subject, so that while they are not the subjects of accidents, they have something as their subject. Hence, when an accident is joined to a singular substance, the expression stating this can only mean that an accident belongs to a singular substance, as musical belongs to Coriscus when Coriscus is said to be musical.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Sed, cum dicitur homo musicus, potest esse duplex ratio dicti. Aut enim hoc dicitur, quia musicum accidit homini, per quod significatur substantia, et ex hoc competit sibi quod possit substare accidenti. Aut hoc ideo dicit, quia ambo, scilicet homo et musicus, insunt alicui singulari, sicut Corisco: sicut musicum dicebatur iustum, quia eidem singulari insunt, et eodem modo, scilicet per accidens. Sed forsan hoc non eodem modo; sed universalis substantia inest singulari ut genus, sicut hoc nomen animal; aut si non sit genus, saltem est in substantia subiecti, idest ut substantiale praedicatum, sicut hoc nomen homo. Sed aliud, scilicet musicum, non est ut genus vel essentiale praedicatum, sed ut habitus vel passio subiecti, vel qualecumque accidens. Ponit autem haec duo, habitum et passionem, quia quaedam accidentia sunt manentia in subiecto, sicut habitus, qui sunt difficile mobiles; quaedam autem sunt accidentia pertranseuntia et non manentia, sicut passiones. Patet igitur quod isti sunt modi, quibus aliqua dicuntur unum per accidens.
<td style="text-align:justify">847. But when we say musical man, the expression can mean one of two things: either that musical is an accident of man, by which substance is designated, and from this it derives its ability to be the subject of an accident; or it means that both of these, man and musical, belong to some singular thing, for example, Coriscus, in the way that musical was predicated of just, because these two belong to the same singular thing and in the same way, i.e., accidentally. But perhaps the one term does not belong to the other in the same way, but in the way that universal substance belongs to the singular as a genus, as the term animal, or if it is not a genus, it at least belongs to the substance of the subject, i.e., as an essential predicate, as the term man. But the other term, namely, musical, does not have the character of a genus or essential predicate, but that of a habit or modification of the subject, or whatever sort of accident it may be. He gives these two, habit and modification, because there are some accidents which remain in their subject, such as habits, which are moved with difficulty, and others which are not permanent but transient, such as modifications. It is clear, then, that these are the ways in which things are said to be accidentally one.
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<td style="text-align:justify"><i>Kinds of unity</i>
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<td style="text-align:justify">848. <b>But in the case</b> (424).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Deinde cum dicit secundum se ponit modos unius per se; et circa hoc duo facit. Primo ostendit quot modis dicitur unum. Secundo quot modis dicuntur multa, ibi, palam autem, et quia multa.
<td style="text-align:justify">Then he gives the ways in which things are essentially one, and in regard to this he does two things. First, he indicates the different senses in which the term <i>one</i> is used; and second (880), the different senses in which the term <i>many</i> is used (“Moreover, it is evident”).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Circa primum duo facit. Primo distinguit modos unius naturaliter, idest secundum conditiones in rebus inventas. Secundo vero logice, idest secundum intentiones logicales, ibi, amplius autem alia et cetera.
<td style="text-align:justify">In regard to the first he does two things. First, he gives the different senses in which things are one from the viewpoint of nature, i.e., according to the conditions found in reality; and second (876), from the viewpoint of logic, i.e., according to the considerations of logic (“Further, some things”).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Circa primum duo facit. Primo distinguit modos unius. Secundo vero ponit quamdam proprietatem consequentem ad unum, ibi, uni vero esse, est principium.
<td style="text-align:justify">In regard to the first he does two things. First, he distinguishes the different senses in which things are said to be one. Second (872), he indicates a property which accompanies unity (“But the essence of oneness”).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Circa primum duo facit. Primo ponit modos unius. Secundo reducit eos omnes ad unum, ibi, universaliter enim quaecumque.
<td style="text-align:justify">In regard to the first he does two things. First, he sets down the different senses in which things are said to be one. Second (866), he reduces all of them to a single sense (“For in general”).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Ponit autem in prima parte quinque modos unius.
<td style="text-align:justify">In the first part he gives five senses in which the term one is used.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Quorum primus est, quod eorum quae secundum se dicuntur unum, quaedam dicuntur unum esse natura continuitatis, idest essendo continua: vel eo quod sunt continua, sicut dicit alia translatio. Sed continua dicuntur aliqua dupliciter. Quaedam enim sunt continua, sicut dicit alia litera, per aliud, quaedam secundum se.
<td style="text-align:justify">849. (1) The first is this: some of the things which are said to be essentially one are such “by nature of their continuity,” i.e., by being <b>continuous</b>, or “because they are continuous,” as another translation says. But things are said to be continuous in two ways; for, as another text says, some things are continuous by reason of something other than themselves, and some in themselves.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Prosequitur ergo primo continua secundum aliud, dicens, quod continua per aliud sunt, sicut onus lignorum continuum est ratione ligaminis vel vinculi: et hoc modo ligna adinvicem conviscata dicuntur unum per viscum. Quod etiam contingit dupliciter: quia quandoque continuatio alligatorum fit secundum lineam rectam, quandoque autem secundum lineam indirectam, sicut est linea reflexa angulum continens, quae fit ex contactu duarum in una superficie, quarum applicatio non est directa. Per hunc enim modum partes animalis dicuntur unum et continuum. Sicut tibia, quae habet reflexionem, et angulum continet ad genu, dicitur una et continua, et similiter brachium.
<td style="text-align:justify">850. First, he proceeds to deal with those things which are continuous (a) by reason of something other than themselves. He says that there are things which are continuous as a result of <b>something else</b>; for example, a bundle of sticks is continuous by means of a cord or binding; and in this way too pieces of wood which have been glued together are said to be one by means of the glue. Now there are also two ways in which this occurs, because the continuity of things which are fastened together (i) sometimes takes the form of a straight line, and (ii) sometimes that of a line which is not straight. This is the case, for example, with a bent line having an angle, which results from the contact of two lines in one surface in such a way that they are not joined in a straight line. And it is in this way that the parts of an animal are said to be one and continuous; for example, the leg, which is bent, and contains an angle at the knee, is said to be one and continuous; and it is the same with the arm.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Sed, cum talis continuatio, quae est per aliud, possit esse vel fieri naturaliter et arte, magis unum sunt quae sunt continua per naturam, quam quae sunt continua per artem: quia in his quae sunt continua per naturam, illud unum, per quod fit continuatio, non est extraneum a natura rei quae per ipsum continuatur, sicut accidit in his quae sunt unum per artificium, in quibus vinculum, vel viscus, vel aliquid tale est omnino extraneum a natura colligatorum. Et ita ea quae sunt naturaliter colligata, prius accedunt ad ea quae sunt secundum se continua, quae sunt maxime unum.
<td style="text-align:justify">851. But since this kind of continuity which comes about by reason of something else can exist or come to be both by nature and by art, (b) those things which are continuous by <b>nature</b> are one to a greater degree than those which are continuous by art; for the unity that accounts for the continuity of things which are continuous by nature is not extrinsic to the nature of the thing which is made continuous by it, as happens in the case of things which are one by art, in which the binding or glue or something of the sort is entirely extrinsic to the nature of, the things which are joined together. Hence those things which are joined by nature hold the first place among those which are essentially continuous, which are one in the highest degree.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Et ad evidentiam huius, definit continuum, dicens, quod continuum dicitur id cuius est secundum se unus motus tantum, et non est possibile aliter. Non enim possibile est in continuo, ut diversae partes diversis motibus moveantur, sed totum continuum movetur uno motu. Dicit autem secundum se, quia possibile est ut continuum moveatur uno modo per se, et uno alio vel pluribus per accidens; sicut si homo movetur in navi per se contra motum navis, movetur nihilominus motu navis per accidens.
<td style="text-align:justify">852. In order to make this clear he defines the <b>continuous</b>. He says that that is said to be continuous which has only one motion essentially and cannot be otherwise. For the different parts of any continuous thing cannot be moved by different motions, but the whole continuous thing is moved by one motion. He says “essentially” because a continuous thing can be moved in one way essentially and in another or others accidentally. For example, if a man in a ship moves against the motion of the ship essentially, he is still moved accidentally by the motion of the ship.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Ad hoc autem quod sit unus motus, oportet quod sit indivisibilis: et hoc dico secundum tempus, ut videlicet simul dum movetur una pars continui, moveatur et alia. Non enim contingit in continuo quod una pars moveatur et alia quiescat, vel quod una quiescat et alia moveatur, ut sic motus diversarum partium continui sint in diversis partibus temporis.
<td style="text-align:justify">853. Now in order for motion to be one it must be <b>indivisible</b>; and by this I mean from the viewpoint of time, in the sense that at the same time that one part of a continuous thing is moved another is also moved. For it is impossible that one part of a continuous thing should be in motion and another at rest, or that one part should be at rest and another in motion, so that the motion of the different parts should take place in different parts of time.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Ideo autem hic definit philosophus continuum per motum et non per unitatem termini, ad quem partes continui coniunguntur, sicut in praedicamentis et in libro physicorum habetur, quia ex ista definitione potest sumi diversus gradus unitatis in diversis continuis, sicut postea patebit, non autem ex definitione ibi data.
<td style="text-align:justify">854. Therefore the Philosopher defines the continuous here <b>by means of motion</b>, and not by means of the oneness of the boundary at which the parts of the continuous things are joined, as is stated in the <i>Categories</i>, and in the <i>Physics</i>; because from this definition he can consider different grades of unity in different continuous things (as will be made clear later on [856]), but he cannot do this from the definition given there.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Sciendum est autem, quod hoc quod hic dicitur, quod motus continui indivisibilis est secundum tempus, non est contrarium ei quod probatur in sexto physicorum, scilicet, quod tempus motus dividitur secundum partes mobilis. Hic enim loquitur philosophus quantum ad motum absolute, quia scilicet non ante incipit moveri una pars continui quam alia: ibi autem loquitur referendo ad aliquod signum, quod signatur in magnitudine, per quam fit motus. Illud enim signum, quod est prior pars magnitudinis, in priori tempore transitur, licet etiam in illa priori parte temporis aliae partes mobilis continui moveantur.
<td style="text-align:justify">855. Moreover, it should be noted that what is said here about the motion of a continuous thing being indivisible from the viewpoint of time is not opposed to the point proved in Book VI of the <i>Physics</i>, that the time of a motion is divided according to the parts of the thing moved. For here the Philosopher is speaking of motion in an <b>unqualified</b> sense, because one part of a continuous thing does not begin to be moved before another part does; but there he is speaking of some designation which is made in the continuous quantity <b>over which</b> motion passes. For that designation, which is the first part of a continuous quantity, is traversed in a prior time, although in that prior time other parts of the continuous thing that is in motion are also moved.
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<td style="text-align:justify">856. <b>Again, all those</b> (425).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Deinde cum dicit secundum se prosequitur de illis quae sunt secundum se continua, dicens, quod illa sunt secundum se continua quae non dicuntur unum per contactum. Quod sic probat. Illa enim, quae se tangunt, ut duo ligna, non dicuntur unum lignum, nec unum corpus, nec unum aliquid aliud quod pertineat ad genus continui. Et sic patet quod alia est unitas continuorum, et alia tangentium. Quae enim sunt se tangentia non habent unitatem continuitatis per seipsa, sed per aliquod vinculum quod ea coniungit. Sed illa quae sunt continua, dicuntur unum secundum se, quamvis habeant reflexionem. Duae enim lineae reflexae continuantur ad unum communem terminum, qui est punctus in loco ubi constituitur angulus.
<td style="text-align:justify">Then he proceeds to deal with things which are <b>essentially continuous</b>. He says that those things are essentially continuous which are said to be one not by contact. He proves this as follows: things which touch each other, as two pieces of wood, are not said to be one piece of wood or one body or any other kind of one which belongs to the class of the continuous. Hence it is evident that the oneness of things which are continuous differs from that of things which touch each other. For those things which touch each other do not have any unity of continuity of themselves but by reason of some bond which unites them; but those things which are continuous are said to be essentially one even though they are bent. For two bent lines are continuous in relation to one common boundary, which is the point at which the angle is formed.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Sed tamen magis sunt unum quae per se sunt continua sine reflexione. Cuius ratio est, quia linea recta non potest habere nisi unum motum in omnibus partibus suis. Linea vero reflexa potest habere unum motum, et duos motus. Potest enim intelligi linea reflexa tota moveri in unam partem: et iterum potest intelligi quod una parte quiescente, alia pars, quae cum parte quiescente continet angulum, appropinquet per suum motum ad partem quiescentem, sicut quando tibia vel crus applicatur ad coxam, quae hic dicitur femur. Unde utrumque eorum, scilicet tibia vel coxa, sunt magis unum quam scelos, ut habetur in Graeco, idest quam id quod est compositum ex tibia et coxa.
<td style="text-align:justify">857. Yet those things are one to a greater degree which are essentially continuous and without a bend. The reason is that a straight line can have only one motion in all of its parts, whereas a bent line can have one or two motions. For the whole of a bent line can be understood to be moved in one part; and it can also be understood that when one part is at rest, the other part, which makes an angle with the part at rest, can come closer by its motion to the unmoved part; for example, when the lower leg or shin is bent in the direction of the upper leg, which here is called the thigh. Hence each of these—the shin and thigh—is one to a greater degree “than the <i>scelos</i>,” as the Greek text says, i.e. the whole composed of the shin and thigh.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Sciendum autem, quod litera quae habet curvitatem loco reflexionis, falsa est. Constat enim quod partes lineae curvae angulum non continentes, oportet quod simul moveantur et simul quiescant, sicut partes lineae rectae; quod non accidit in reflexa, ut dictum est.
<td style="text-align:justify">858. Further, it must be noted that the text which reads “curved” instead of “bent” is false. For, since the parts of a curved line do not contain an angle, it is evident that they must be in motion together or at rest together, just as the parts of a straight line are; but this does not happen in the case of a bent line, as has been stated (857).
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<td style="text-align:justify">859. <b>Again, a thing</b> (426).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Secundum modum ponit ibi, amplius alio dicit, quod secundo modo dicitur unum, non tantum ratione continuae quantitatis, sed ex eo quod subiectum totum est indifferens forma secundum speciem. Quaedam enim esse possunt continua quae tamen in subiecto sunt diversa secundum speciem; sicut si continuetur aurum argento, vel aliqua huiusmodi. Et tunc talia duo erunt unum si attendatur sola quantitas, non autem si attendatur natura subiecti. Si vero totum subiectum continuum sit unius formae secundum speciem, erit unum et secundum rationem quantitatis et secundum rationem naturae.
<td style="text-align:justify">(2) Here he gives the second way in which things are one. He says that a thing is said to be one in a second way not merely by reason of continuous quantity but because of the fact that the whole subject is <b>uniform in species</b>. For some things can be continuous even though they differ in species; for example, when gold is continuous with silver or something of this kind. And then two such things will be one if quantity alone is considered but not if the nature of the subject is considered. But if the whole continuous subject is uniform in species, it will be one both from the viewpoint of quantity and from that of nature.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Subiectum autem dicitur esse indifferens secundum speciem, quando eadem species sensibilis non dividitur, ita quod sint diversae formae sensibiles in diversis partibus subiecti, sicut quandoque contingit quod unius corporis sensibilis una pars est alba, et alia nigra. Hoc autem subiectum indifferens potest accipi dupliciter. Uno modo subiectum primum. Alio modo subiectum finale sive ultimum, ad quod pervenitur in fine divisionis. Sicut patet quod totum vinum dicitur unum esse, quia partes eius communicant in uno primo subiecto quod est indifferens secundum speciem. Et similiter est de aqua. Omnes enim liquores sive humores dicuntur unum in uno ultimo. Nam oleum et vinum et omnia huiusmodi resolvuntur ultimo in aquam vel aerem, qui in omnibus est radix humiditatis.
<td style="text-align:justify">860. Now a subject is said to be uniform in species when the same sensible form is not divided in such a way that there are different sensible forms in different parts of the subject, as it sometimes happens, for example, that one part of a sensible body is white and another black. And this subject, which does not differ in species, can be taken in two ways: in one way as the first subject, and in another as the last or ultimate subject which is reached at the end of a division. It is evident, for example, that a whole amount of wine is said to be one because its parts are parts of one common subject which is undifferentiated specifically. The same is true of water. For all liquids or moist things are said to be one insofar as they have a single ultimate subject. For oil and wine and the like are ultimately dissolved into water or air, which is the root of moistness in all things.
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<td style="text-align:justify">861. <b>And those things</b> (427).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Tertium modum ponit ibi, dicuntur autem dicit, quod aliqua dicuntur unum, quorum genus est unum, oppositis differentiis divisum. Et ille modus habet aliquam similitudinem cum praecedenti. Ibi enim aliqua dicebantur esse unum, quia genus subiectum est unum: hic etiam aliqua dicuntur esse unum, quia eorum genus, quod est subiectum differentiis, est unum; sicut homo et equus et canis dicuntur unum, quia communicant in animali, quasi in uno genere, subiecto differentiis. Differt tamen hic modus a praedicto, quia in illo modo subiectum erat unum non distinctum per formas; hic autem genus subiectum est unum distinctum per diversas differentias quasi per diversas formas.
<td style="text-align:justify">(3) Then he indicates the third way in which things are said to be one. He says that those things are said to be one whose <b>genus</b> is one, even though it is divided by opposite differences. And this way resembles the preceding one; for some things were said to be one in the preceding way because their subject-genus is one, and now some things are said to be one because their genus, which is the subject of differences, is one; for example, a man and a horse and a dog are said to be one because they have animality in common as one genus, which is the subject of differences. Yet this way differs from the preceding, because in the preceding way the subject was one thing which was not differentiated by forms; but here the subject-genus is one thing which is differentiated by various differences, as though by various forms.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Et sic patet quod propinquissimo modo dicuntur aliqua esse unum genere, et similiter sicut aliqua dicuntur esse unum materia. Nam illa etiam quae dicuntur esse unum materia, distinguuntur per formas. Genus enim, licet non sit materia, quia non praedicaretur de specie, cum materia sit pars, tamen ratio generis sumitur ab eo quod est materiale in re; sicut ratio differentiae ab eo quod est formale. Non enim anima rationalis est differentia hominis, cum de homine non praedicetur; sed habens animam rationalem, quod significat hoc nomen rationale. Et similiter natura sensitiva non est genus hominis, sed pars. Habens etiam naturam sensitivam, quod nomine animalis significatur, est hominis genus. Similiter ergo et propinquus modus est quo aliqua sunt unum materia et unum genere.
<td style="text-align:justify">862. Thus it is evident that some things are said to be one in genus in a most proximate sense, and in a way similar to that in which some things are said to be one in matter. For those things which are said to be one in matter are also differentiated by forms. For even though a genus is not matter, because it would then not be predicated of a species since matter is part of a thing, still the notion of a genus is taken from what is material in a thing, just as the notion of a difference is taken from what is formal. For the rational soul is not the difference of man (since it is not predicated of man), but something having a rational soul (for this is what the term rational signifies). Similarly, sensory nature is not the genus of man but a part. But something having a sensory nature, which the term animal signifies, is the genus of man. In a similar fashion, then, the way in which things are one in matter is closely related to that in which they are one in genus.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Sed sciendum est, quod unum ratione generis dicitur dupliciter. Quandoque enim aliqua dicuntur ita unum in genere sicut dictum est, quia scilicet eorum unum est genus qualitercumque. Quandoque vero non dicuntur aliqua esse unum in genere, nisi in genere superiori, quod cum adiunctione unitatis vel identitatis praedicatur de ultimis speciebus generis inferioris, quando sunt aliquae aliae superiores species supremi generis, in quarum una infinitae species conveniunt. Sicut figura est unum genus supremum continens sub se multas species, scilicet circulum, triangulum, quadratum, et huiusmodi. Et triangulus etiam continet diversas species, scilicet aequilaterum, qui dicitur isopleurus, et triangulum duorum aequalium laterum, qui dicitur aequitibiarum vel isosceles. Isti igitur duo trianguli dicuntur una figura, quod est genus remotum, sed non unus triangulus, quod est genus proximum. Cuius ratio est, quia hi duo trianguli non differunt per differentias quibus dividitur figura. Differunt autem per differentias quibus dividitur triangulus. Idem autem dicitur a quo aliquid non differt differentia.
<td style="text-align:justify">863. But it must be borne in mind that to be one in generic character has two meanings. For sometimes some things are said to be one in genus, as has been stated, because they belong to one genus, whatever it may be. But sometimes some things are said to be one in genus only in reference to a higher genus, which, along with the designation “one” or “the same,” is predicated of the last species of a lower genus when there are other higher species in one of which the lower species agree. For example, figure is one supreme genus which has many species under it, namely, circle, triangle, square, and the like. And triangle also has different species, namely, the equilateral, which is called iso-pleural and the triangle with two equal sides, which is called equi-legged or isosceles. Hence these two triangles are said to be one figure, which is their remote genus, but not one triangle, which is their proximate genus. The reason for this is that these two triangles do not differ by any differences which divide figure, but by differences which divide triangle. And the term <i>same</i> means that from which something does not differ by a difference.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Quartum modum ponit ibi, amplius autem dicit quod unum etiam dicuntur, quaecumque ita se habent quod definitio unius, quae est ratio significans quid est esse, non dividitur a definitione alterius, quae significat etiam quid est esse eius. Ipsa enim definitio, scilicet secundum se, oportet quod sit divisibilis, cum constet ex genere et differentia. Sed potest esse quod definitio unius sit indivisibilis a definitione alterius, quando duo habent unam definitionem; sive illae definitiones significent totum hoc quod est in definito, sicut tunica et indumentum: et tunc sunt simpliciter unum, quorum definitio est una: sive illa communis definitio non totaliter comprehendat rationem duorum, quae in ea conveniunt, sicut bos et equus conveniunt in una definitione animalis. Unde numquam sunt unum simpliciter, sed secundum quid, in quantum scilicet utrumque eorum est animal. Et similiter augmentum et diminutio conveniunt in una definitione generis, quia utraque est motus secundum quantitatem. Similiter in omnibus superficiebus est una definitio huius speciei quae est superficies.
<td style="text-align:justify">864. (4) He now describes the fourth way in which things are said to be one. He says that things such that the <b>definition</b> of one (which is the concept signifying its <b>quiddity</b>) is not distinguished from the definition of the other (which also signifies its quiddity) are also said to be one. For while every definition must be divisible or distinguishable in itself, or essentially, since it is composed of genus and difference, it is possible for the definition of one thing to be indistinguishable from that of another when the two have one definition. And this applies (a) whether those definitions signify the <b>total</b> [intelligible structure] of the thing defined, as tunic and clothing (and then things whose definition is one are one in an absolute sense), or (b) whether that common definition does <b>not totally</b> comprehend the intelligible structure of the two things which have it in common, as an ox and a horse have in common the one definition of animal. Hence they are never one in an absolute sense, but only in a relative sense inasmuch as each is an animal. The same applies in the case of increase and decrease; for there is one common definition of the genus, because each is a motion relating to quantity. And the same thing is true of plane figures, for there is one definition of the species, plane figure.
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<td style="text-align:justify">865. <b>And those things</b> (429).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Quintum modum ponit ibi, omnino vero dicit, quod omnino idest perfecte et maxime sunt unum, quorum intellectus intelligens quidditatem eorum est omnino indivisibilis, sicut simplicia, quae non componuntur ex principiis materialibus et formalibus. Unde intellectus accipiens quidditatem eorum, non comprehendit ea, quasi componens definitionem eorum ex diversis principiis; sed magis per modum negationis, sicut punctus est, cuius pars non est: vel etiam per modum habitudinis ad composita, sicut si dicatur quod unitas est principium numeri. Et, quia talia habent intellectum indivisibilem in seipsis, ea autem quae sunt quocumque modo divisa, possunt intelligi separatim, ideo sequitur quod huiusmodi sunt inseparabilia, et secundum tempus, et secundum locum, et secundum rationem. Et propter hoc sunt maxime unum; praecipue illud quod est indivisibile in genere substantiae. Nam quod est indivisibile in genere accidentis, etsi ipsum in se non sit compositum, est tamen alteri compositum, idest subiecto in quo est. Indivisibilis autem substantia, neque secundum se composita est, nec alteri componitur. Vel ly substantia, potest esse ablativi casus. Et tunc est sensus, quod licet aliqua dicantur unum quia sunt indivisibilia secundum locum vel tempus vel rationem, tamen inter ea illa maxime dicuntur unum, quae non dividuntur secundum substantiam. Et redit in eumdem sensum cum priore.
<td style="text-align:justify">(5) He gives the fifth way in which things are one. He says that those things are “ <b>altogether</b> ” one, i.e., perfectly, and in the highest degree, whose concept, which grasps their quiddity, is altogether indivisible, like <b>simple</b> things, which are not composed of material and formal principles. Hence the concept which embraces their quiddity does not comprehend them in such a way as to form a definition of them from different principles, but (a) rather grasps them <b>negatively</b>, as happens in the case of a point, which has no parts; or (b) it even comprehends them by <b>relating</b> them to composite things, as happens, for example, when someone defines the unit as the principle of number. And because such things have in themselves an indivisible concept, and things which are divided in any way at all can be understood separately, it therefore follows that such things are indivisible both in time and in place and in their intelligible structure. Hence these things are one in the highest degree, and especially those which are indivisible in the genus of substance. For even though what is indivisible in the genus of accident is not composite in itself, nonetheless it does form a composite with something else, namely, the subject in which it inheres. But an indivisible substance is neither composite in itself nor does it form a composite with something else. Or the term substance can be taken in the ablative case, and then the sense is that, even though some things are said to be one because they are indivisible in time and in place and in definition, still those things in this class which are indivisible in substance are said to be one in the highest degree. This sense is reduced to the preceding one.
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<td align="center" colspan="2"><b>LESSON 8</b>
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<b>The Primary Sense of One. One in the Sense of Complete. One as the Principle of Number.<br>
The Ways in Which Things Are One. The Ways in Which Things Are Many</b>
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<td align="center" colspan="2">ARISTOTLE'S TEXT Chapter 6: 1016b 3-1017a 6
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<td style="text-align:justify">καθόλου γὰρ ὅσα μὴ ἔχει διαίρεσιν, ᾗ μὴ ἔχει, ταύτῃ ἓν λέγεται, [5] οἷον εἰ ᾗ ἄνθρωπος μὴ ἔχει διαίρεσιν, εἷς ἄνθρωπος, εἰ δ᾽ ᾗ ζῷον, ἓν ζῷον, εἰ δὲ ᾗ μέγεθος, ἓν μέγεθος. τὰ μὲν οὖν πλεῖστα ἓν λέγεται τῷ ἕτερόν τι ἢ ποιεῖν ἢ ἔχειν ἢ πάσχειν ἢ πρός τι εἶναι ἕν, τὰ δὲ πρώτως λεγόμενα ἓν ὧν ἡ οὐσία μία, μία δὲ ἢ συνεχείᾳ ἢ εἴδει ἢ λόγῳ: καὶ γὰρ [10] ἀριθμοῦμεν ὡς πλείω ἢ τὰ μὴ συνεχῆ ἢ ὧν μὴ ἓν τὸ εἶδος ἢ ὧν ὁ λόγος μὴ εἷς.
<td style="text-align:justify">430. For in general those things which do not admit of division are said to be one insofar as they do not admit of division. Thus, if two things do not admit of division insofar as they are man, they are one man; and if they do not admit of division insofar as they are animal, they are one animal; and if they do not admit of division insofar as they have continuous quantity, they are one continuous quantity. Hence many things are said to be one because they do or undergo or have or are related to 1 some other thing which is one. But those things are said to be one in a primary sense whose substance is one; and they are one either by continuity or in species or in intelligible structure. For we count as many those things which are not continuous, or those whose form is not one, or those whose intelligible structure is not one.
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<td style="text-align:justify">ἔτι δ᾽ ἔστι μὲν ὡς ὁτιοῦν ἕν φαμεν εἶναι ἂν ᾖ ποσὸν καὶ συνεχές, ἔστι δ᾽ ὡς οὔ, ἂν μή τι ὅλον ᾖ, τοῦτο δὲ ἂν μὴ τὸ εἶδος ἔχῃ ἕν: οἷον οὐκ ἂν φαῖμεν ὁμοίως ἓν ἰδόντες ὁπωσοῦν τὰ μέρη συγκείμενα τοῦ ὑποδήματος, [15] ἐὰν μὴ διὰ τὴν συνέχειαν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐὰν οὕτως ὥστε ὑπόδημα εἶναι καὶ εἶδός τι ἔχειν ἤδη ἕν: διὸ καὶ ἡ τοῦ κύκλου μάλιστα μία τῶν γραμμῶν, ὅτι ὅλη καὶ τέλειός ἐστιν.
<td style="text-align:justify">431. Again, in one sense we say that anything at all is one by continuity if it is quantitative and continuous; and in another sense we say that a thing is not one unless it is a whole, i.e., unless it has one form. Thus in looking at the parts of a shoe which are put together in any way at all, we would not say that they are one, except by reason of their continuity; but if they are put together in such a way as to be a shoe and to have a certain form, there would then be one thing. And for this reason, among lines the circular line is one in the highest degree because it is whole and complete.
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<td style="text-align:justify">τὸ δὲ ἑνὶ εἶναι ἀρχῇ τινί ἐστιν ἀριθμοῦ εἶναι: τὸ γὰρ πρῶτον μέτρον ἀρχή, ᾧ γὰρ πρώτῳ γνωρίζομεν, τοῦτο πρῶτον μέτρον [20] ἑκάστου γένους: ἀρχὴ οὖν τοῦ γνωστοῦ περὶ ἕκαστον τὸ ἕν. οὐ ταὐτὸ δὲ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς γένεσι τὸ ἕν. ἔνθα μὲν γὰρ δίεσις ἔνθα δὲ τὸ φωνῆεν ἢ ἄφωνον: βάρους δὲ ἕτερον καὶ κινήσεως ἄλλο. πανταχοῦ δὲ τὸ ἓν ἢ τῷ ποσῷ ἢ τῷ εἴδει ἀδιαίρετον. τὸ μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὸ ποσὸν ἀδιαίρετον, [25] τὸ μὲν πάντῃ καὶ ἄθετον λέγεται μονάς, τὸ δὲ πάντῃ καὶ θέσιν ἔχον στιγμή, τὸ δὲ μοναχῇ γραμμή, τὸ δὲ διχῇ ἐπίπεδον, τὸ δὲ πάντῃ καὶ τριχῇ διαιρετὸν κατὰ τὸ ποσὸν σῶμα: καὶ ἀντιστρέψαντι δὴ τὸ μὲν διχῇ διαιρετὸν ἐπίπεδον, τὸ δὲ μοναχῇ γραμμή, τὸ δὲ μηδαμῇ διαιρετὸν κατὰ [30] τὸ ποσὸν στιγμὴ καὶ μονάς, ἡ μὲν ἄθετος μονὰς ἡ δὲ θετὸς στιγμή.
<td style="text-align:justify">432. But the essence of oneness is to be a principle of some number; for the first measure is a principle, because that by which we first come to know each class of things is its first measure. Unity, then, is the first principle of what is knowable about each class. But this unity or unit is not the same in all classes; for in one it is the lesser half tone, and in another it is the vowel or consonant; and in the case of weight the unit is different; and in that of motion different still. But in all cases what is one is indivisible either in quantity or in species. Thus a unit is indivisible in quantity as quantity in every way and has no position; and a point is indivisible in every way and has position. A line is divisible in one dimension; a surface, in two; and a body, in three. And conversely, that which is divisible in two dimensions is a surface; in one, a line; and quantitatively indivisible in every way, a point and a unit. If it has no position, it is a unit; and if it has position, it is a point.
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<td style="text-align:justify">ἔτι δὲ τὰ μὲν κατ᾽ ἀριθμόν ἐστιν ἕν, τὰ δὲ κατ᾽ εἶδος, τὰ δὲ κατὰ γένος, τὰ δὲ κατ᾽ ἀναλογίαν, ἀριθμῷ μὲν ὧν ἡ ὕλη μία, εἴδει δ᾽ ὧν ὁ λόγος εἷς, γένει δ᾽ ὧν τὸ αὐτὸ σχῆμα τῆς κατηγορίας, κατ᾽ ἀναλογίαν δὲ ὅσα ἔχει ὡς [35] ἄλλο πρὸς ἄλλο. ἀεὶ δὲ τὰ ὕστερα τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἀκολουθεῖ, οἷον ὅσα ἀριθμῷ καὶ εἴδει ἕν, ὅσα δ᾽ εἴδει οὐ πάντα ἀριθμῷ: [1017α] [1] ἀλλὰ γένει πάντα ἓν ὅσαπερ καὶ εἴδει, ὅσα δὲ γένει οὐ πάντα [2] εἴδει ἀλλ᾽ ἀναλογίᾳ: ὅσα δὲ ἀνολογίᾳ οὐ πάντα γένει.
<td style="text-align:justify">433. Further, some things are one in number, some in species, some in genus, and some analogically or proportionally. Those things are one in number which have one matter; in species, which have one intelligible structure; in genus, which have the same figure of predication; and proportionally, which are related to each other as some third thing is to a fourth. And the latter types of unity always follow the former. Thus things which are one in number are one in species, but not all which are one in species are one in number; and all which are one in species are one in genus, but not all which are one in genus are one in species, although they are all one proportionally. And not all which are one proportionally are one in genus.
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<td style="text-align:justify">φανερὸν δὲ καὶ ὅτι τὰ πολλὰ ἀντικειμένως λεχθήσεται τῷ ἑνί: τὰ μὲν γὰρ τῷ μὴ συνεχῆ εἶναι, τὰ δὲ τῷ διαιρετὴν [5] ἔχειν τὴν ὕλην κατὰ τὸ εἶδος, ἢ τὴν πρώτην ἢ τὴν τελευταίαν, τὰ δὲ τῷ τοὺς λόγους πλείους τοὺς τί ἦν εἶναι λέγοντας.
<td style="text-align:justify">434. Moreover, it is evident that things are said to be many in a way opposite to that in which they are one. For some things are many because they are not continuous; others, because their matter, either the first or ultimate, is divisible in species; and others because they have many conceptions expressing their essence.
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<td align="center" colspan="2"><b>COMMENTARY</b>
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<td style="text-align:justify"><i>How the kinds of unity inter-relate</i>
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<td style="text-align:justify">Hic philosophus reducit omnes modos ad unum primum; et circa hoc duo facit. Primo ponit reductionem praedictam. Secundo super modos positos ponit alium modum unitatis, ibi, amplius autem et cetera.
<td style="text-align:justify">866. Here the Philosopher reduces all senses in which things are said to be one to one primary sense, and in regard to this he does two things. First, he makes this reduction; and second (870), to those senses in which things are said to be one, which have already been given, he adds another (“Again, in one sense”).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Dicit ergo primo, quod ex hoc patet, quod illa quae sunt penitus indivisibilia, maxime dicuntur unum: quia ad hunc modum omnes alii modi reducuntur, quia universaliter hoc est verum, quod quaecumque non habent divisionem, secundum hoc dicuntur unum, inquantum divisionem non habent. Sicut quae non dividuntur in eo quod est homo, dicuntur unum in homine, sicut Socrates et Plato. Et quae non dividuntur in ratione animalis, dicuntur unum in animali. Et quae non dividuntur in magnitudine vel mensura, dicuntur unum secundum magnitudinem, sicut continua.
<td style="text-align:justify">He accordingly says, first, that it is evident from what precedes that things which are <b>indivisible in every way</b> are said to be one in the highest degree. For all the other senses in which things are said to be one are reducible to this sense, because it is universally true that those things which do not admit of division are said to be one insofar as they do not admit of division. For example, those things which are undivided insofar as they are man are said to be one in humanity, as Socrates and Plato; those which are undivided in the notion of animality are said to be one in animality; and those which are undivided from the viewpoint of extension or measure are said to be one in quantity, as continuous things.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Et ex hoc potest accipi etiam numerus et diversitas modorum unius suprapositorum; quia unum aut est indivisibile simpliciter, aut indivisibile secundum quid. Siquidem simpliciter, sic est ultimus modus, qui est principalis. Si autem est indivisibile secundum quid, aut secundum quantitatem tantum, aut secundum naturam. Si secundum quantitatem, sic est primus modus. Si secundum naturam, aut quantum ad subiectum, aut quantum ad divisionem quae se tenet ex parte formae. Si quantum ad subiectum, vel quantum ad subiectum reale, et sic est secundus modus. Vel quantum ad subiectum rationis, et sic est tertius modus. Indivisibilitas autem formae, quae est indivisibilitas rationis, idest definitionis, facit quartum modum.
<td style="text-align:justify">867. And from this we can also derive number and the types of unity given above, because what is one is indivisible either in an absolute sense or in a qualified one. (5) If it is indivisible in an <b>absolute</b> sense, it is the last type of unity, which is a principle; but if it is indivisible in a <b>qualified</b> sense, it is so either in quantity alone or in nature. (1) If it is indivisible in <b>quantity</b>, then it is the first type. If it is indivisible in <b>nature</b>, it is so either in reference to its subject or to the division which depends upon the form. If it is divisible in reference to its <b>subject</b>, (2) it is so either in reference to a <b>real subject</b>, and then it is the second type, or (3) to a <b>logical subject</b>, and then it is the third type. (4) And indivisibility of <b>form</b>, which is indivisibility of intelligible structure, or definition, constitutes the fourth type.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Ex his autem modis ulterius aliqui alii modi derivantur. Plurima autem sunt, quae dicuntur unum, ex eo quod faciunt unum; sicut plures homines dicuntur unum, ex hoc quod trahunt navem. Et etiam dicuntur aliqua unum, ex eo quod unum patiuntur; sicut multi homines sunt unus populus, ex eo quod ab uno rege reguntur. Quaedam vero dicuntur unum ex eo quod habent aliquid unum, sicut multi possessores unius agri sunt unum in dominio eius. Quaedam etiam dicuntur unum ex hoc quod sunt aliquid unum; sicut multi homines albi dicuntur unum, quia quilibet eorum albus est.
<td style="text-align:justify">868. Now from these senses of the term one certain others are again derived. Thus there are many things which are said to be one because they are <b>doing</b> one thing. For example, many men are said to be one insofar as they are rowing a boat. And some things are said to be one because they are <b>subject</b> to one thing; for example, many men constitute one people because they are ruled by one king. And some are said to be one because they <b>possess</b> one thing; for example, many owners of a field are said to be one in their ownership of it. And some things are also said to be one because they are something which is one; for example, many men are said to be one because each of them is white.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Sed respectu omnium istorum modorum secundariorum, primo dicuntur unum illa quae sunt unum secundum suam substantiam, de quibus supra dictum est in quinque modis suprapositis. Una namque substantia est, aut ratione continuitatis, sicut in primo modo: aut propter speciem subiecti, sicut in secundo modo, et etiam in tertio, prout unitas generis aliquid habet simile cum unitate speciei: aut etiam propter rationem, sicut in quarto et in quinto modo. Et quod adhuc ex his modis aliqua dicantur unum, patet per oppositum. Aliqua enim sunt numero plura, vel numerantur ut plura, quia non sunt continua, vel quia non habent speciem unam, vel quia non conveniunt in una ratione.
<td style="text-align:justify">869. But considering all of these secondary senses in which things are said to be one, which have already been stated in the five ways given above, we can say that those things are one in the <b>primary</b> sense which are one in their <b>substance</b>.(1) For a thing is one in substance either by reason of its <b>continuity</b>, as in the first way; or (2) because of the <b>species</b> of the subject, as in the second way; (3) and again in the third way because the unity of the genus is somewhat similar to the <b>unity</b> of the species; or also (4 & 5) because of the <b>intelligible structure</b>, as in the fourth and fifth ways. That some things are said to be one in these ways is clear from the opposite of one. For things are many in number, i.e., they are counted as many, either because they are continuous, or because they do not have one species, or because they do not have one common intelligible structure.
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<td style="text-align:justify">870. <b>Again, in one sense</b> (430
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<td style="text-align:justify">Deinde cum dicit amplius autem addit alium modum a supradictis, qui non sumitur ex ratione indivisionis sicut praedicti, sed magis ex ratione divisionis; et dicit, quod quandoque aliqua dicuntur unum propter solam continuitatem, quandoque vero non, nisi sit aliquod totum et perfectum; quod quidem contingit quando habet aliquam unam speciem, non quidem sicut subiectum homogeneum dicitur unum specie quod pertinet ad secundum modum positum prius, sed secundum quod species in quadam totalitate consistit requirens determinatum ordinem partium; sicut patet quod non dicimus unum aliquid, ut artificiatum, quando videmus partes calceamenti qualitercumque compositas, nisi forte secundum quod accipitur unum pro continuo; sed tunc dicimus esse unum omnes partes calceamenti, quando sic sunt compositae, quod sit calceamentum et habeat aliquam unam speciem, scilicet calceamenti.
<td style="text-align:justify">Then he gives an additional sense in which the term one is used, which differs from the preceding ones. This sense is not derived from the notion of indivision, as the foregoing are, but rather from the notion of division. He says that sometimes some things are said to be one because of continuity alone, and sometimes they are said to be one only if they constitute a whole and something complete. Now this happens when the thing has one form, not in the sense that a homogeneous subject is said to have one form, which pertains to the second type given above, but in the sense that the form consists in a kind of totality requiring a definite order of parts. Thus it is clear that we do not say that a thing is one, for example, some artifact such as a shoe, when we see the parts put together in any way at all (unless perhaps it is taken to be one insofar as it is continuous); but we say that all parts of a shoe are one when they are united in such a way that the thing is a shoe and has one form-that of a shoe.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Et ex hoc patet, quod linea circularis est maxime una; quia non solum habet continuitatem, sicut linea recta; sed etiam habet totalitatem et perfectionem, quod non habet linea recta. Perfectum est enim et totum, cui nihil deest: quod quidem contingit lineae circulari. Non enim potest sibi fieri additio, sicut fit lineae rectae.
<td style="text-align:justify">871. And from this it is clear that a circular line is one in the highest degree. For a circular line is not only continuous like a straight line, but also has a totality and completeness which a straight line does not have; for that is complete and whole which lacks nothing. Now this characteristic belongs to a circular line; for nothing can be added to a circular line, but something can be added to a straight one.
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<td style="text-align:justify">872. <b>But the essence</b> (432).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Deinde cum dicit uni vero ponit quamdam proprietatem consequentem unum; et dicit, quod ratio unius est in hoc, quod sit principium alicuius numeri. Quod ex hoc patet, quia unum est prima mensura numeri, quo omnis numerus mensuratur: mensura autem habet rationem principii, quia per mensuram res mensuratae cognoscuntur, res autem cognoscuntur per sua propria principia. Et ex hoc patet, quod unum est principium noti vel cognoscibilis circa quodlibet, et est in omnibus principium cognoscendi.
<td style="text-align:justify">Then he indicates a property which flows from oneness or unity. He says that the essence of one consists in being the principle of some number. This is clear from the fact that the unit is the primary numerical measure by which every number is measured. Now a measure has the character of a principle, because measured things are known by their measure, and things are known by their proper principles. And it is clear from this that unity is the first principle of what is known or knowable about each thing, and that it is the principle of knowing in all classes.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Hoc autem unum, quod est principium cognoscendi, non est idem in omnibus generibus. In genere enim consonantiarum est unum, quod est diesis, quod est minimum in consonantiis. Diesis enim est semitonium minus. Dividitur enim tonus in duo semitonia inaequalia, quorum unus dicitur diesis. In vocibus autem unum primum et minimum est litera vocalis, aut consonans; et magis vocalis quam consonans, ut in decimo dicetur. Et in gravitatibus sive ponderibus est aliquid minimum, quod est mensura, scilicet uncia, vel aliquid aliud huiusmodi. Et in motibus est una prima mensura, quae mensurat alios motus, scilicet motus simplicissimus et velocissimus, sicut est motus diurnus.
<td style="text-align:justify">873. But this unity which is the principle of knowing is not the same in all classes of things. For in the class of musical sounds it is the lesser half tone, which is the smallest thing in this class; for a lesser half tone is less than a half tone since a tone is divided into two unequal half tones one of which is called a lesser half tone. And in the class of words the first and smallest unity is the vowel or consonant; and the vowel to a greater degree than the consonant, as will be stated in Book X (831:C 1971). And in the class of heavy things or weights there is some smallest thing which is their measure, i.e., the ounce or something of this kind. And in the class of motions there is one first measure which measures the other motions, namely, the simplest and swiftest motion, which is the diurnal motion.
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<td style="text-align:justify">In omnibus tamen istis hoc est commune, quod illud, quod est prima mensura, est indivisibile secundum quantitatem, vel secundum speciem. Quod igitur est in genere quantitatis unum et primum, oportet quod sit indivisibile et secundum quantitatem. Si autem sit omnino indivisibile et secundum quantitatem et non habeat positionem, dicitur unitas. Punctus vero est id, quod est omnino indivisibile secundum quantitatem et tamen habet positionem. Linea vero est quod est divisibile secundum unam dimensionem tantum: superficies vero secundum duas. Corpus autem est omnibus modis divisibile secundum quantitatem, scilicet secundum tres dimensiones. Et hae descriptiones convertuntur. Nam omne quod duabus dimensionibus dividitur, est superficies, et sic de aliis.
<td style="text-align:justify">874. Yet all of these have this feature in common that the first measure is indivisible in quantity or in species. Hence, in order that something be one and first in the genus of quantity it must be indivisible, and indivisible in quantity. It is called a unit if it is indivisible in every way and has no position, and a point if it is altogether indivisible in quantity but has position. A line is something divisible in one dimension only; a surface, in two; and a body, in all, i.e., in three dimensions. And these descriptions are reversible; for everything that is divisible in two dimensions is a surface, and so on with the others.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Sciendum est autem quod esse mensuram est propria ratio unius secundum quod est principium numeri. Hoc autem non est idem cum uno quod convertitur cum ente, ut in quarto dictum est. Ratio enim illius unius in sola indivisione consistit: huiusmodi autem unius in mensuratione. Sed tamen haec ratio mensurae, licet primo conveniat uni quod est principium numeri, tamen per quamdam similitudinem derivatur ad unum in aliis generibus, ut in decimo huius philosophus ostendet. Et secundum hoc ratio mensurae invenitur in quolibet genere. Haec autem ratio mensurae consequitur rationem indivisionis, sicut habitum est. Et ideo unum non omnino aequivoce dicitur de eo quod convertitur cum ente, et de eo quod est principium numeri; sed secundum prius et posterius.
<td style="text-align:justify">875. Again, it must be noted that being a measure is the distinctive characteristic of unity insofar as it is the principle of number. But this unity or one is not the same as that which is interchangeable with being, as has been stated in Book IV (303:C 557). For the concept of the latter kind of unity involves only being undivided, but that of the former kind involves being a measure. But even though this character of a measure belongs to the unity which is the principle of number, still by a kind of likeness it is transferred to the unity found in other classes of things, as the Philosopher will show in Book X of this work (814:C 1921). And according to this the character of a measure is found in any class of things. But this character of a measure is a natural consequence of the note of undividedness, as has been explained (432:C 872). Hence the term one is not predicated in a totally equivocal sense of the unity which is interchangeable with being and of that which is the principle of number, but it is predicated of one primarily and of the other secondarily.
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<td style="text-align:justify">876. <b>Further, some things</b> (433).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Deinde cum dicit amplius autem ponit aliam divisionem unius, quae est magis logica; dicens, quod quaedam sunt unum numero, quaedam specie, quaedam genere, quaedam analogia.
<td style="text-align:justify">Then he gives another way of dividing unity, and this division is rather from the viewpoint of <b>logic</b>. He says that some things are one in number, some in species, some in genus, and some analogically.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Numero quidem sunt unum, quorum materia est una. Materia enim, secundum quod stat sub dimensionibus signatis, est principium individuationis formae. Et propter hoc ex materia habet singulare quod sit unum numero ab aliis divisum.
<td style="text-align:justify">Those things are one in <b>number</b> whose matter is one; for insofar as matter has certain designated dimensions it is the principle by which a form is individuated. And for this reason a singular thing is numerically one and divided from other things as a result of matter.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Specie autem dicuntur unum, quorum una est ratio, idest definitio. Nam nihil proprie definitur nisi species, cum omnis definitio ex genere et differentia constet. Et si aliquod genus definitur, hoc est inquantum est species.
<td style="text-align:justify">877. Those things are said to be one in <b>species</b> which have one “intelligible structure,” or definition; for the only thing that is defined in a proper sense is the species, since every definition is composed of a genus and a difference. And if any genus is defined, this happens in so far as it is a species.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Unum vero genere sunt, quae conveniunt in figura praedicationis, idest quae habent unum modum praedicandi. Alius enim est modus quo praedicatur substantia, et quo praedicatur qualitas vel actio; sed omnes substantiae habent unum modum praedicandi, inquantum praedicantur non ut in subiecto existentes.
<td style="text-align:justify">878. Those things are one in <b>genus</b> which have in common one of the “figures of predication,” i.e., which have one way of being predicated. For the way in which substance is predicated and that in which quality or action is predicated are different; but all substances have one way of being predicated inasmuch as they are not predicated as something which is present in a subject.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Proportione vero vel analogia sunt unum quaecumque in hoc conveniunt, quod hoc se habet ad illud sicut aliud ad aliud. Et hoc quidem potest accipi duobus modis, vel in eo quod aliqua duo habent diversas habitudines ad unum; sicut sanativum de urina dictum habitudinem significat signi sanitatis; de medicina vero, quia significat habitudinem causae respectu eiusdem. Vel in eo quod est eadem proportio duorum ad diversa, sicut tranquillitatis ad mare et serenitatis ad aerem. Tranquillitas enim est quies maris et serenitas aeris.
<td style="text-align:justify">879. And those things are proportionally or <b>analogically</b> one which agree in this respect that one is related to another as some third thing is to a fourth. Now this can be taken in two ways: (1) either in the sense that any two things are related in different ways to one third thing (for example, the term healthy is predicated of urine because it signifies the relationship of a sign of health [to health itself]; and of medicine because it signifies the relationship of a cause to the same health); (2) or it may be taken in the sense that the proportion of two things to two other things is the same (for example, tranquility to the sea and serenity to the air; for tranquility is a state of rest in the sea, and serenity is a state of rest in the air).
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<td style="text-align:justify">In istis autem modis unius, semper posterius sequitur ad praecedens et non convertitur. Quaecumque enim sunt unum numero, sunt specie unum et non convertitur. Et idem patet in aliis.
<td style="text-align:justify">880. Now with regard to the ways in which things are one, the latter types of unity always follow the former, and not the reverse; for those things which are one in number are one in species, but not the other way about. The same thing is clear in the other cases.
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<td style="text-align:justify">881. <b>Moreover, it is evident</b> (434).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Deinde cum dicit palam autem ex modis unius accipit modos multorum; et dicit, quod multa dicuntur per oppositum ad unum. Et ideo quot modis dicitur unum, tot modis dicuntur multa; quia quoties dicitur unum oppositorum, toties dicitur et reliquum.
<td style="text-align:justify">From the ways in which things are said to be one he now derives the ways in which things are said to be <b>many</b>. He says that things are said to be many in just as many ways as they are said to be one, because in the case of opposite terms one is used in as many ways as the other.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Unde aliqua dicuntur multa propter hoc, quod non sunt continua. Quod est per oppositum ad primum modum unius.
<td style="text-align:justify">(1) Hence some things are said to be many because they are not continuous, which is the opposite of the first way in which things are one.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Alia dicuntur multa propter hoc quod materiam habent divisam secundum speciem, sive intelligamus de materia prima, idest proxima, aut de finali sive ultima, in quam ultimo fit resolutio. Per divisionem quippe proximae materiae dicuntur multa vinum et oleum: per divisionem vero materiae remotae, vinum et lapis. Et si materia accipiatur tam pro materia naturae quam pro materia rationis, scilicet pro genere quod habet similitudinem materiae, hic modus multitudinis sumitur per oppositum ad secundum et tertium modum unius.
<td style="text-align:justify">882. (2 & 3) Other things are said to be many because their matter is divisible in species, whether we understand by matter “the first,” i.e., their proximate matter, or the final or ultimate matter into which they are ultimately dissolved. Indeed, it is by the division of their proximate matter that wine and oil are said to be many, and by the division of their remote matter that wine and a stone are said to be many. And if matter be taken both for real matter and for conceptual matter, i.e., for a genus, which resembles matter, many in this sense is taken as the opposite of the second and third ways in which things are said to be one.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Alia vero dicuntur multa quae habent rationes, quod quid est esse dicentes, plures. Et hoc sumitur per oppositum ad quartum modum.
<td style="text-align:justify">883. (4) And still other things are said to be many when the conceptions which express their essence are many. And many in this sense is taken as the opposite of the fourth way in which things are said to be one.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Quod autem opponitur quinto modo, nondum habet rationem pluralitatis nisi secundum quid et in potentia. Non enim ex hoc quod aliquid est divisibile propter hoc est multa nisi in potentia.
<td style="text-align:justify">884. (5) But the opposite of the fifth way in which things are one does not have the notion of many except in a qualified sense and potentially; for the fact that a thing is divisible does not make it many except potentially.
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<td align="center" colspan="2"><b>LESSON 9</b>
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<b>Division of Being into Accidental and Essential. The Types of Accidental and of Essential Being</b>
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<td align="center" colspan="2">ARISTOTLE'S TEXT Chapter 7: 1017a 7-1017b 9
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<td style="text-align:justify">τὸ ὂν λέγεται τὸ μὲν κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς τὸ δὲ καθ᾽ αὑτό,
<td style="text-align:justify">435. The term being (<i>ens</i>) signifies both accidental being (<i>ens per accidens</i>) and essential being (<i>ens per se</i>).
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<td style="text-align:justify">κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς μέν, οἷον τὸν δίκαιον μουσικὸν εἶναί φαμεν καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον μουσικὸν καὶ τὸν μουσικὸν [10] ἄνθρωπον, παραπλησίως λέγοντες ὡσπερεὶ τὸν μουσικὸν οἰκοδομεῖν ὅτι συμβέβηκε τῷ οἰκοδόμῳ μουσικῷ εἶναι ἢ τῷ μουσικῷ οἰκοδόμῳ (τὸ γὰρ τόδε εἶναι τόδε σημαίνει τὸ συμβεβηκέναι τῷδε τόδε), οὕτω δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν εἰρημένων: τὸν γὰρ ἄνθρωπον ὅταν μουσικὸν λέγωμεν καὶ τὸν μουσικὸν ἄνθρωπον, [15] ἢ τὸν λευκὸν μουσικὸν ἢ τοῦτον λευκόν, τὸ μὲν ὅτι ἄμφω τῷ αὐτῷ συμβεβήκασι, τὸ δ᾽ ὅτι τῷ ὄντι συμβέβηκε, τὸ δὲ μουσικὸν ἄνθρωπον ὅτι τούτῳ τὸ μουσικὸν συμβέβηκεν (οὕτω δὲ λέγεται καὶ τὸ μὴ λευκὸν εἶναι, ὅτι ᾧ συμβέβηκεν, ἐκεῖνο ἔστιν): τὰ μὲν οὖν κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς [20] εἶναι λεγόμενα οὕτω λέγεται ἢ διότι τῷ αὐτῷ ὄντι ἄμφω ὑπάρχει, ἢ ὅτι ὄντι ἐκείνῳ ὑπάρχει, ἢ ὅτι αὐτὸ ἔστιν ᾧ ὑπάρχει οὗ αὐτὸ κατηγορεῖται:
<td style="text-align:justify">436. Accidental being is designated when we say, for example, that the just person is musical, and that the man is musical, and that the musician is a man. And the same thing applies when we say that the musician builds, because it is accidental to a builder to be a musician, or to a musician to be a builder. For to say that "this is that" means that this is an accident of that. And so it is in the cases given; for when we say that the man is musical, and that the musician is a man, or that what is musical is white, in the latter case we mean that both are accidents of the same thing, and in the former that the attribute is accidental to the being. But when we say that what is musical is a man, we mean that musical is an accident of this person. And in this sense too white is said to be, because the thing of which it is an accident is. Therefore those things which are said to be in an accidental sense are said to be such either because both belong to the same being, or because the attribute belongs to the being, or because the thing to which it belongs and of which it is predicated is.
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<td style="text-align:justify">καθ᾽ αὑτὰ δὲ εἶναι λέγεται ὅσαπερ σημαίνει τὰ σχήματα τῆς κατηγορίας: ὁσαχῶς γὰρ λέγεται, τοσαυταχῶς τὸ εἶναι σημαίνει. ἐπεὶ οὖν τῶν [25] κατηγορουμένων τὰ μὲν τί ἐστι σημαίνει, τὰ δὲ ποιόν, τὰ δὲ ποσόν, τὰ δὲ πρός τι, τὰ δὲ ποιεῖν ἢ πάσχειν, τὰ δὲ πού, τὰ δὲ ποτέ, ἑκάστῳ τούτων τὸ εἶναι ταὐτὸ σημαίνει: οὐθὲν γὰρ διαφέρει τὸ ἄνθρωπος ὑγιαίνων ἐστὶν ἢ τὸ ἄνθρωπος ὑγιαίνει, οὐδὲ τὸ ἄνθρωπος βαδίζων ἐστὶν ἢ τέμνων τοῦ ἄνθρωπος [30] βαδίζει ἢ τέμνει, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων.
<td style="text-align:justify">437. On the other hand those things are said to be essentially which signify the figures of predication; for being is signified in just as many ways as predications are made. Therefore, since some of these predications signify what a thing is, others what it is like, others how much, others how related, others what it does, others what it undergoes, others where, and others when, to each of these there corresponds a mode of being which signifies the same thing. For there is no difference between "the man is recovering" and "the man recovers," or between "the man is walking" or "cutting" and "the man walks" or "cuts." And the same is true in other cases.
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<td style="text-align:justify">ἔτι τὸ εἶναι σημαίνει καὶ τὸ ἔστιν ὅτι ἀληθές, τὸ δὲ μὴ εἶναι ὅτι οὐκ ἀληθὲς ἀλλὰ ψεῦδος, ὁμοίως ἐπὶ καταφάσεως καὶ ἀποφάσεως, οἷον ὅτι ἔστι Σωκράτης μουσικός, ὅτι ἀληθὲς τοῦτο, ἢ ὅτι ἔστι Σωκράτης οὐ λευκός, ὅτι ἀληθές: τὸ δ᾽ οὐκ [35] ἔστιν ἡ διάμετρος σύμμετρος, ὅτι ψεῦδος.
<td style="text-align:justify">438. Again, being signifies that something is true, and non-being signifies that something is not true but false. This also holds true of affirmation and negation. For example, to say that Socrates is musical means that this is true. Or to say that Socrates is not white means that this is true. But to say that the diagonal of a square is not incommensurable with a side means that this is false.
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<td style="text-align:justify">[1017β] [1] ἔτι τὸ εἶναι σημαίνει καὶ τὸ ὂν τὸ μὲν δυνάμει ῥητὸν τὸ δ᾽ ἐντελεχείᾳ τῶν εἰρημένων τούτων: ὁρῶν τε γὰρ εἶναί φαμεν καὶ τὸ δυνάμει ὁρῶν καὶ τὸ ἐντελεχείᾳ, καὶ [τὸ] ἐπίστασθαι ὡσαύτως καὶ τὸ δυνάμενον χρῆσθαι τῇ ἐπιστήμῃ καὶ τὸ [5] χρώμενον, καὶ ἠρεμοῦν καὶ ᾧ ἤδη ὑπάρχει ἠρεμία καὶ τὸ δυνάμενον ἠρεμεῖν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν οὐσιῶν: καὶ γὰρ Ἑρμῆν ἐν τῷ λίθῳ φαμὲν εἶναι, καὶ τὸ ἥμισυ τῆς γραμμῆς, καὶ σῖτον τὸν μήπω ἁδρόν. πότε δὲ δυνατὸν καὶ πότε οὔπω, ἐν ἄλλοις διοριστέον. [10]
<td style="text-align:justify">439. Again, to be, or being, signifies that some of the things mentioned are potentially and others actually. For in the case of the terms mentioned we predicate being both of what is said to be potentially and of what is said to be actually. And similarly we say both of one who is capable of using scientific knowledge and of one who is actually using it, that he knows. And we say that that is at rest which is already so or capable of being so. And this also applies in the case of substances; for we say that Mercury is in the stone, and half of the line in the line, and we call that grain which is not yet ripe. But when a thing is potential and when not must be settled elsewhere (773: C 1832).
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<td style="text-align:justify"><i>Kinds of being: Three ways per accidens</i>
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<td style="text-align:justify">Hic philosophus distinguit quot modis dicitur ens. Et circa hoc tria facit. Primo distinguit ens in ens per se et per accidens. Secundo distinguit modos entis per accidens, ibi, secundum accidens quidem et cetera. Tertio modos entis per se, ibi, secundum se vero.
<td style="text-align:justify">885. Here the Philosopher gives the various senses in which the term being is used, and in regard to this he does three things. First, he divides being into essential being and accidental being. Second (886), he distinguishes between the types of accidental being (“Accidental being”). Third (889), he distinguishes between the types of essential being (“On the other hand”).
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<td style="text-align:justify">Dicit ergo, quod ens dicitur quoddam secundum se, et quoddam secundum accidens. Sciendum tamen est quod illa divisio entis non est eadem cum illa divisione qua dividitur ens in substantiam et accidens. Quod ex hoc patet, quia ipse postmodum, ens secundum se dividit in decem praedicamenta, quorum novem sunt de genere accidentis. Ens igitur dividitur in substantiam et accidens, secundum absolutam entis considerationem, sicut ipsa albedo in se considerata dicitur accidens, et homo substantia. Sed ens secundum accidens prout hic sumitur, oportet accipi per comparationem accidentis ad substantiam. Quae quidem comparatio significatur hoc verbo, est, cum dicitur, homo est albus. Unde hoc totum, homo est albus, est ens per accidens. Unde patet quod divisio entis secundum se et secundum accidens, attenditur secundum quod aliquid praedicatur de aliquo per se vel per accidens. Divisio vero entis in substantiam et accidens attenditur secundum hoc quod aliquid in natura sua est vel substantia vel accidens.
<td style="text-align:justify">He says, then, that while things are said to be both essentially and accidentally, it should be noted that this division of being is not the same as that whereby being is divided into substance and accident. This is clear from the fact that he later divides essential being into the ten predicaments, nine of which belong to the class of accident (889). Hence being is divided into substance and accident insofar as it is considered in an absolute sense; for example, whiteness considered in itself is called an accident, and man a substance. But accidental being, in the sense in which it is taken here must be understood by comparing an accident with a substance; and this comparison is signified by the term <i>is</i> when, for example, it is said that the man is white. Hence this whole “the man is white” is an accidental being. It is clear, then, that the division of being into essential being and accidental being is based on the fact that one thing is predicated of another either essentially or accidentally. But the division of being into substance and accident is based on the fact that a thing is in its own nature either a substance or an accident.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Deinde cum dicit secundum accidens ostendit quot modis dicitur ens per accidens; et dicit, quod tribus: quorum unus est, quando accidens praedicatur de accidente, ut cum dicitur, iustus est musicus. Secundus, cum accidens praedicatur de subiecto, ut cum dicitur, homo est musicus. Tertius, cum subiectum praedicatur de accidente, ut cum dicitur musicus est homo. Et, quia superius iam manifestavit quomodo causa per accidens differt a causa per se, ideo nunc consequenter per causam per accidens manifestat ens per accidens.
<td style="text-align:justify">886. Then he indicates the various senses in which a thing is said to be accidentally. He says that this occurs in three ways: (1) first, when an <b>accident</b> is predicated of an <b>accident</b>, as when it is said that someone just is musical: (2) second, when an <b>accident</b> is predicated of a <b>subject</b>, as when it is said that the man is musical; and (3) third, when a <b>subject</b> is predicated of an <b>accident</b>, as when it is said that the musician is a man. And since he has shown above (787) how an accidental cause differs from an essential cause, he therefore now shows that an accidental being is a result of an accidental cause.
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<td style="text-align:justify">Et dicit, quod sicut assignantes causam per accidens dicimus quod musicus aedificat, eo quod musicum accidit aedificatori, vel e contra, constat enim quod hoc esse hoc, idest musicum aedificare, nihil aliud significat quam hoc accidere huic, ita est etiam in praedictis modis entis per accidens, quando dicimus hominem esse musicum, accidens praedicando de subiecto: vel musicum esse hominem, praedicando subiectum de accidente: vel album esse musicum, vel e converso, scilicet musicum esse album, praedicando accidens de accidente. In omnibus enim his, esse, nihil aliud significat quam accidere. Hoc quidem, scilicet quando accidens de accidente praedicatur, significat quod ambo accidentia accidunt eidem subiecto: illud vero, scilicet cum accidens praedicatur de subiecto, dicitur esse, quia enti idest subiecto accidit accidens. Sed musicum esse hominem dicimus, quia huic, scilicet praedicato, accidit musicum, quod ponitur in subiecto. Et est quasi similis ratio praedicandi, cum subiectum praedicatur de accidente, et accidens de accidente. Sicut enim subiectum praedicatur de accidente ea ratione, quia praedicatur subiectum de eo, cui accidit accidens in subiecto positum; ita accidens praedicatur de accidente, quia praedicatur de subiecto accidentis. Et propter hoc, sicut dicitur musicum est homo, similiter dicitur musicum esse album, quia scilicet illud cui accidit esse musicum, scilicet subiectum, est album.
<td style="text-align:justify">887. He says that in giving an accidental cause we say that the musician builds, because it is accidental to a builder to be a musician, or vice versa; for it is evident that the statement “this is that,” i.e., the musician is a builder, simply means that “this is an accident of that.” The same is true of the foregoing senses of accidental being when we say that the man is musical by predicating an accident of a subject, or when we say that what is white is musical, or conversely that what is musical is white by predicating an accident of an accident. For in all of these cases <i>is</i> signifies merely accidental being: “in the latter case,” i.e., when an accident is predicated of an accident, <i>is</i> signifies that both accidents are accidental to the same subject; “and in the former,” i.e., when an accident is predicated of a subject, <i>is</i> signifies “that the attribute is accidental to the being,” i.e., to the subject. But when we say that what is musical is a man, we mean “that musical is an accident of this person,” i.e., that musical, which holds the position of a subject, is an accident of the predicate. And the reason for making the predication is similar in a sense when a subject is predicated of an accident and when an accident is predicated of an accident. For a subject is predicated of an accident by reason of the fact that the subject is predicated of that to which the accident, which is expressed in the subject, is accidental; and in a similar fashion an accident is predicated of an accident because it is predicated of the subject of an accident. And for this reason the attribute musical is predicated not only of man but also of white, because that of which the attribute musical is an accident, i.e., the subject, is white.