Aristotle
One; and things of which the Essence is Unum Numero, are themselves
numerically one. Neither Unum nor Ens is the Essence of things any
more than the being an Element, or the being a Principle, can be the
Essence thereof: we have farther to enquire what the Principle is, in
order to bring the problem into a more cognizable shape (b. 20). Unum
and Ens are more near to Essence than either Element, Principle, or
Cause; nevertheless neither Unum nor Ens is Essence; for nothing
which is common to many things is Essence. Essence belongs only to
itself and to that which has itself. Farther, Unum cannot be in many
places at once; but that which is common is in many places at once.
It is thus plain that nothing Universal exists apart or separate from
particulars (b. 27).
The advocates of the (Platonic) Ideas are right in affirming them to
be separate, if they be Essences; but they are wrong in calling that
which is predicable of many things (the Universal) an Idea (p. 1040,
b. 29). When asked, What are these indestructible Essences of which
you speak, as apart from the visible individual objects?--they had no
intelligible answer to give. Accordingly they were forced to make
these Essences the same specifically with the destructible
(individual) objects; for _these_ we do know (b. 33). They simply
prefixed the word [Greek: au)to/] to the names of sensible
objects--[Greek: au)toa/nthrôpos, au)toi+/ppos]. But these Ideas
might still exist, even though we knew not what they were; just as
eternal Essences like the stars would still exist, even though we
had never seen them (p. 1041, a. 2).
Let us again examine what we call Essence, and what sort of thing it
is; and let us take another point of departure, which may perhaps
help us to understand what that Essence is which is apart and
separate from perceivable Essences (p. 1041, a. 9). We know that
Essence is a certain variety of Principle or Cause; and from this
premiss we will reason (a. 10). Now the enquiry into Cause, or the
Why, always comes in this shape: Why does one thing belong to
another? The enquiry, Why a thing is itself? is idle. The fact--the
[Greek: o(/ti]--must be assumed to be clear and known in the first
instance. You know that the moon is eclipsed, as matter of fact; you
proceed to enquire into the cause thereof (a. 11-24). Why does it
thunder? or, to enunciate the same question more fully, Why is there
noise in the clouds? The _quæsitum_ is always one thing predicated of
another (a. 26). Why are these materials, bricks and stones, a house?
Here the answer sought is, the Cause; and that is the [Greek:
t.ê.e.], speaking in logical or analytical phraseology ([Greek:
_logikô=s_]--_i.e._, that which belongs to the [Greek: _lo/gos_ tê=s
ou)si/as]). In some cases, this _quæsitum_ is a Final Cause, as in
the case of a bed or a house; in others, an Efficient or Movent
Cause; for that also is a variety of Cause, generally sought for in
regard to things generated or destroyed; but the other (viz., [Greek:
to\ t.ê.e.], "ipsa rei forma ac notio, aut concepta in animo
artificis, aut inclusa [Greek: duna/mei] in ipsâ naturâ ac semine
rei"--Bonitz, Comm. p. 359) is sought for in regard to [Greek:
ei)=nai].
The true nature of the _quæsitum_ is often unperceived, when the
problem is announced without stating distinctly the subject and
predicate in their mutual relations ([Greek: e)n toi=s mê\
katallê/lôs legome/nois], p. 1041, a. 33). For example, [Greek:
a)/nthrôpos dia\ ti/ e)stin?] is ambiguous by imperfect enunciation.
As it stands, it might be supposed to be intended as [Greek:
a)/nthrôpos dia\ ti/ e)stin a)/nthrôpos?] which would be a question
idle or null. To make it clear, you ought to distinguish the two
members to which the real _quæsitum_ refers (b. 2), and say [Greek:
dia\ ti/ ta/de ê)\ to/de e)sti\n a)/nthrôpos?] your real enquiry is
about the [Greek: u(/lê] or Matter, why it exists in this or that
manner. Why are these materials a house? Because the Essence of a
house belongs to them (b. 6). Some [Greek: t.ê.e.], some sort of
[Greek: ei)=nai], must belong to the Matter (b. 4). Why is this
Matter a man? or why is the body disposed in this particular way a
man? Here we enquire as to the Cause which acts upon a certain
Matter; and that is the Form whereby the thing is; which again is the
Essence (b. 8).
Hence it is plain that a distinction must be taken between the Simple
and the Compound. The enquiry above described, and the teaching above
described, cannot apply to the Simple, which must be investigated in
another way (p. 1041, b. 9). Compounds are of two sorts--aggregates
like a _heap_ (mechanical), and aggregates like a _syllable_ (organic
or formal). In these last there are not merely the constituent
elements, but something else besides (b. 16). The syllable _ba_ is
something more than the letters _b_ and _a_; flesh is something more
than fire and earth, its constituent elements. Now this _something
more_ cannot be itself a constituent element; for, if that were so,
flesh would be composed of three constituent elements instead of two,
and we should still have to search for the _something beyond_, and
this ulterior process might be repeated _ad infinitum_ (b. 22). Nor
can the _something beyond_ be itself a compound of several elements,
for we should still have to find the independent something which
binds these into a compound. It is plain that this _something beyond_
must be in its nature quite distinct from an element, and must be the
cause why one compound is flesh, another compound a syllable, and so
about all the remaining compounds. Now this is the Essence of each
compound--the First Cause of existence to each (b. 25). The Element
([Greek: stoichei=on]) is that into which the compound is separated,
as included Matter ([Greek: e)nupa/rchon ô(s u(/lên]): _b_ and _a_,
in the syllable _ba_ (b. 32). There are some things which are not the
Essences of objects (white, for example, is not of the Essence of
man, but an attribute); but, in all cases where compounds have come
together according to Nature and by natural process, that Nature also
which is not Element but Principle is the Essence (b. 28: [Greek:
e)pei\ d' e)/nia ou)k ou)si/ai tô=n pragma/tôn, a)ll' o(/sai ou)si/ai
kata\ phu/sin kai\ phu/sei sunestê/kasi, phanei/ê a)\n kai\ au(/tê ê(
phu/sis ou)si/a, ê(/ e)stin ou) stoichei=on a)ll' a)rchê/.] Schwegler
in his note, p. 135, proposes to correct this passage by striking out
[Greek: kai/] before the words [Greek: au(tê\ ê( phu/sis ou)si/a].
But, if this were done, it would make the passage mean that [Greek:
u(/lê] or [Greek: stoichei=on] is not [Greek: ou)si/a], and that the
other [Greek: phu/sis] which is not [Greek: stoichei=on], is to be
regarded exclusively as [Greek: ou)si/a]. Now this is certainly not
the doctrine of Aristotle, who expressly declares [Greek: u(/lê] to
be [Greek: ou)si/a]; see H, p. 1042, a. 32. Retaining the [Greek:
kai/], the passage will then mean that not merely [Greek: u(/lê], but
_also_ [Greek: phu/sis] which is not [Greek: u(/lê], is [Greek:
ou)si/a]).
. . . . . .
Book [Greek: Ê].
In this Book, Aristotle begins by recapitulating the doctrines and
discussions of the preceding. His purpose had been declared to be the
investigation of the Causes, Principles, and Elements of Essences.
Now Essences are diverse: some universally admitted, as the natural
elements and simple bodies, also plants, animals, and the parts of
each, lastly, the heaven and the parts thereof; others not
universally admitted, but advocated by some philosophers, as the
Ideas and Mathematical Entia; others, again, which we arrive at by
dialectical discussion, as [Greek: to\ t.ê.e.], the Substratum
(Logical Entia--[Greek: e)k tô=n lo/gôn], p. 1042, a. 12), the Genus
more Essence than the Species, the Universal more Essence than
Particulars. The (Platonic) Ideas make a near approach to the Genus
and the Universal; they are vindicated as Essences upon similar
grounds. Next, since [Greek: to\ t.ê.e.] is Essence, and since the
Definition is the rational explanation of [Greek: t.ê.e.], we found
it necessary to discuss Definition; and, since the Definition is a
sentence having parts, we were called upon to examine these parts,
and to explain what parts belonged both to Essence and to Definition.
We decided farther, after discussion, that the Universal and the
Genus were not Essence; the Platonic Ideas and the Mathematical Entia
we postponed for the moment, and we confined ourselves to the
perceivable Essences, recognized by all (a. 25).
Now all these perceivable Essentiæ include Matter. The
Substratum--Matter in one way--is Essence; while, in another way, the
Form and the [Greek: lo/gos] is Essence; and finally the Compound of
the two is Essence. Matter is Hoc Aliquid, not [Greek: e)nergei/a|]
but only [Greek: duna/mei]. Form is an Hoc Aliquid separable by reason
([Greek: tô=| lo/gô| chôristo/n], p. 1042, a. 29). The Compound of
the two, the complete Hoc Aliquid, is capable of existing separably,
in an absolute sense (which is true also of some Forms), and is
liable alone to generation and destruction (a. 30).
It is clear that Matter also, not less than Form, is Essence; for in
all changes from opposite to opposite, there is a certain substratum
to such changes. Thus, in changes of Place, there is a substratum
which is now here, presently there; in changes of Quantity, what is
now of such and such a size, is presently greater or less; in changes
of Quality, what is now healthy is presently sick; in changes of
Essence, what is now in course of generation is presently in course
of destruction, or what is now the substratum of some given Form (and
is thus Hoc Aliquid) is presently the substratum of Privation, and
thus no longer Hoc Aliquid. Among these four varieties of change
([Greek: kat' ou)si/an, kata\ poso/n, kata\ poio/n, kata\ to/pon])
the three last are consequent upon the first, but the first is not
consequent upon all the three last; for we cannot maintain that,
because a thing has Matter capable of local movement, it must
therefore have generable and destructible Matter (p. 1042, b. 6).
Having discussed the Essence of perceivable things so far forth as
_potential_, we now proceed to the same Essence so far forth as
_actual_ ([Greek: ê( duna/mei ou)si/a--ê( ô(s e)ne/rgeia ou)si/a tô=n
ai)sthêtô=n]--p. 1042, b. 10). What is this last? Demokritus
recognizes a primordial body one and the same as to Matter, but
having three differences--in figure, in position, in arrangement. But
it is plain that this enumeration is not sufficient and that there
are many other differences, to each of which corresponds a special
acceptation of [Greek: e)/sti] ([Greek: to\ e)/sti tosautachô=s
le/getai]--b. 26). Some differences depend upon the mode of putting
together constituent materials ([Greek: sunthe/sei tê=s u(/lês]--b.
16), as mixture, tying, gluing, pegging, &c.; some upon position, as
threshold, coping, &c.; some upon time; some upon place; some upon
affections of perceivable things, such as hardness, softness,
dryness, moisture, density, rarity, &c.; some upon combinations of
the foregoing; some again simply upon excess or defect in quantity.
To one or other of these, [Greek: e)/stin] has reference in each
particular case. We say--This _is_ a threshold, because it lies in a
particular manner: _Is_ (or _To be_--[Greek: to\ ei)=nai]) signifies
in this case that particular manner of lying. To be ice, is to have
become solidified in this particular manner (b. 28). We must
therefore look for the summa genera of the differences; in some cases
[Greek: to\ ei)=nai] will be defined by all these differences: thus
more or less dense, more or less rare, belong to the genus excess and