Aristotle
the words ([Greek: to\ de\ kuriô/tata o)\n a)lêthe\s ê)\
pseu=dos]--p. 1051, b. 1). These words mean, in reference to things,
either that they are conjoined or that they are disjoined. To speak
truth is to affirm that things which are disjoined or conjoined in
fact, are disjoined or conjoined; to speak falsely, the reverse. The
appeal is to the fact: it is not because we truly call you white,
that you are white; it is because you really are white, that we who
call you white speak truth (b. 9). If there are some things which
are always conjoined, others always disjoined, others again
sometimes conjoined sometimes disjoined, propositions in reference
to the first two classes affirming conjunction or disjunction, will
be always true or always false, while in reference to the third
class propositions may be either true or false, according to the
case (b. 10).
But what shall we say in regard to things Uncompounded? In respect to
them, what is truth or falsehood--to be or not to be? ([Greek: ta\
a)su/ntheta]--p. 1051, b. 18). If we affirm white of the wood, or
incommensurability of the diagonal, such conjunction of predicate and
subject may be true or false; but how, if there be no predicate
distinct from the subject? Where there is no distinction between
predicate and subject, where the subject stands alone,--in these
cases, there is no truth or falsehood in the sense explained above:
no other truth except that the mind apprehends and names the subject,
or fails to do so. You either know the subject, or you do not know
it: there is no alternative but that of knowledge or ignorance; to be
deceived is impossible about the question _Quid est_ ([Greek: to\
me\n thigei=n kai\ pha/nai a)lêthe/s, ou) ga\r tau)to\ kata/phasis
kai\ pha/sis, to\ d' a)gnoei=n mê\ thigga/nein; a)patêthê=nai ga\r
peri\ to\ ti/ e)stin ou)k e)/stin a)ll' ê)\ kata\ sumbebêko/s]--b.
25. The last words are thus explained by Bonitz: "nisi forte per
abusum quendam vocabuli ipsam ignorantiam dixeris errorem"--p. 411.).
All these uncompounded subjects exist actually, not potentially: if
the latter had been true, they would have been generated and
destroyed; but Ens Ipsum ([Greek: to\ o)\n au)to/]--b. 29) is neither
generated nor destroyed; for, if it had been, it must have been
generated out of something. Respecting all those things which exist
in Essence and Actuality, you cannot be deceived: you may apprehend
them in cogitation, or fail to apprehend them. The essential question
respecting them is, whether they exist in such or such manner or not;
as it is respecting the One and the Uncompounded--whether, being an
existent, it exists thus and thus or not (b. 35). Truth consists in
apprehending or cogitating them (p. 1052, a. 1): the contrary thereof
is non-apprehension of them or ignorance ([Greek: a)/gnoia]), yet not
analogous to blindness; for that would be equivalent to having no
apprehensive intelligence ([Greek: ô(s a)\n ei) to\ noêtiko\n o(/lôs
mê\ e)/choi tis]--a. 3; one is not absolutely without [Greek:
noêtiko/n], but one's [Greek: no/êsis] does not suffice for
apprehending these particular objects).
Respecting objects immoveable and unchangeable, and apprehended as
such, it is plain that there can be no mistake as to the When
([Greek: kata\ to/ pote/]--p. 1052, a. 5; _i.e._, a proposition which
is true of them at one time cannot be false at another time). No man
will suppose a triangle to have its three angles equal to two right
angles at one time, but not at another. Even in these unchangeables,
indeed, a man may mistake as to the What: he may suppose that there
is no even number which is a prime number, or he may suppose that
there are some even numbers which are prime, others which are not so;
but, respecting any particular number, he will never suppose it to be
sometimes prime, sometimes not prime (a. 10).
(In respect to the meaning of [Greek: ta\ a)su/ntheta]--p. 1051, b.
17--Bonitz and Schwegler differ. Bonitz says, Comm. p. 409:
"Compositæ quas dicit non sunt intelligendæ eæ quæ ex pluribus
elementis coaluerunt, sed eæ potius, in quibus cum substantia
conjungitur accidens aliquod, veluti homo albus, homo sedens,
diagonalis irrationalis, et similia." Schwegler says, p. 187: "Unter
den [Greek: mê\ sunthetai\ ou)si/ai] versteht Arist. näher diejenigen
Substanzen, die nicht ein [Greek: su/ntheton] oder [Greek: su/nolon]
sondern [Greek: a)/neu u(/lês (ou) duna/mei)] und schlechthin [Greek:
e)nergei/a|], also reine Formen sind, und als solche kein Werden und
Vergehen haben." Of these two different explanations, I think that
the explanation given by Bonitz is the more correct, or at least the
more probable.)
. . . . . .
Book [Greek: L].
We have to speculate respecting Essence; for that which we are in
search of is the principles and causes of Essences (p. 1069, a. 18).
If we look upon the universe as one whole, Essence is the first part
thereof: if we look upon it as a series of distinct units ([Greek:
ei) tô=| e)phexê=s], a. 20), even in that view [Greek: ou)si/a]
stands first, [Greek: poio/n] next, [Greek: poso/n] third; indeed
these last are not Entia at all, strictly speaking (a. 21)--I mean,
for example, qualities and movements, and negative attributes such as
not-white and not-straight; though we do talk of these last too as
Entia, when we say _Est non-album_. Moreover Essence alone, and none
of the other Categories, is separable. The old philosophers ([Greek:
oi( a)rchai=oi]) are in the main concurrent with us on this point,
that Essence is _prius_ to all others; for they investigated the
principles, the elements, and the causes of Essence. The philosophers
of the present day (Plato, &c.) declare Universals, rather than
Particulars, to be Essences; for the genera are universal, which
these philosophers, from devoting themselves to dialectical
discussions, affirm to be more properly considered as Principles and
Essences (a. 28); but the old philosophers considered particular
things to be Essences, as fire and earth, for example, not the common
body or Body in general ([Greek: ou) to\ koino\n sô=ma]--a. 30).
Now there are three Essences. The Perceivable includes two varieties:
one, the Perishable, acknowledged by all, _e.g._, animals and plants;
the other Eternal, of which we must determine the elements, be they
many or one. There is also the Immoveable, which some consider to be
separable ([Greek: a)/llê de\ a)ki/nêtos kai\ tau/tên tine\s ei)=nai
phasi chôristê/n]--p. 1069, a. 33; [Greek: ou)si/a noêtê\ kai\
a)ki/nêtos]--Schwegler's note): either recognizing two varieties
thereof, distinct from each other--the Forms and Mathematical Entia;
or not recognizing Forms as separable Entia, but only the
Mathematical Entia (a. 36). Now the first, or Perceivable Essences,
belong to physical science, since they are moveable or endued with
motion; the Immoveable Essences, whether there be two varieties of
them or only one, belong to a science distinct from physical. The
Perceivable and the Immoveable Essences have no common principles
(b. 2).
The Perceivable Essence is subject to change ([Greek: metablêtê/]).
Since change takes place either out of Opposites or out of
Intermediates, and not out of every variety of Opposites, but only
out of Contraries ([Greek: e)k tê=s oi)kei/as a)popha/seôs, e)k tê=s
oi)kei/as sterê/seôs]--Alexander, pp. 644, 645, Bon.; the voice,
_e.g._, is not white, yet change does not take place from voice to
white, these being disparates, or of different genera: [Greek: ta\
ge/nei diaphe/ronta ou)k e)/chei o(do\n ei)s a)/llêla]--I. iv. p.
1055, a. 6), there must of necessity be a certain Substratum which
changes into the contrary condition; for contraries do not change
into each other. The substratum remains, but the contraries do not
remain: there is therefore a third something besides the contraries;
and that is Matter (p. 1069, b. 9). Since then the varieties of
change are four: (1) [Greek: ge/nesis] and [Greek: phthora/ (kata\
to\ ti/)], (2) [Greek: au)/xêsis kai\ phthi/sis (kata\ to\ poso/n)],
(3) [Greek: a)lloi/ôsis (kata\ to\ pa/thos] or [Greek: kata\ to\
poio/n]), (4) [Greek: phora/ (kata\ to/pon] or [Greek: kata\ to\
pou=]), each of these changes will take place into its respective
contrary: the Matter will necessarily change, having the potentiality
of both contraries (b. 14). Ens being two-fold, all change takes
place out of Ens Potentiâ into Ens Actu, _e.g._, out of potential
white into actual white; and the like holds for Increase and
Decrease. Thus not only may there be generation from Non-Ens
accidentally but all generation takes place also out of Ens; that is,
out of Ens Potentiâ, not Ens Actu (b. 20). This Ens Potentiâ is what
Anaxagoras really means by his Unum, which is a better phrase than
[Greek: o(mou= pa/nta]; what Empedokles and Anaxagoras mean by their
[Greek: mi=gma]; what Demokritus means when he says [Greek: o(mou=
pa/nta]. They mean that all things existed at once potentially,
though not actually; and we see that these philosophers got partial
hold of the idea of Matter ([Greek: ô(/ste tê=s u(/lês a)\n ei)=en
ê(mme/noi]--b. 24). All things subject to change possess Matter, but
each of them a different Matter; even the eternal things which are
not generated but moved in place, possess Matter--not generated, but
_from whence whither_ (_i.e._, the Matter of local movement pure and
simple--direction: [Greek: kai\ tô=n a)i+di/ôn o(/sa mê\ gennêta\
kinêta\ de\ phora=|, a)ll' ou) gennêtê/n (u(/lên), a)lla\ po/then
poi=]--b. 26).
Since there are three varieties of Non-Ens (p. 1069, b. 27; Alexander
and Bonitz explain this [Greek: trichô=s] differently), it may seem
difficult to determine, out of which among the three Generation takes
place. But the answer is, that the Potential Ens is not potential of
every thing alike and at haphazard, but potential in each case from
something towards something ([Greek: ei) dê\ ti/ e)sti duna/mei,
a)ll' o(/môs ou) tou= tucho/ntos, a)ll' e(/teron e)x e(te/rou]--b.
29). Nor is it enough to tell us that all things are huddled together
([Greek: o(mou= pa/nta chrê/mata]--b. 30); for they differ in respect
to Matter or Potentiality. If this were not so, how is it that they
are of infinite diversity, and not all One? The Noûs (_i.e._,
according to the theory of Anaxagoras) is One; so that, if the Matter
were One also, it would become in actuality that which it was at
first in potentiality, and the result would be all One and the Same
(b. 32).
The Causes are thus three and the Principles are three: the pair of
Contraries, one of them Form ([Greek: lo/gos kai\ ei)=dos]), the
other Privation, and the third Matter (p. 1069, b. 35). But we must
keep in mind that neither Materia Prima nor Forma Prima is generated.
For in all Change, there is something (the Matter) which undergoes
change; something by which the change is effected (the Prime Movent,
[Greek: u(ph' ou(= me/n, tou= prô/tou kinou=ntos]--p. 1070, a. 1);
and something into which the change takes place (the Form). The brass
becomes round; but, if both the brass becomes and the round becomes,
you will be condemned to an infinite regression: you must stop
somewhere ([Greek: a)na/gkê dê\ stê=nai]--a. 4). Moreover, every
Essentia is generated out of another Essentia of the same name and
form ([Greek: e)k sunônu/mou]--a. 5). All generated things proceed
either from Nature, Art, Fortune, or Spontaneity. It is Nature, where
the principle or beginning is in the subject itself; it is Art, where
the principle or beginning is in something apart from the subject;
Fortune is the privation of Art; Spontaneity is the privation of
Nature ([Greek: ai( de\ loipai\ ai)/tiai sterê/seis tou/tôn]--a. 9).
Essentiæ are threefold: (1) Matter, which appears to be Hoc Aliquid