Physics | Aristotelian Philosophy

28/02/201619/04/2019

The difference between generation and alteration

Let us speak about generation and alteration and what they are different in; for we say that these changes are different from one another. Since, then, one thing is what is subject to something and another that property which is said (predicated) of the former, and it happens that each of them can change, we speak of alteration when the underlying thing, though perceptible and persistent, changes in virtue of its properties, whether these are contraries or intermediates. For example, a body is well and then ill, though it remains the same body; and a copper is now round and at another time with angles, but remains the same copper. Continue reading “The difference between generation and alteration”

20/02/201619/04/2019

What we mean by “fulfilment”

According to Aristotle, the term “fulfilment” (entelexeia) signifies the agency and completion; for it is composed of the one, the complete, and the having, since each one thing is said to be in fulfilment when it has its own completion. Continue reading “What we mean by “fulfilment””

12/02/201619/04/2019

The complete and the whole

That of which nothing is left outside, is complete and whole; for thus we define the whole, as that of which nothing is absent, e.g. a whole man or a whole box. Continue reading “The complete and the whole”

07/02/201606/06/2019

What change is, and how many kinds of change there are

Given that each kind of being is divided into that which is in actuality, and into that which is in potentiality, the actualization of that which is in potentiality, in so far it is such, is change, e.g. the actualization of that which is capable of altering, in so far it is such as to be capable of altering, is alteration, of that which is capable of increasing and its opposite, that which is capable of decreasing (there is no common name for both of them), increase and decrease, of that which is capable of coming to be and passing away, coming to be and passing away, of that which is capable of being carried along, locomotion. Continue reading “What change is, and how many kinds of change there are”

01/02/201619/04/2019

In which way “in vain” is said of

Something is said to be “in vain”, when the end for the sake of which it comes to be does not occur, e.g. if walking takes place for the loosening of the bowels; if this does not follow after that, we say that we have walked in vain and that the walking was vain, as “in vain” means this: something which is by nature for the sake of something else and fail to accomplish the end for the sake of which it was for. Continue reading “In which way “in vain” is said of”

22/01/201619/04/2019

How something may come to be out of that which is not

Since everything which comes to be comes to be either out of something which is or out of something which is not, and it is impossible for both of them to be the case, in that it cannot come to be out of what is (because it is already) nor can it come out of what is not (since it cannot come out of something which is not pre-existent), some people thought either that nothing comes to be or passes away, or that “what is not” is. We, on the other hand, will resolve their difficulty, starting, first, with the various ways in which “what is” is spoken of. Continue reading “How something may come to be out of that which is not”

11/10/201506/06/2019

The kinds of causes

Causes are spoken of in a number of ways. In one way, then, that out of which a thing comes about and which is immanent, is called cause, e.g. the bronze of the statue, the stone of the house, and the genera of these. Continue reading “The kinds of causes”