第14章

Inviewofthesedistinctionsitisobviousthattheone-sided theorieswhichsomepeopleexpressaboutallthingscannotbevalid-on theonehandthetheorythatnothingistrue(for，saythey，there isnothingtopreventeverystatementfrombeinglikethestatement ’thediagonalofasquareiscommensuratewiththeside’)，onthe otherhandthetheorythateverythingistrue。Theseviewsare practicallythesameasthatofHeraclitus；forhewhosaysthatall thingsaretrueandallarefalsealsomakeseachofthese statementsseparately，sothatsincetheyareimpossible，thedouble statementmustbeimpossibletoo-Again，thereareobviously contradictorieswhichcannotbeatthesametimetrue-norontheother handcanallstatementsbefalse；yetthiswouldseemmorepossiblein thelightofwhathasbeensaid-Butagainstallsuchviewswemust postulate，aswesaidabove，’notthatsomethingisorisnot，but thatsomethinghasameaning，sothatwemustarguefromadefinition， viz。byassumingwhatfalsityortruthmeans。Ifthatwhichitistrue toaffirmisnothingotherthanthatwhichitisfalsetodeny，it isimpossiblethatallstatementsshouldbefalse；foronesideofthe contradictionmustbetrue。Again，ifitisnecessarywithregardto everythingeithertoassertortodenyit，itisimpossiblethat bothshouldbefalse；foritisonesideofthecontradictionthat isfalse-Thereforeallsuchviewsarealsoexposedtotheoften expressedobjection，thattheydestroythemselves。Forhewhosays thateverythingistruemakeseventhestatementcontrarytohisown true，andthereforehisownnottrue(forthecontrarystatement deniesthatitistrue)，whilehewhosayseverythingisfalsemakes himselfalsofalse-Andiftheformerpersonexceptsthecontrary statement，sayingitaloneisnottrue，whilethelatterexceptshis ownasbeingnotfalse，nonethelesstheyaredriventopostulatethe truthorfalsityofaninfinitenumberofstatements；forthatwhich saysthetruestatementistrueistrue，andthisprocesswillgoon toinfinity。 Evidently，again，thosewhosayallthingsareatrestarenot right，norarethosewhosayallthingsareinmovement。Forifall thingsareatrest，thesamestatementswillalwaysbetrueandthe samealwaysfalse，-butthisobviouslychanges；forhewhomakesa statement，himselfatonetimewasnotandagainwillnotbe。Andif allthingsareinmotion，nothingwillbetrue；everythingtherefore willbefalse。Butithasbeenshownthatthisisimpossible。Again， itmustbethatwhichisthatchanges；forchangeisfromsomethingto something。Butagainitisnotthecasethatallthingsareatrestor inmotionsometimes，andnothingforever；forthereissomething whichalwaysmovesthethingsthatareinmotion，andthefirst moverisitselfunmoved。 ’BEGINNING’means(1)thatpartofathingfromwhichonewould startfirst，e。galineoraroadhasabeginningineitherofthe contrarydirections。(2)Thatfromwhicheachthingwouldbestbe originated，e。g。eveninlearningwemustsometimesbeginnotfromthe firstpointandthebeginningofthesubject，butfromthepoint fromwhichweshouldlearnmosteasily。(4)Thatfromwhich，asan immanentpart，athingfirstcomestobe，e，g，asthekeelofaship andthefoundationofahouse，whileinanimalssomesupposethe heart，othersthebrain，otherssomeotherpart，tobeofthisnature。 (4)Thatfromwhich，notasanimmanentpart，athingfirstcomesto be，andfromwhichthemovementorthechangenaturallyfirst begins，asachildcomesfromitsfatheranditsmother，andafight fromabusivelanguage。(5)Thatatwhosewillthatwhichismovedis movedandthatwhichchangeschanges，e。g。themagistraciesincities， andoligarchiesandmonarchiesandtyrannies，arecalledarhchai， andsoarethearts，andoftheseespeciallythearchitectonicarts。 (6)Thatfromwhichathingcanfirstbeknown，-thisalsoiscalled thebeginningofthething，e。g。thehypothesesarethebeginnings ofdemonstrations。(Causesarespokenofinanequalnumberofsenses； forallcausesarebeginnings。)Itiscommon，then，toall beginningstobethefirstpointfromwhichathingeitherisorcomes tobeorisknown；butofthesesomeareimmanentinthethingand othersareoutside。Hencethenatureofathingisabeginning，andso istheelementofathing，andthoughtandwill，andessence，and thefinalcause-forthegoodandthebeautifularethebeginning bothoftheknowledgeandofthemovementofmanythings。 2 ’Cause’means(1)thatfromwhich，asimmanentmaterial，athing comesintobeing，e。g。thebronzeisthecauseofthestatueandthe silverofthesaucer，andsoaretheclasseswhichincludethese。 Theformorpattern，i。e。thedefinitionoftheessence，andthe classeswhichincludethis(e。g。theratio2:1andnumberingeneral arecausesoftheoctave)，andthepartsincludedinthedefinition。 Thatfromwhichthechangeortherestingfromchangefirst begins；e。g。theadviserisacauseoftheaction，andthefathera causeofthechild，andingeneralthemakeracauseofthethingmade andthechange-producingofthechanging。(4)Theend，i。e。thatfor thesakeofwhichathingis；e。g。healthisthecauseofwalking。For ’Whydoesonewalk？’wesay；’thatonemaybehealthy’；andin speakingthuswethinkwehavegiventhecause。Thesameistrueof allthemeansthatintervenebeforetheend，whensomethingelsehas puttheprocessinmotion，ase。g。thinningorpurgingordrugsor instrumentsintervenebeforehealthisreached；foralltheseare forthesakeoftheend，thoughtheydifferfromoneanotherinthat someareinstrumentsandothersareactions。 These，then，arepracticallyallthesensesinwhichcausesare spokenof，andastheyarespokenofinseveralsensesitfollowsboth thatthereareseveralcausesofthesamething，andinno accidentalsense(e。g。boththeartofsculptureandthebronzeare causesofthestatuenotinrespectofanythingelsebutquastatue； not，however，inthesameway，buttheoneasmatterandtheother assourceofthemovement)，andthatthingscanbecausesofone another(e。g。exerciseofgoodcondition，andthelatterof exercise；not，however，inthesameway，buttheoneasendandthe otherassourceofmovement)-Again，thesamethingisthecauseof contraries；forthatwhichwhenpresentcausesaparticularthing， wesometimescharge，whenabsent，withthecontrary，e。g。weimpute theshipwrecktotheabsenceofthesteersman，whosepresencewas thecauseofsafety；andboth-thepresenceandtheprivation-are causesassourcesofmovement。 Allthecausesnowmentionedfallunderfoursenseswhichare themostobvious。Forthelettersarethecauseofsyllables，and thematerialisthecauseofmanufacturedthings，andfireandearth andallsuchthingsarethecausesofbodies，andthepartsarecauses ofthewhole，andthehypothesesarecausesoftheconclusion，in thesensethattheyarethatoutofwhichtheserespectivelyaremade； butofthesesomearecauseasthesubstratum(e。g。theparts)，others astheessence(thewhole，thesynthesis，andtheform)。Thesemen， thephysician，theadviser，andingeneraltheagent，areall sourcesofchangeorofrest。Theremainderarecausesastheend andthegoodoftheotherthings；forthatforthesakeofwhichother thingsaretendstobethebestandtheendoftheotherthings；let ustakeitasmakingnodifferencewhetherwecallitgoodorapparent good。 These，then，arethecauses，andthisisthenumberoftheir kinds，butthevarietiesofcausesaremanyinnumber，thoughwhen summarizedthesealsoarecomparativelyfew。Causesarespokenofin manysenses，andevenofthosewhichareofthesamekindsomeare causesinapriorandothersinaposteriorsense，e。g。both’the physician’and’theprofessionalman’arecausesofhealth，andboth ’theratio2:1’and’number’arecausesoftheoctave，andtheclasses thatincludeanyparticularcausearealwayscausesofthe particulareffect。Again，thereareaccidentalcausesandthe classeswhichincludethese；e。g。whileinonesense’thesculptor’ causesthestatue，inanothersense’Polyclitus’causesit，because thesculptorhappenstobePolyclitus；andtheclassesthatinclude theaccidentalcausearealsocauses，e。g。’man’-oringeneral ’animal’-isthecauseofthestatue，becausePolyclitusisaman， andmanisananimal。Ofaccidentalcausesalsosomearemoreremote ornearerthanothers，as，forinstance，if’thewhite’and’the musical’werecalledcausesofthestatue，andnotonly’Polyclitus’ or’man’。Butbesidesallthesevarietiesofcauses，whetherproperor accidental，somearecalledcausesasbeingabletoact，othersas acting；e。g。thecauseofthehouse’sbeingbuiltisabuilder，ora builderwhoisbuilding-Thesamevarietyoflanguagewillbefound withregardtotheeffectsofcauses；e。g。athingmaybecalledthe causeofthisstatueorofastatueoringeneralofanimage，and ofthisbronzeorofbronzeorofmatteringeneral；andsimilarly inthecaseofaccidentaleffects。Again，bothaccidentalandproper causesmaybespokenofincombination；e。g。wemaysaynot ’Polyclitus’nor’thesculptor’but’Polyclitusthesculptor’。Yetall thesearebutsixinnumber，whileeachisspokenofintwoways； for(A)theyarecauseseitherastheindividual，orasthegenus， orastheaccidental，orasthegenusthatincludestheaccidental， andtheseeitherascombined，orastakensimply；and(B)allmaybe takenasactingorashavingacapacity。Buttheydifferinasmuchas theactingcauses，i。e。theindividuals，exist，ordonotexist， simultaneouslywiththethingsofwhichtheyarecauses，e。g。this particularmanwhoishealing，withthisparticularmanwhois recoveringhealth，andthisparticularbuilderwiththisparticular thingthatisbeingbuilt；butthepotentialcausesarenotalways inthiscase；forthehousedoesnotperishatthesametimeasthe builder。 ’Element’means(1)theprimarycomponentimmanentinathing，and indivisibleinkindintootherkinds；e。g。theelementsofspeech arethepartsofwhichspeechconsistsandintowhichitisultimately divided，whiletheyarenolongerdividedintootherformsofspeech differentinkindfromthem。Iftheyaredivided，theirpartsareof thesamekind，asapartofwateriswater(whileapartofthe syllableisnotasyllable)。Similarlythosewhospeakoftheelements ofbodiesmeanthethingsintowhichbodiesareultimatelydivided， whiletheyarenolongerdividedintootherthingsdifferingin kind；andwhetherthethingsofthissortareoneormore，theycall theseelements。Theso-calledelementsofgeometricalproofs，andin generaltheelementsofdemonstrations，haveasimilarcharacter； fortheprimarydemonstrations，eachofwhichisimpliedinmany demonstrations，arecalledelementsofdemonstrations；andtheprimary syllogisms，whichhavethreetermsandproceedbymeansofonemiddle， areofthisnature。 (2)Peoplealsotransfertheword’element’fromthismeaning andapplyittothatwhich，beingoneandsmall，isusefulformany purposes；forwhichreasonwhatissmallandsimpleandindivisibleis calledanelement。Hencecomethefactsthatthemostuniversalthings areelements(becauseeachofthembeingoneandsimpleispresent inapluralityofthings，eitherinallorinasmanyaspossible)， andthatunityandthepointarethoughtbysometobefirst principles。Now，sincetheso-calledgeneraareuniversaland indivisible(forthereisnodefinitionofthem)，somesaythe generaareelements，andmoresothanthedifferentia，becausethe genusismoreuniversal；forwherethedifferentiaispresent，the genusaccompaniesit，butwherethegenusispresent，the differentiaisnotalwaysso。Itiscommontoallthemeaningsthat theelementofeachthingisthefirstcomponentimmanentineach。