第27章

Sincethatwhichiscompoundedoutofsomethingsothatthe wholeisone，notlikeaheapbutlikeasyllable-nowthesyllable isnotitselements，baisnotthesameasbanda，norisflesh fireandearth(forwhentheseareseparatedthewholes，i。e。the fleshandthesyllable，nolongerexist，buttheelementsofthe syllableexist，andsodofireandearth)；thesyllable，then，is something-notonlyitselements(thevowelandtheconsonant)butalso somethingelse，andthefleshisnotonlyfireandearthorthehot andthecold，butalsosomethingelse:-if，then，thatsomethingmust itselfbeeitheranelementorcomposedofelements，(1)ifitisan elementthesameargumentwillagainapply；forfleshwillconsist ofthisandfireandearthandsomethingstillfurther，sothatthe processwillgoontoinfinity。But(2)ifitisacompound，clearly itwillbeacompoundnotofonebutofmorethanone(orelsethat onewillbethethingitself)，sothatagaininthiscasewecanuse thesameargumentasinthecaseoffleshorofthesyllable。Butit wouldseemthatthis’other’issomething，andnotanelement，and thatitisthecausewhichmakesthisthingfleshandthatasyllable。 Andsimilarlyinallothercases。Andthisisthesubstanceofeach thing(forthisistheprimarycauseofitsbeing)；andsince，while somethingsarenotsubstances，asmanyasaresubstancesareformed inaccordancewithanatureoftheirownandbyaprocessofnature， theirsubstancewouldseemtobethiskindof’nature’，whichisnot anelementbutaprinciple。Anelement，ontheotherhand，isthat intowhichathingisdividedandwhichispresentinitasmatter； e。g。aandbaretheelementsofthesyllable。 WEmustreckonuptheresultsarisingfromwhathasbeensaid，and computethesumofthem，andputthefinishingtouchtoourinquiry。 Wehavesaidthatthecauses，principles，andelementsofsubstances aretheobjectofoursearch。Andsomesubstancesarerecognizedby everyone，butsomehavebeenadvocatedbyparticularschools。Those generallyrecognizedarethenaturalsubstances，i。e。fire，earth， water，air，&c。，thesimplebodies；secondplantsandtheirparts，and animalsandthepartsofanimals；andfinallythephysicaluniverse anditsparts；whilesomeparticularschoolssaythatFormsandthe objectsofmathematicsaresubstances。Butthereareargumentswhich leadtotheconclusionthatthereareothersubstances，theessence andthesubstratum。Again，inanotherwaythegenusseemsmore substantialthanthevariousspccies，andtheuniversalthanthe particulars。AndwiththeuniversalandthegenustheIdeasare connected；itisinvirtueofthesameargumentthattheyare thoughttobesubstances。Andsincetheessenceissubstance，and thedefinitionisaformulaoftheessence，forthisreasonwehave discusseddefinitionandessentialpredication。Sincethedefinition isaformula，andaformulahasparts，wehadtoconsideralsowith respecttothenotionof’part’，whatarepartsofthesubstanceand whatarenot，andwhetherthepartsofthesubstancearealsopartsof thedefinition。Further，too，neithertheuniversalnorthegenusisa substance；wemustinquirelaterintotheIdeasandtheobjectsof mathematics；forsomesaythesearesubstancesaswellasthesensible substances。 Butnowletusresumethediscussionofthegenerallyrecognized substances。Thesearethesensiblesubstances，andsensiblesubstances allhavematter。Thesubstratumissubstance，andthisisinonesense thematter(andbymatterImeanthatwhich，notbeinga’this’ actually，ispotentiallya’this’)，andinanothersensetheformula orshape(thatwhichbeinga’this’canbeseparatelyformulated)，and thirdlythecomplexofthesetwo，whichaloneisgeneratedand destroyed，andis，withoutqualification，capableofseparate existence；forofsubstancescompletelyexpressibleinaformula someareseparableandsomeareseparableandsomearenot。 Butclearlymatteralsoissubstance；forinalltheopposite changesthatoccurthereissomethingwhichunderliesthechanges， e。g。inrespectofplacethatwhichisnowhereandagainelsewhere， andinrespectofincreasethatwhichisnowofonesizeandagain lessorgreater，andinrespectofalterationthatwhichisnow healthyandagaindiseased；andsimilarlyinrespectofsubstance thereissomethingthatisnowbeinggeneratedandagainbeing destroyed，andnowunderliestheprocessasa’this’andagain underliesitinrespectofaprivationofpositivecharacter。Andin thischangetheothersareinvolved。Butineitheroneortwoofthe othersthisisnotinvolved；foritisnotnecessaryifathinghas matterforchangeofplacethatitshouldalsohavematterfor generationanddestruction。 Thedifferencebetweenbecominginthefullsenseandbecoming inaqualifiedsensehasbeenstatedinourphysicalworks。 Sincethesubstancewhichexistsasunderlyingandasmatteris generallyrecognized，andthisthatwhichexistspotentially，it remainsforustosaywhatisthesubstance，inthesenseof actuality，ofsensiblethings。Democritusseemstothinkthereare threekindsofdifferencebetweenthings；theunderlyingbody，the matter，isoneandthesame，buttheydiffereitherinrhythm，i。e。 shape，orinturning，i。e。position，orininter-contact，i。e。 order。Butevidentlytherearemanydifferences；forinstance，some thingsarecharacterizedbythemodeofcompositionoftheirmatter， e。g。thethingsformedbyblending，suchashoney-water；andothersby beingboundtogether，e。g。bundle；andothersbybeinggluedtogether， e。g。abook；andothersbybeingnailedtogether，e。g。acasket；and othersinmorethanoneoftheseways；andothersbyposition，e。g。 thresholdandlintel(forthesedifferbybeingplacedinacertain way)；andothersbytime，e。g。dinnerandbreakfast；andothersby place，e。g。thewinds；andothersbytheaffectionspropertosensible things，e。g。hardnessandsoftness，densityandrarity，drynessand wetness；andsomethingsbysomeofthesequalities，othersbythem all，andingeneralsomebyexcessandsomebydefect。Clearly， then，theword’is’hasjustasmanymeanings；athingisa thresholdbecauseitliesinsuchandsuchaposition，anditsbeing meansitslyinginthatposition，whilebeingicemeanshavingbeen solidifiedinsuchandsuchaway。Andthebeingofsomethingswill bedefinedbyallthesequalities，becausesomepartsofthemare mixed，othersareblended，othersareboundtogether，othersare solidified，andothersusetheotherdifferentiae；e。g。thehandor thefootrequiressuchcomplexdefinition。Wemustgrasp，then，the kindsofdifferentiae(forthesewillbetheprinciplesofthebeing ofthings)，e。g。thethingscharacterizedbythemoreandtheless，or bythedenseandtherare，andbyothersuchqualities；forall theseareformsofexcessanddefect。Andanythingthatis characterizedbyshapeorbysmoothnessandroughnessischaracterized bythestraightandthecurved。Andforotherthingstheirbeing willmeantheirbeingmixed，andtheirnotbeingwillmeanthe opposite。 Itisclear，then，fromthesefactsthat，sinceitssubstanceis thecauseofeachthing’sbeing，wemustseekinthesedifferentiae whatisthecauseofthebeingofeachofthesethings。Nownoneof thesedifferentiaeissubstance，evenwhencoupledwithmatter，yetit iswhatisanalogoustosubstanceineachcase；andasinsubstances thatwhichispredicatedofthematteristheactualityitself，inall otherdefinitionsalsoitiswhatmostresemblesfullactuality。 E。g。ifwehadtodefineathreshold，weshouldsay’woodorstone insuchandsuchaposition’，andahouseweshoulddefineas ’bricksandtimbersinsuchandsuchaposition’，(orapurposemay existaswellinsomecases)，andifwehadtodefineiceweshould say’waterfrozenorsolidifiedinsuchandsuchaway’，andharmony is’suchandsuchablendingofhighandlow’；andsimilarlyinall othercases。 Obviously，then，theactualityortheformulaisdifferentwhen thematterisdifferent；forinsomecasesitisthecomposition，in othersthemixing，andinotherssomeotheroftheattributeswe havenamed。Andso，ofthepeoplewhogoinfordefining，thosewho defineahouseasstones，bricks，andtimbersarespeakingofthe potentialhouse，forthesearethematter；butthosewhopropose’a receptacletoshelterchattelsandlivingbeings’，orsomethingofthe sort，speakoftheactuality。Thosewhocombinebothofthesespeakof thethirdkindofsubstance，whichiscomposedofmatterandform(for theformulathatgivesthedifferentiaeseemstobeanaccountof theformoractuality，whilethatwhichgivesthecomponentsisrather anaccountofthematter)；andthesameistrueofthekindof definitionswhichArchytasusedtoaccept；theyareaccountsofthe combinedformandmatter。E。g。whatisstillweather？Absenceof motioninalargeexpanseofair；airisthematter，andabsenceof motionistheactualityandsubstance。Whatisacalm？Smoothnessof sea；thematerialsubstratumisthesea，andtheactualityorshapeis smoothness。Itisobviousthen，fromwhathasbeensaid，whatsensible substanceisandhowitexists-onekindofitasmatter，anotheras formoractuality，whilethethirdkindisthatwhichiscomposedof thesetwo。 Wemustnotfailtonoticethatsometimesitisnotclear whetheranamemeansthecompositesubstance，ortheactualityor form，e。g。whether’house’isasignforthecompositething，’a coveringconsistingofbricksandstoneslaidthusandthus’，orfor theactualityorform，’acovering’，andwhetheralineis’twonessin length’or’twoness’，andwhetherananimalissoulinabody’or’a soul’；forsoulisthesubstanceoractualityofsomebody。’Animal’ mightevenbeappliedtoboth，notassomethingdefinablebyone formula，butasrelatedtoasinglething。Butthisquestion，while importantforanotherpurpose，isofnoimportancefortheinquiry intosensiblesubstance；fortheessencecertainlyattachestothe formandtheactuality。For’soul’and’tobesoul’arethesame， but’tobeman’and’man’arenotthesame，unlesseventhebare soulistobecalledman；andthusononeinterpretationthething isthesameasitsessence，andonanotheritisnot。 Ifweexaminewefindthatthesyllabledoesnotconsistofthe letters+juxtaposition，noristhehousebricks+juxtaposition。 Andthisisright；forthejuxtapositionormixingdoesnotconsistof thosethingsofwhichitisthejuxtapositionormixing。Andthe sameistrueinallothercases；e。g。ifthethresholdis characterizedbyitsposition，thepositionisnotconstitutedby thethreshold，butratherthelatterisconstitutedbytheformer。Nor ismananimal+biped，buttheremustbesomethingbesidesthese，if thesearematter，-somethingwhichisneitheranelementinthewhole noracompound，butisthesubstance；butthispeopleeliminate，and stateonlythematter。If，then，thisisthecauseofthething’s being，andifthecauseofitsbeingisitssubstance，theywillnot bestatingthesubstanceitself。