第28章

(This，then，musteitherbeeternaloritmustbedestructible withoutbeingeverincourseofbeingdestroyed，andmusthavecometo bewithouteverbeingincourseofcomingtobe。Butithasbeen provedandexplainedelsewherethatnoonemakesorbegetstheform， butitistheindividualthatismade，i。e。thecomplexofformand matterthatisgenerated。Whetherthesubstancesofdestructible thingscanexistapart，isnotyetatallclear；exceptthatobviously thisisimpossibleinsomecases-inthecaseofthingswhichcannot existapartfromtheindividualinstances，e。g。houseorutensil。 Perhaps，indeed，neitherthesethingsthemselves，noranyoftheother thingswhicharenotformedbynature，aresubstancesatall；for onemightsaythatthenatureinnaturalobjectsistheonlysubstance tobefoundindestructiblethings。) Thereforethedifficultywhichusedtoberaisedbytheschool ofAntisthenesandothersuchuneducatedpeoplehasacertain timeliness。Theysaidthatthe’what’cannotbedefined(forthe definitionsocalledisa’longrigmarole’)butofwhatsorta thing，e。g。silver，is，theythoughtitpossibleactuallyto explain，notsayingwhatitis，butthatitisliketin。Thereforeone kindofsubstancecanbedefinedandformulated，i。e。thecomposite kind，whetheritbeperceptibleorintelligible；buttheprimaryparts ofwhichthisconsistscannotbedefined，sinceadefinitoryformula predicatessomethingofsomething，andonepartofthedefinitionmust playthepartofmatterandtheotherthatofform。 Itisalsoobviousthat，ifsubstancesareinasensenumbers， theyaresointhissenseandnot，assomesay，asnumbersofunits。 Foradefinitionisasortofnumber；for(1)itisdivisible，and intoindivisibleparts(fordefinitoryformulaearenotinfinite)，and numberalsoisofthisnature。And(2)as，whenoneofthepartsof whichanumberconsistshasbeentakenfromoraddedtothenumber，it isnolongerthesamenumber，butadifferentone，evenifitisthe verysmallestpartthathasbeentakenawayoradded，sothe definitionandtheessencewillnolongerremainwhenanythinghas beentakenawayoradded。And(3)thenumbermustbesomethingin virtueofwhichitisone，andthisthesethinkerscannotstate， whatmakesitone，ifitisone(foreitheritisnotonebutasort ofheap，orifitis，weoughttosaywhatitisthatmakesoneoutof many)；andthedefinitionisone，butsimilarlytheycannotsaywhat makesitone。Andthisisanaturalresult；forthesamereasonis applicable，andsubstanceisoneinthesensewhichwehaveexplained， andnot，assomesay，bybeingasortofunitorpoint；eachisa completerealityandadefinitenature。And(4)asnumberdoesnot admitofthemoreandtheless，neitherdoessubstance，inthesense ofform，butifanysubstancedoes，itisonlythesubstancewhich involvesmatter。Letthis，then，sufficeforanaccountofthe generationanddestructionofso-calledsubstancesinwhatsenseitis possibleandinwhatsenseimpossible——andofthereductionof thingstonumber。 Regardingmaterialsubstancewemustnotforgetthatevenifall thingscomefromthesamefirstcauseorhavethesamethingsfor theirfirstcauses，andifthesamematterservesasstarting-point fortheirgeneration，yetthereisamatterpropertoeach，e。g。for phlegmthesweetorthefat，andforbilethebitter，orsomething else；thoughperhapsthesecomefromthesameoriginalmatter。And therecometobeseveralmattersforthesamething，whentheone matterismatterfortheother；e。g。phlegmcomesfromthefatand fromthesweet，ifthefatcomesfromthesweet；anditcomesfrom bilebyanalysisofthebileintoitsultimatematter。Foronething comesfromanotherintwosenses，eitherbecauseitwillbefoundata laterstage，orbecauseitisproducediftheotherisanalysedinto itsoriginalconstituents。Whenthematterisone，differentthings maybeproducedowingtodifferenceinthemovingcause；e。g。from woodmaybemadebothachestandabed。Butsomedifferentthings musthavetheirmatterdifferent；e。g。asawcouldnotbemadeof wood，noristhisinthepowerofthemovingcause；foritcouldnot makeasawofwoolorofwood。Butif，asamatteroffact，thesame thingcanbemadeofdifferentmaterial，clearlytheart，i。e。the movingprinciple，isthesame；forifboththematterandthemoving causeweredifferent，theproductwouldbesotoo。 Whenoneinquiresintothecauseofsomething，oneshould，since ’causes’arespokenofinseveralsenses，stateallthepossible causes。whatisthematerialcauseofman？Shallwesay’themenstrual fluid’？Whatismovingcause？Shallwesay’theseed’？Theformal cause？Hisessence。Thefinalcause？Hisend。Butperhapsthelatter twoarethesame-Itistheproximatecauseswemuststate。Whatis thematerialcause？Wemustnamenotfireorearth，butthematter peculiartothething。 Regardingthesubstancesthatarenaturalandgenerable，ifthe causesarereallytheseandofthisnumberandwehavetolearnthe causes，wemustinquirethus，ifwearetoinquirerightly。Butinthe caseofnaturalbuteternalsubstancesanotheraccountmustbe given。Forperhapssomehavenomatter，ornotmatterofthissortbut onlysuchascanbemovedinrespectofplace。Nordoesmatter belongtothosethingswhichexistbynaturebutarenotsubstances； theirsubstratumisthesubstance。E。gwhatisthecauseofeclipse？ Whatisitsmatter？Thereisnone；themoonisthatwhichsuffers eclipse。Whatisthemovingcausewhichextinguishedthelight？The earth。Thefinalcauseperhapsdoesnotexist。Theformalprincipleis thedefinitoryformula，butthisisobscureifitdoesnotincludethe cause。E。g。whatiseclipse？Deprivationoflight。Butifweadd’by theearth’scominginbetween’，thisistheformulawhichincludesthe cause。Inthecaseofsleepitisnotclearwhatitisthat proximatelyhasthisaffection。Shallwesaythatitistheanimal？ Yes，buttheanimalinvirtueofwhat，i。e。whatistheproximate subject？Theheartorsomeotherpart。Next，bywhatisitproduced？ Next，whatistheaffection-thatoftheproximatesubject，notof thewholeanimal？Shallwesaythatitisimmobilityofsuchand suchakind？Yes，buttowhatprocessintheproximatesubjectisthis due？ Sincesomethingsareandarenot，withoutcomingtobeand ceasingtobe，e。g。points，iftheycanbesaidtobe，andin generalforms(foritisnot’white’comestobe，butthewoodcomes tobewhite，ifeverythingthatcomestobecomesfromsomethingand comestobesomething)，notallcontrariescancomefromone another，butitisindifferentsensesthatapalemancomesfroma darkman，andpalecomesfromdark。Norhaseverythingmatter，but onlythosethingswhichcometobeandchangeintooneanother。 Thosethingswhich，withouteverbeingincourseofchanging，areor arenot，havenomatter。 Thereisdifficultyinthequestionhowthematterofeachthing isrelatedtoitscontrarystates。E。g。ifthebodyispotentially healthy，anddiseaseiscontrarytohealth，isitpotentiallyboth healthyanddiseased？Andiswaterpotentiallywineandvinegar？We answerthatitisthematterofoneinvirtueofitspositivestate anditsform，andoftheotherinvirtueoftheprivationofits positivestateandthecorruptionofitcontrarytoitsnature。It isalsohardtosaywhywineisnotsaidtobethematterofvinegar norpotentiallyvinegar(thoughvinegarisproducedfromit)，and whyalivingmanisnotsaidtobepotentiallydead。Infactthey arenot，butthecorruptionsinquestionareaccidental，anditisthe matteroftheanimalthatisitselfinvirtueofitscorruptionthe potencyandmatterofacorpse，anditiswaterthatisthematter ofvinegar。Forthecorpsecomesfromtheanimal，andvinegarfrom wine，asnightfromday。Andallthethingswhichchangethusintoone anothermustgobacktotheirmatter；e。g。iffromacorpseis producedananimal，thecorpsefirstgoesbacktoitsmatter，andonly thenbecomesananimal；andvinegarfirstgoesbacktowater，andonly thenbecomeswine。 Toreturntothedifficultywhichhasbeenstatedwithrespect bothtodefinitionsandtonumbers，whatisthecauseoftheir unity？Inthecaseofallthingswhichhaveseveralpartsandinwhich thetotalityisnot，asitwere，amereheap，butthewholeis somethingbesidetheparts，thereisacause；foreveninbodies contactisthecauseofunityinsomecases，andinothersviscosity orsomeothersuchquality。Andadefinitionisasetofwordswhich isonenotbybeingconnectedtogether，liketheIliad，butbydealing withoneobject-Whatthen，isitthatmakesmanone；whyisheone andnotmany，e。g。animal+biped，especiallyifthereare，assome say，ananimal-itselfandabiped-itself？WhyarenotthoseForms themselvestheman，sothatmenwouldexistbyparticipationnotin man，norin-oneForm，butintwo，animalandbiped，andingeneralman wouldbenotonebutmorethanonething，animalandbiped？ Clearly，then，ifpeopleproceedthusintheirusualmannerof definitionandspeech，theycannotexplainandsolvethedifficulty。 Butif，aswesay，oneelementismatterandanotherisform，and oneispotentiallyandtheotheractually，thequestionwillnolonger bethoughtadifficulty。Forthisdifficultyisthesameaswould ariseif’roundbronze’werethedefinitionof’cloak’；forthis wordwouldbeasignofthedefinitoryformula，sothatthequestion is，whatisthecauseoftheunityof’round’and’bronze’？The difficultydisappears，becausetheoneismatter，theotherform。 What，then，causesthis-thatwhichwaspotentiallytobe actually-except，inthecaseofthingswhicharegenerated，theagent？ Forthereisnoothercauseofthepotentialsphere’sbecoming actuallyasphere，butthiswastheessenceofeither。Ofmatter someisintelligible，someperceptible，andinaformulathereis alwaysanelementofmatteraswellasoneofactuality；e。g。the circleis’aplanefigure’。Butofthethingswhichhavenomatter， eitherintelligibleorperceptible，eachisbyitsnature essentiallyakindofunity，asitisessentiallyakindof being-individualsubstance，quality，orquantity(andsoneither ’existent’nor’one’ispresentintheirdefinitions)，andtheessence ofeachofthemisbyitsverynatureakindofunityasitisa kindofbeing-andsononeofthesehasanyreasonoutsideitself， forbeingone，norforbeingakindofbeing；foreachisbyits natureakindofbeingandakindofunity，notasbeinginthe genus’being’or’one’norinthesensethatbeingandunitycanexist apartfromparticulars。 Owingtothedifficultyaboutunitysomespeakof’participation’， andraisethequestion，whatisthecauseofparticipationandwhatis ittoparticipate；andothersspeakof’communion’，asLycophron saysknowledgeisacommunionofknowingwiththesoul；andotherssay lifeisa’composition’or’connexion’ofsoulwithbody。Yetthesame accountappliestoallcases；forbeinghealthy，too，willonthis showingbeeithera’communion’ora’connexion’ora’composition’of soulandhealth，andthefactthatthebronzeisatrianglewillbe a’composition’ofbronzeandtriangle，andthefactthatathingis whitewillbea’composition’ofsurfaceandwhiteness。Thereason isthatpeoplelookforaunifyingformula，andadifference， betweenpotencyandcompletereality。But，ashasbeensaid，the proximatematterandtheformareoneandthesamething，theone potentially，andtheotheractually。Thereforeitislikeasking whatingeneralisthecauseofunityandofathing’sbeingone； foreachthingisaunity，andthepotentialandtheactualare somehowone。Thereforethereisnoothercausehereunlessthereis somethingwhichcausedthemovementfrompotencyintoactuality。And allthingswhichhavenomatterarewithoutqualification essentiallyunities。