So, inasmuch as motion is eternal, it follows that the prime mover, if it be single, or the prime movers, if plural, must likewise be eternal. And by prefer- ence we should regard it as one principle rather than many or as a limited rather than an unlimited plurality; for if the consequences are the same it ‘is always better to assume the more limited ante- cedent, since in the things of nature the limited, as being better, is sure to be found, wherever possible, rather than the unlimited. And a single principle is adequate, which as the first of the unmoved entities and eternal will suffice as the principle of motion for all the rest. Another proof that there must be some single and eternal first mover is the following. We have shown that eternal movement exists of necessity. And for such movement to be eternal it must be continuous, for what constantly exists at all times is as such continuous, whereas the successive is discontinuous (and therefore not eternal). But for movement to be continuous it must be unified; and Anaxagoras’s doctrine of an unlimited number of material particles. ΟἽ also 260 Ὁ 22.—C.]
ARISTOTLE 29a μία" μία δ᾽ ἡ ὑφ᾽ ἕνός τε τοῦ κινοῦντος καὶ ἑνὸς lon 7 3 \ yy \ Ψ a b 20 τοῦ κινουμένου" εἰ yap ἄλλο Kat ἄλλο κινήσει, οὐ συνεχὴς ἡ ὅλη κίνησις ἀλλ᾽ ἐφεξῆς. A "Ex τε δὴ τούτων πιστεύσειεν ἄν τις εἶναί τι πρῶτον ἀκίνητον, καὶ πάλιν ἐπιβλέψας ἐπὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς τῶν κινούντων. τὸ μὲν δὴ εἶναι ἄττα τῶν id a “~ ὄντων ἃ OTe μὲν Kuvetrar ὁτὲ δ᾽ ἠρεμεῖ, φανερόν. Kat διὰ τούτου γέγονε δῆλον ὅτι οὔτε πάντα 95 Κινεῖται οὔτε πάντα ἠρεμεῖ οὔτε TA μὲν ἀεὶ ἠρεμεῖ τὰ δ᾽ ἀεὶ κινεῖται: τὰ γὰρ ἐπαμφοτερίζοντα καὶ δύναμιν ἔχοντα τοῦ ὁτὲ μὲν κινεῖσθαι ὁτὲ δὲ ἠρεμεῖν δείκνυσι περὶ αὐτῶν. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὰ μὲν τοιαῦτα δῆλα πᾶσι, βουλόμεθα δὲ δεῖξαι καὶ τοῖν δυοῖν ἑκατέραν τὴν φύσιν, ὅτι ἔστι τὰ μὲν ἀεὶ 8) ἀκίνητα τὰ δ᾽ ἀεὶ κινούμενα, προιόντες δ᾽ ἐπὶ τοῦτο καὶ θέντες ἅπαν τὸ κινούμενον ὑπό τινος κινεῖσθαι, Kat τοῦτ᾽ εἶναι ἣ ἀκίνητον ἢ κινούμενον, καὶ κινούμενον ἢ ὑφ᾽ αὑτοῦ ἢ ὑπ᾽ ἄλλου ἀεΐ, προ- λθομεν ἐπὶ τὸ λαβεῖν ὅτι τῶν κινουμένων ἐστὶν AO α “ΤΡ movement is of necessity eternal, it must be con- tinuous. If of necessity eternal and continuous, it must be single. If of necessity eternal and contiuous and single, it must be the movement of one eternal mobile caused by one eternal mover. Thus if there must be eternal movement there must be a single eternal first mover. But the antecedent has been demonstrated. Therefore the consequent is true. And that eternal movement must be continuous he proves by showing that its continuity is involved in its eternity; for if it were intermittent it would not be eternal.’ Simplicius, 1254. 34 ff. ὃ {In chap. iii—C.]
¢ [If ἐπεί has any apodosis, it must apparently begin at 259 Ὁ 3 ταῦτα δή (where E omits 64).—C.]
4 [ὑπ᾽ ἄλλου ἀεί, The force of det is: ‘and that again by something else, and soon.’ Cf. Oxf. Trans. note.—C.]
PHYSICS, VIII. νι.
for it to be unified it must be produced by a single motor in a single mobile, for if the movement were to be produced now by one thing now by another, the whole movement would not be continuous but successional.4 So from these considerations one would be led to believe that there is a prime mover, itself unmoved; and the conviction is strengthened by a consideration of the initiating principles of the (more familiar) agents of motion. For that there are certain things that are sometimes in motion and sometimes at rest is a patent fact. And indeed it was this that com- pelled us ὃ to reject all the three hypotheses: (i.) that everything is in motion, (ii.) that everything is at rest, and (iii.) that some things are always in motion and the remainder always at rest; for all these hypotheses are refuted by the existence of things that are susceptible of either condition and are now in motion and now at rest. And since ὁ these things that both move and rest are plainly to be seen of all, it lay upon us to demonstrate the actual existence of the two other kinds, namely those that are (not only sometimes but) always without motion, and those in like manner that are always in motion. Advancing to which position and laying it down that everything which is in motion must be moved by something, that something being itself either un- moving or in motion, and if in motion either moved by itself or by something else,* we arrived at this conclusion as to the initiating principle of the motion of moving things: in the cases in which such prin- ciple is itself (incidentally) involved in the motion it causes, it lies (proximately) in a self-moving being; ARISTOTLE ARISTOTLE 269 ἀρχὴ κινουμένων fev? ὃ αὐτὸ ἑαυτὸ κινεῖ πάντων é τὸ ἀκίνητον, ὁρῶμεν δὲ καὶ φανερῶς ὄντα τοιαῦτα ἃ κινεῖ αὐτὰ ἑαυτά, οἷον τὸ τῶν ἐμψύχων καὶ τὸ τῶν ζῴων γένος,--ταῦτα δὴ καὶ δόξαν παρεῖχε μή ποτ᾽ ἐνδέχεται κίνησιν ἐγγίγνεσθαι 5 μὴ οὖσαν ὅλως, διὰ TO ἐν τούτοις ὁρᾶν ἡμᾶς τοῦτο συμβαῖνον" ἀκίνητα yap ποτε ὄντα κινεῖται πάλιν, ws δοκεῖ. τοῦτο δὴ δεῖ λαβεῖν, ὅτι μίαν κίνησιν αὑτὰ κινεῖ, καὶ ὅτι ταύτην οὐ κυρίως. οὐ γὰρ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὸ αἴτιον, ἀλλ᾽ ἔνεισιν ἄλλαι κινήσεις φυσικαὶ τοῖς ζῴοις, ἃς οὐ κινοῦνται δι᾿ αὑτῶν, 10 οἷον αὔξησις φθίσις ἀναπνοή, ἃς κινεῖται τῶν ζῴων ἕκαστον ἠρεμοῦν καὶ οὐ κινούμενον τὴν ὑφ᾽ αὑτοῦ κίνησιν: τούτου δ᾽ αἴτιον τὸ περιέχον καὶ πολλὰ τῶν εἰσιόντων, οἷον ἐνίων τροφή: πεπτομένης 9 γὰρ καθεύδουσι, διακρινομένης δὲ ἐγείρονται καὶ oo A ~ i κινοῦσιν ἑαυτούς, τῆς πρώτης ἀρχῆς ἔξωθεν οὔσης. 15 διὸ οὐκ ἀεὶ κινοῦνται συνεχῶς Uh αὑτῶν: ἄλλο γὰρ τὸ κινοῦν αὐτὸ κινούμενον καὶ μεταβάλλον 1 [κινουμένων μὲν: κινουμένων Ei: κινούμενον μὲν K. Whether κινουμένων or κινούμενον be read, it must be explained as by Dr. Wicksteed: ‘(the motion of) things moved has as its source (κινουμένων μέν) among principles that are themselves moved (or κινούμενον μέν, aS a principle that is itself moved) that which moves itself, but (as the ultimate principle of the motion) of all things that which is unmoved.’—C.] 2 [αὑτὰ Oxf, Trans. coll. Simplic. 1258. 13: αὐτὰ codd.—C.]
ὦ In interpreting and expanding this difficult passage I follow Simplicius. The first κινουμένων refers to all material entities that are in motion. The second κινουμένων (as would be more easily seen if it had been preceded by ἀρχαί instead of ἀρχή) refers to the class of causes of motion de- scribed above as κινούμενον, aS opposed to ἀκίνητον.υ The active factor in such causes shares incidentally in the essential PHYSICS, VIII. νι.
PHYSICS, VIII. νι.
but.the (ultimate and) universal cause lies in a prin- ciple that does not move at all. That there really are beings that move themselves, to wit living things and (especially) animals, is plain to see, and accord- ingly they gave rise to the suggestion ὃ that it is possible for there to be such a thing as the absolute initiation of movement de novo, as seen in these creatures; for they seem to be without motion and then again to move. It is therefore important to note that this is only true at all of one order of their movements,° and not strictly true of that. For such motion in animals is not self-determined but due to other natural changes which occur in them not by their own agency: growth, decay, and breathing, for instance, go on naturally when they are at rest and not making the movements they themselves determine; and the causes of these latter movements are found in the environment or in things that enter into the organism itself. Thus animals’ food causes some of their motions, since they sleep while the food is being digested, and when it is being distributed they wake and move themselves, but on the initia- tion of an external cause. And this is why they do not maintain continuous and unceasing self-move- ments, since there is in every case another cause, of the order of movers that are themselves in motion, which changes when it acts upon the self-moving movement which it provokes in the passive factor; so that the concrete being is self-moved. But seeing that this active factor will be shown (in the immediate sequel) to be itself a link in a chain and not a true initiator of movement, it follows that the ultimate cause of all motion is itself exempt from any share (even incidental) in the motion it causes.
> [This suggestion was provisionally rejected in chap. ii. 253 a 7 ff.—C. | ¢ [Namely, id movements.—C.]
ARISTOTLE 29b πρὸς ἕκαστον τῶν κινούντων ἑαυτά. ἐν πᾶσι δὲ τούτοις κινεῖται τὸ κινοῦν πρῶτον καὶ τὸ αἴτιον τοῦ αὐτὸ ἑαυτὸ κινεῖν ὑφ᾽ αὑτοῦ" κατὰ συμβε- βηκὸς μέντοι, μεταβάλλει γὰρ τὸν τόπον τὸ σῶμα, Ὁ ὥστε καὶ τὸ ἐν τῷ σώματι ὃν καὶ τῇ “μοχλείᾳ' κινοῦν ἑαυτό. ἐξ ὧν ἔστι πιστεῦσαι ὅτι εἴ τί ἐστι τῶν ἀκινήτων μὲν κινούντων δὲ καὶ αὐτῶν κινουμένων κατὰ συμβεβηκός, ἀδύνατον συνεχῆ κίνησιν κινεῖν. ὥστ᾽ εἴπερ ἀνάγκη συνεχῶς εἶναι κίνησιν, εἶναί τι δεῖ τὸ πρῶτον κινοῦν ἀκίνητον 25 καὶ κατὰ συμβεβηκός, εἰ μέλλει (καθάπερ εἴ- πομενὶ) ἔσεσθαι ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ἄπαυστός τις καὶ ἀθάνατος κίνησις καὶ μενεῖν" τὸ ὃν αὐτὸ ἐν αὑτῷ καὶ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ" τῆς γὰρ ἀρχῆς μενούσης ἀνάγκη καὶ τὸ πᾶν μένειν, συνεχὲς ὃν πρὸς τὴν ἀρχήν. (οὐκ é ἔστι δὲ τὸ αὐτὸ τὸ κινεῖσθαι κατὰ cup εβηκὸς ὑφ᾽ αὑτοῦ καὶ ὑφ᾽ ἑτέρου" τὸ μὲν “γὰρ ὑφ᾽ ἑτέρου 80 ὑπάρχει καὶ τῶν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἐνίαις ἀρχαῖς, ὅσα πλείους φέρεται φοράς, θάτερον δὲ τοῖς φθαρτοῖς μόνον.) ᾿Αλλὰ μὴν εἴ γε ἔστι τι ἀεὶ τοιοῦτον, κινοῦν μέν τι ἀκίνητον δὲ αὐτὸ καὶ ἀΐδιον, ἀνάγκη καὶ τὸ 260a πρῶτον ὑπὸ τούτου κινούμενον ἀΐδιον εἶναι. ἔστι δὲ τοῦτο δῆλον μὲν καὶ ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ἂν ἄλλως εἶναι γένεσιν καὶ φθορὰν καὶ μεταβολὴν τοῖς 1 [τῇ μοχλείᾳ HIK, Simplic. 1256. 32 (lemma): τὸ ἐν τῇ μοχλείᾳ al.—C.]
2 [καὶ H, Simplic. 1260. 11: καὶ μὴ cett.—C.] 3 [μενεῖν Oxf. Trans. coll. Them. 224.21: μένειν codd.—C.]
α [Namely, the soul. If this changes its place, it does so only as contained in a body which moves about carrying the soul with it, and which the soul uses as a sort of lever.—C.]
PHYSICS, VIII. νι.
organism. And in all these cases the active factor of movement,” the source of movement which is the cause of the whole organism being self-moving, is it- self also set in motion by itself, but only incidentally; for the body changes its place, and is accompanied in this change by that within the body which moves itself too with leverage it employs. Whence we may infer that no member of the class of the (essentially) unmoved causes of movement which is itself moved incidentally can be the cause of continuous movement. So that if there must needs be a continuous move- ment, there must be some primary mover which is not even incidentally moved, if, as we have said,® there is to be amongst things that exist a certain unceasing and deathless movement, and the universe is to abide self-contained and constant; for only if the principle abides, the sum of things, being in continuous relation with it, must also abide. (But it is not the same for an agent to be incidentally moved by itself or by some other, for to be so moved by another applies to some principles of heavenly bodies, those to wit which are carried by several motions. But the other alternative—that it should be incidentally self-moved—occurs only in perishable things.)
But if there really is such an existence (A), causing motion but itself unmoved and eternal, that (B) which is immediately moved by it must likewise be eternal. This is evident from the very fact that genesis and evanishment and change occur to all else for no other reason than that they are moved by something that δ (Chap. i.—C.] ¢ For the movements of the heavenly bodies see Vol. I. Introd. Ὁ. Ixviii and Introd. Note to this chapter.
ARISTOTLE 260 a ἄλλοις, εἰ μή τι κινήσει κινούμενον" τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀκίνητον ἀεὶ τὸν αὐτὸν κινήσει τρόπον καὶ μίαν δ κίνησιν, ἅτε οὐδὲν αὐτὸ μεταβάλλον πρὸς τὸ κινούμενον: τὸ δὲ κινούμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ κινουμένου μέν, ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀκινήτου δὲ κινουμένου ἤδη, διὰ τὸ ἄλλως καὶ ἄλλως ἔχειν πρὸς τὰ πράγματα, οὐ τῆς αὐτῆς ἔσται κινήσεως αἴτιον, ἀλλὰ.dia τὸ ἐν ἐναντίοις εἶναι τόποις ἢ εἴδεσιν ἐναντίως παρ- 10 ἔξεται κινούμενον ἕκαστον τῶν ἄλλων, καὶ ὁτὲ μὲν ἠρεμοῦν, ὁτὲ δὲ κινούμενον. ανερὸν δὴ γέγονεν ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων καὶ ὃ κατ᾽ ἀρχὰς ἠποροῦμεν, τί δή ποτε οὐ πάντα ἣ κινεῖται ἢ ἠρεμεῖ, 7 ἢ τὰ μὲν κινεῖται ἀεὶ τὰ δ᾽ ἀεὶ ἠρεμεῖ, ἀλλ᾽ ἔνια ὁτὲ “μὲν ὁτὲ δ᾽ οὔ. τούτου γὰρ τὸ αἴτιον 15 δῆλόν ἐστι νῦν, ὅτι τὰ μὲν ὑπὸ ἀκινήτου κινεῖται ἀιδίου, διὸ ἀεὶ κινεῖται, τὰ δ᾽ ὑπὸ κινουμένου καὶ μεταβάλλοντος, ὥστε καὶ αὐτὰ ἀναγκαῖον μετα- βάλλειν. τὸ δ᾽ ἀκίνητον, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, ἅτε ἁπλῶς καὶ ὡσαύτως καὶ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ διαμένον, μίαν καὶ ἁπλῆν κινήσει κίνησιν.
CHAPTER VII ARGUMENT [A fresh start. Can any motion continue for ever without interruption, and if so what motion? And what form of motion rs prior to all others? If motion is to be eternal, the motion which is both continuous and primary must be that caused by the primary mover (260 a 20-26).
Local motion is prior both to change of quality and to change of quantity: such changes cannot occur without movement in space (a 26-b 15).
PHYSICS, VIII. vz.-vi.
is itself in motion; for the motion caused by the unmoved (A) will be a single motion caused always in the same way, since it in no way changes in relation to the mobile; whereas that (C) which is moved by an agent (B) that is in motion, though that motion be im- mediately caused by the unmoving, inasmuch as it (C) changes its relation to the things (D) it moves, will not cause a uniform movement, but because of its contrasted positions or characteristics will produce contrary movements in each of the things it affects, and any such movements will be intermittent.
So now, from all that has been said, the answer is clear to the question from which we started: How comes it about that it is neither true that all things are in motion nor that all things are at rest, nor that some things are always in motion and the remainder always at rest, but that there are things which are sometimes in the one state and sometimes in the other? The reason of this is now obvious, namely, that some things derive their motion from an eternal and immovable cause, and therefore their motion is constant, whereas others derive their motion from a cause which is itself in motion and changing, and therefore they also must necessarily be changing. The immovable, as we have said, being simple and unchanging and self-constant, causes an unbroken and simple motion.
CHAPTER VII ARGUMENT (continued) Local motion is prior to all other kinds of change in all the three senses of priority (Ὁ 15-19): (1) it can exist without the others, but the others cannot exist without it (b 19-29); ARISTOTLE ARGUMENT (continued) (2) it is prior in time, as the only motion possible to eternal things; and locomotion must precede even ἡ coming-into- being’ (Ὁ 29-261 a 12); (8) it is prior in the order of nature, as being last in the order of development of the perfect form Locomotion, then, being prior to all other changes, what species of locomotion is primary? The answer will establish what we have assumed—that a continuous eternal motion is possible (a 27-31).
No other kind of change can continue without interruption, 260 a 20 Οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλην ποιησαμένοις ἀρχὴν μᾶλ- λον ἔσται περὶ τούτων φανερόν. σκεπτέον “γὰρ πό- τερον ἐνδέχεταί τινα κίνησιν εἶναι συνεχῆ ἢ οὔ, καὶ εἰ ἐνδέχεται, τίς αὕτη, καὶ τίς πρώτη τῶν κινήσεων" δῆλον γὰρ ὡς εἴπερ ἀναγκαῖον μὲν ἀεὶ κίνησιν εἶναι, 96 πρώτη δὲ ἧδε καὶ συνεχής, ὅτι τὸ πρῶτον κινοῦν κινεῖ ταύτην τὴν κίνησιν, ἣν ἀναγκαῖον μίαν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν εἶναι καὶ συνεχῆ καὶ ᾿ πρώτην.
Τριῶν δ᾽ οὐσῶν κινήσεων, τῆς τε κατὰ μέγεθος καὶ τῆς κατὰ πάθος καὶ τῆς κατὰ τόπον, ἣν καλοῦ- μεν φοράν, ταύτην ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι πρώτην. ἀδύνα- 80 TOV γὰρ αὔξησιν εἶναι ἀλλοιώσεως μὴ προυπαρ- χούσης" τὸ “γὰρ αὐξανόμενον ἔστι μὲν ὡς ὁμοίῳ av ἄνεται, ἔστι δ᾽ ὡς ἀνομοίῳ" τροφὴ γὰρ λέγεται τῷ ἐναντίῳ τὸ ἐναντίον, προσγίγνεται é πᾶν γιγνόμενον ὅμοιον ὁμοίῳ. ἀνάγκη οὖν ἀλλοίω- 260 b ow εἶναι τὴν εἰς τἀναντία μεταβολήν. ἀλλὰ μὴν εἴ γε ἀλλοιοῦται, δεῖ τι εἶναι τὸ ἀλλοιοῦν καὶ ποιοῦν ἐκ τοῦ δυνάμει θερμοῦ τὸ ἐνεργείᾳ θερμόν.
¢ [This doctrine that nourishment involves qualitative as- similation is discussed in De anima 416 a 19 ff.—C.
PHYSICS, VIII. vu.
ARGUMENT (continued) because all other kinds of change take place in opposite directions between contrary, or (in the case of genesis and perishing) contradictory, extremes. When the change reaches an extreme it must cease. Whether it is succeeded by a state of rest or by a contrary change does not matter; what matters is that no change can coexist with either rest or the contrary change (a 31—b 26).—C.]
But conclusive as all this may be, it will be clearer yet if we start again and approach it from another direction. For we may ask ourselves whether it is possible for there to be any continuous motion at all, and if so of what nature such motion must be; and also what kind of motion must be prior to all others. For it is obvious that if there must be eternal motion, and if some particular motion is primary and continuous, then that is just the motion which the prime mover causes—necessarily unbroken and uniform and everlasting and primary.
Now of the three kinds of motion (in the larger sense of change in general), to wit change of quantity, change of quality, and change of place, which we call ‘ locomotion,’ this last named must come first. For growth cannot take place without change of qualities preceding it, for though that which grows may be said in one sense to increase by addition of its like, in another sense it grows by addition of its unlike; for there is a contrast of unlikeness between the food and the fed, and every accession is caused by the unlike becoming like, which passage from unlikeness to likeness constitutes change of quality.* But if there is change of quality there must be something that causes the change and makes, for instance, what was susceptible of being heated ARISTOTLE ARISTOTLE 260b δῆλον οὖν ὅτι TO κινοῦν οὐχ ὁμοίως ἔχει, ἀλλ᾽ ὁτὲ μὲν ἐγγύτερον OTe δὲ πορρώτερον τοῦ ἀλλοιουμένου ὅ ἐστίν: ταῦτα δ᾽ ἄνευ φορᾶς οὐκ ἐνδέχεται ὑπάρχειν. εἰ ἄρα ἀνάγκη ἀεὶ κίνησιν εἶναι, ἀνάγκη καὶ φορὰν ἀεὶ εἶναι πρώτην τῶν κινήσεων, καὶ φορᾶς, εἰ ἔστιν ἡ μὲν πρώτη ἡ δ᾽ ὑστέρα, τὴν πρώτην. ἔτι δὲ πάντων τῶν παθημάτων ἀρχὴ πύκνωσις καὶ μάνωσις---καὶ yap βαρὺ καὶ κοῦφον καὶ μαλακὸν 10 Kal σκληρὸν καὶ θερμὸν καὶ ψυχρὸν πυκνότητες δοκοῦσι καὶ ἀραιότητες εἶναί τινες--πύκνωσις δὲ καὶ μάνωσις σύγκρισις καὶ διάκρισις, καθ᾽ ἃς γένεσις καὶ φθορὰ λέγεται τῶν οὐσιῶν" συγκρινό- μενα δὲ καὶ διακρινόμενα ἀνάγκη κατὰ τόπον μεταβάλλειν. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τοῦ αὐξανομένου καὶ φθίνοντος μεταβάλλει κατὰ τόπον τὸ μέγεθος. is Ἔστι καὶ ἐντεῦθεν ἐπισκοποῦσιν ἔσται φανερὸν ὅτι ἡ φορὰ πρώτη. τὸ γὰρ πρῶτον ὥσπερ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων, οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ κινήσεως ἂν λέγοιτο πλεοναχῶς" λέγεται δὲ πρότερον, οὗ τε μὴ ὄντος οὐκ ἔσται τἄλλα, ἐκεῖνο δὲ ἄνευ τῶν ἄλλων, καὶ τὸ τῷ χρόνῳ, καὶ τὸ κατ᾽ οὐσίαν.
α Philoponus, Albertus Magnus, and Aquinas all insist that Aristotle is here taking the Atomists on their own ground but not committing himself to their doctrine. Hence the reservations ‘ are taken to be’ and ‘ are supposed to be.’ [The reference may be to the Ionian Monists. At Met. 988 b 29 ff. they are criticized, as a group, for deriving the qualitative differences of the four elements from the σύγκρισις (i.e. πύκνωσις) of a single primary element without deciding whether this is to be Fire or Air or Water. See Simplic. Phys. 1319. 17 ff. Cf. 265 Ὁ 17-266 a 5, where Aristotle says that all the physicists down to and including Plato PHYSICS, VIII. vu.
PHYSICS, VIII. vu.
actually hot. And for this to come about the moving cause obviously cannot remain just as it was, but must approach or recede from that which it modifies; and that can only happen by local movement. If, then, there must always be motion (in the larger sense) there must always be local movement, which takes precedence amongst all the kinds of motion; and if there is an order of precedence in the different kinds of local movements, then it must be the primal form of local movement that always continues. Further, the principle of all changes of quality is condensation and rarification, for heavy and light, soft and hard, hot and cold are taken to be different manifestations of condensation and rarification, and condensation and rarification, again, to be identical with the combination and resolution by which the genesis and evanishment of things are supposed to come about. But combination and resolution necessarily involve change of place. Moreover, all that grows or shrinks changes locally in that it changes in size.® Yet again it can be proved that local motion takes precedence of the others by the following considera- tions. In regard to motion, as in regard to every- thing else, ‘priority’ has several meanings: (1) that has priority without which the things to which it is said to be prior cannot exist, whereas it can exist without them; (2) the priority may be in time; and (3) in respect of perfection of nature.
implied that locomotion was the primary form of all change.—C, | ὃ It has been shown that its nourishment changes in quality and that this involves local changes. It is now added that the mere occupying more or less room is itself a local change.
ARISTOTLE 260b20 Ὥστ᾽ ἐπεὶ κίνησιν μὲν ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι συνεχῶς, εἴη δ᾽ ἂν συνεχῶς ἢ ἡ συνεχὴς ἢ ἡ ἐφεξῆς, μᾶλλον ἡ συνεχής, καὶ βέλτιον συνεχῆ ἢ ἐφεξῆς εἶναι, τὸ δὲ βέλτιον ἀεὶ ὑπολαμβάνομεν ἐν τῇ φύσει ὑπάρχειν, ἂν ἢ δυνατόν, δυνατὸν δὲ συνεχῆ εἶναι (δειχθήσεται δὲ ὕστερον: νῦν δὲ τοῦθ᾽ ὑποκείσθω), Kal ταύτην οὐδεμίαν ἄλλην οἷόν 7° εἶναι ἀλλ᾽ ἢ φοράν, ἀνάγκη τὴν φορὰν εἷναι πρώτην. οὐδεμία yap ἀνάγκη οὔτε αὔξεσθαι οὔτε ἀλλοιοῦσθαι τὸ φερόμενον, οὐδὲ δὴ γίγνεσθαι ἢ φθείρεσθαι": τούτων δὲ οὐδεμίαν ἐνδέχεται τῆς συνεχοῦς μὴ οὔσης, ἣν κινεῖ TO πρῶτον κινοῦν.
30 “Ere χρόνῳ πρώτην’ τοῖς yap ἀιδίοις μόνον ἐνδέχεται κινεῖσθαι ταύτην. ἀλλ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ἑνὸς μὲν ὁτουοῦν τῶν ἐχόντων γένεσιν τὴν φορὰν ἀναγ- καῖον ὑστάτην εἶναι τῶν κινήσεων: μετὰ γὰρ τὸ γενέσθαι πρῶτον ἀλλοίωσις καὶ αὔξησις, φορὰ 2618 δ᾽ ἤδη τετελειωμένων κίνησίς ἐστιν. ἀλλ᾽ ἕτερον ἀνάγκη κινούμενον εἶναι κατὰ φορὰν πρότερον, ὃ Kal τῆς γενέσεως αἴτιον ἔσται τοῖς γιγνομένοις, οὐ γιγνόμενον, οἷον τὸ γεννῆσαν τοῦ γεννηθέντος. ἐπεὶ δόξειέ γ᾽ ἂν ἡ γένεσις εἶναι πρώτη τῶν κινήσεων διὰ τοῦτο, ὅτι γενέσθαι δεῖ τὸ πρᾶγμα 5 πρῶτον." τὸ δ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ἑνὸς μὲν ὁτουοῦν τῶν γιγνομένων οὕτως ἔχει, ἀλλ᾽ ἕτερον ἀναγκαῖον πρότερόν τι πε ρος σφ κς Ὡς τὸ τοις α 2,6. either the same motion must go on continuously or different motions must succeed one another without a pause.
¢ Animals and plants are primarily in Aristotle’s mind. ἃ As manifested by self-movers.
PHYSICS, VIII. vu.
Thus (1) since motion must necessarily go on with- out intermission, and to do so must either be con- tinuous or successive,* of which continuity is to be preferred as the better, and since we must always assume the better, if it be not impossible, to be what actually occurs in nature, and since (as will be demon- strated hereafter,? and may be assumed meanwhile) continuity is not impossible in this case, and no other but local motion can be continuous, it follows that local motion has the priority in the first sense. For the fact that a thing is changing its place is no reason why it should also be growing or changing its quali- ties, or coming into existence or vanishing out of it; whereas none of these other changes could take place, were it not for the continuous motion which the prime mover causes.
Further (2) it is first in time, for it is the only motion of which things eternal are capable. It is true that if we take any one individual thing that comes into being and vanishes out of 10,9 local move- ment must be the last which it experiences, for after it has begun to exist modification and growth are the first to set in, whereas local motion ὦ is the char- acteristic movement of the ‘accomplished’ creature. On the other hand, all this must be preceded by some other cause which is locally in motion and acts as the cause of things coming into existence without itself being in process of coming into existence, as we see in the case of the begetter and the begotten. It might seem that genesis could claim the priority amongst movements, on the ground that the thing moust be generated before all else; but though this is so with respect to any one thing that comes to be, yet something which is not coming into existence ARISTOTLE ARISTOTLE 2618 κινεῖσθαι τῶν γιγνομένων ov αὐτὸ καὶ μὴ γιγ- νόμενον, καὶ τούτου ἕτερον πρότερον. ἐπεὶ δὲ γένεσιν ἀδύνατον εἶναι πρώτην (πάντα yap ἂν εἴη τὰ κινούμενα φθαρτά), δῆλον ws οὐδὲ τῶν ἐφεξῆς 10 κινήσεων οὐδεμία προτέρα---λέγω δ᾽ ἐφεξῆς αὔξησιν, εἶτ᾽ ἀλλοίωσιν καὶ φθίσιν καὶ φθοράν---πᾶσαι γὰρ ὕστεραι γενέσεως, ὥστ᾽ εἰ μηδὲ γένεσις προτέρα φορᾶς, οὐδὲ τῶν ἄλλων οὐδεμία μεταβολῶν. A A Ὅλως δὲ φαίνεται τὸ γιγνόμενον ἀτελὲς καὶ ἐπ᾽ ἀρχὴν ἰόν, ὥστε TO TH γενέσει ὕστερον TH φύσει ,ὔ Ss “a A 4 van ς / πρότερον εἶναι. τελευταῖον δὲ dopa πᾶσιν ὑπάρχει 1s Tots ev γενέσει. διὸ τὰ μὲν ὅλως ἀκίνητα τῶν ζώντων δι᾽ ἔνδειαν τοῦ ὀργάνου, οἷον τὰ φυτὰ καὶ πολλὰ γένη τῶν ζῴων, τοῖς δὲ τελειουμένοις ὑπάρχει. ὥστ᾽ εἰ μᾶλλον ὑπάρχει φορὰ τοῖς μᾶλλον ἀπειληφόσι τὴν φύσιν, καὶ ἡ κίησις αὕτη πρώτη τῶν ἄλλων ἂν εἴη κατ᾽ οὐσίαν, διά τε ταῦτα 20 Καὶ διότι ἥκιστα τῆς οὐσίας ἐξίσταται τὸ κινού- μενον τῶν κινήσεων ἐν τῷ φέρεσθαι" κατὰ μόνην γὰρ οὐδὲν μεταβάλλει τοῦ εἶναι, ὥσπερ ἀλλοιου- μένου μὲν τὸ ποιόν, αὐξανομένου δὲ Kat φθίνοντος τὸ ποσόν. μάλιστα δὲ δῆλον ὅτι τὸ κινοῦν αὐτὸ PHYSICS, VIII. viz.
but actually exists must in every case have been already moving before the inception of the thing which is coming into existence, and another again before that other. And since genesis cannot have been the absolute first (for if so all moving things would be perishable), it is clear that neither can any of the movements next in order (by which I mean growth, modification, decay, and passing away) take the precedence, since they are all subsequent to genesis; so that if genesis does not precede local movement neither can any of the other forms of change do so.
Finally (3), taking broad ground, we may say that anything which is in process of coming into being proclaims itself as imperfect, and as making for some constituent principle which is already there in the nature of things, so that what it comes to last in its own genesis precedes it in the order of nature. Now local movement is the final characteristic that mani- fests itself in generated creatures. This is why some living creatures, such as plants and many kinds of animals, cannot move for lack of the appropriate organ, while others possess the power as they come to perfection. So if local movement characterizes things in proportion to the fulness of nature they have realized, this same kind of movement should take precedence of all others in respect of perfection of nature. And besides this, there is another reason, namely, that of all kinds of change local movement is the one which takes its subject least away from its essential nature, for it is the only one that affects no intimate characteristic, as modification affects quality and growth or shrinkage quantity. But most con- vincing of all is the fact that it is just this local move- ARISTOTLE 261825 αὑτὸ μάλιστα ταύτην κινεῖ κυρίως THY κατὰ τόπον' καίτοι φαμὲν τοῦτ᾽ εἶναι τῶν κινουμένων καὶ κινούντων ἀρχήν, καὶ πρῶτον τοῖς κινουμένοις τὸ αὐτὸ αὑτὸ κινοῦν.
τι μὲν τοίνυν τῶν κινήσεων ἡ φορὰ πρώτη, φανερὸν ἐκ τούτων" Tis δὲ φορὰ πρώτη, νῦν δεικτέον. ἅμα δὲ Kal τὸ viv καὶ πρότερον ὑποτεθέν, ὅτι 80 ἐνδέχεταί τινα κίνησιν εἶναι συνεχῆ Kal ἀΐδιον, φανερὸν ἔσται τῇ αὐτῇ μεθόδῳ. τι μὲν οὖν τῶν ἄλλων κινήσεων οὐδεμίαν ἐνδέχεται συνεχῆ εἶναι, ἐκ τῶνδε φανερόν. ἅπασαι γὰρ ἐξ ἀντικειμένων εἰς ἀντικείμενά εἶσιν at κινή- σεις καὶ μεταβολαΐί--οἷον γενέσει μὲν καὶ φθορᾷ 8 τὸ ὃν καὶ TO μὴ OV ὅροι, ἀλλοιώσει δὲ τἀναντία πάθη, αὐξήσει δὲ καὶ φθίσει ἢ μέγεθος καὶ μι- κρότης ἢ τελειότης μεγέθους καὶ ἀτέλεια---ἐναντίαι 261} δ᾽ αἱ εἰς τὰ ἐναντία. τὸ O€ μὴ ἀεὶ κινούμενον τήνδε τὴν κίνησιν, ὃν δὲ πρότερον, ἀνάγκη πρότερον ἠρεμεῖν. φανερὸν οὖν ὅτι ἠρεμήσει ἐν τῷ ἐναντίῳ τὸ μεταβάλλον. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν μεταβολῶν: ὃ Such as hot and cold, light and heavy.
¢ [Hence its change cannot be continuous.—C.]
ἃ ἘΡ 225 a 31. Every ‘movement’ (κίνησις, 2.6. change of quality, quantity, or place) is a ‘change’ (aeasansy: becoming and perishing are ὁ changes,’ not ‘ movements.’— * PHYSICS, VIII. vu.
ment and no other which is, properly speaking, made by the self-mover as such; and it is just this self- mover that we have pronounced to be the principle, amongst things that are both in motion themselves and causes of motion in others, and the initiator of the movement of moving things.
That local motion takes precedence of the other motions has thus been demonstrated, and we must now go on to show what form of local movement itself takes precedence of the others; in the course of which investigation we shall demonstrate what we have, in the present context and earlier,? laid down provisionally as to the possibility of there actually being a continuous and eternal movement.
To begin with, it is clear from the following con- siderations that no progression other than local move- — ment can be continuous and perpetual. All the other progressions or changes are between one term and its opposite—for instance, existence and non-existence are the limiting terms of genesis and evanishment 5 the extremes either way are the limits of qualitative modifications >; and the greatest and least possible size, or maximum approach to, or defect from, the perfect norm of size, are the limits of growth and shrinkage — and movements directed to opposite limits are opposite to each other. Now a mobile which has not always been subject to a given move- ment, but was in existence before it began it, must then have been exempt from that movement; so it is clear that that movement of the changing thing will cease when it reaches either extreme.“ And so too with (pure) changes (that are not movements %); ARISTOTLE ARISTOTLE 8618 ἀντίκειται yap ἡ φθορὰ καὶ γένεσις ἁπλῶς Kal ἡ καθ᾽ ἕκαστον τῇ καθ᾽ ἕκαστον: ὥστ᾽ εἰ ἀδύνατον ἅμα μεταβάλλειν τὰς ἀντικειμένας, οὐκ ἔσται συνεχὴς ἢ μεταβολή, ἀλλὰ μεταξὺ ἔσται αὐτῶν χρόνος. οὐδὲν yap διαφέρει ἐναντίας ἢ μὴ ἐναντίας εἶναι Tas κατ᾽ ἀντίφασιν μεταβολάς, εἰ μόνον 10 ἀδύνατον ἅμα TH αὐτῷ παρεῖναι: τοῦτο yap τῷ oym οὐδὲν χρήσιμον: οὐδ᾽ εἰ μὴ ἀνάγκη ἠρεμῆσαι ἐν τῇ ἀντιφάσει, μηδ᾽ ἐστὲ μεταβολῇ ἠρεμία" ἐναντίον —ov yap ἴσως ἠρεμεῖ τὸ μὴ ὄν: ἡ δὲ φθορὰ εἰς τὸ μὴ ὄν---ἀλλ᾽ εἰ μόνον μεταξὺ γίγνεται χρόνος" οὕτω yap οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ μεταβολὴ συνεχής" οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐν 15 τοῖς πρότερον ἡ ἐναντίωσις χρήσιμον, ἀλλὰ TO μὴ ἐνδέχεσθαι ἅμα ὑπάρχειν. od δεῖ δὲ ταράττεσθαι ὅτι τὸ αὐτὸ πλείοσιν ἔσται ἐναντίον, οἷον ἡ κίνησις καὶ στάσει Kal κινήσει TH εἰς τοὐναντίον, ἀλλὰ μόνον τοῦτο λαμβάνειν, ὅτι ἀντίκειταί πως καὶ τῇ κινήσει Kal TH ἠρεμίᾳ ἡ κίνησις ἡ ἐναντία 00 (καθάπερ τὸ ἴσον καὶ τὸ μέτριον τῷ ὑπερέχοντι καὶ τῷ ὑπερεχομένῳ), καὶ ὅτι οὐκ ἐνδέχεται ἅμα τὰς ἀντικειμένας οὔτε κινήσεις οὔτε μεταβολὰς ὑπάρχειν. ἔτι δ᾽ ἐπί τε τῆς γενέσεως Kal τῆς φθορᾶς καὶ παντελῶς ἄτοπον ἂν εἶναι δόξειεν, εἰ 1 [μεταβολῇ ἠρεμία HI, Oxf. Trans.: μεταβολὴ ἠρεμίᾳ cett.
“πα: PHYSICS, VIII. vi.