Metaphysics: Books Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon (Clarendon Aristotle Series) PDF
Preview Metaphysics: Books Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon (Clarendon Aristotle Series)
Page i CLARENDON ARISTOTLE SERIES General Editors J. L. ACKRILL AND LINDSAY JUDSON Page ii Also published in this series Categories and De Interpretatione J. L. ACKRILL De Anima Books II and III D. W. HAMLYN New impression with supplementary material by Christopher Shields De Generatione et Corruptione C. J. F. WILLIAMS De Partibus Animalium I and De Generatione Animalium I D. M. BALME New impression with supplementary material by Allan Gotthelf Eudemian Ethics Books I, II, and VIII MICHAEL WOODS Second edition Metaphysics Books M and N JULIA ANNAS Physics Books I and II WILLIAM CHARLTON New impression with supplementary material Physics Books III and IV EDWARD HUSSEY New impression with supplementary material Posterior Analytics JONATHAN BARNES Second edition Other volumes are in preparation Page iii Aristotle Metaphysics Books G, D, and E Translated with Notes by Christopher Kirwan Second Edition CLARENDON PRESS. OXFORD Page iv Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Bombay Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madras Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi Paris Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Oxford University Press 1971, 1993 Reprinted 1998 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press. Within the UK, exceptions are allowed in respect of any fair dealing for the purpose of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of the licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms and in other countries should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser ISBN 0198240864 ISBN 0198240872 (Pbk) Printed in Great Britain by Biddies Short Run Books King's Lynn Page v PREFACE The text translated is that of W. Jaeger in the Oxford Classical Texts Series (1957). Footnotes in the translation mark the few places where I have diverged from it. Matter enclosed in square brackets in the translation is either specification of Aristotle's references, e.g. '[1011a20]', or alternative translations, e.g. 'origin [principle]', or words not represented in the Greek, e.g. 'original [step]' where the Greek has 'origin'. The marginal lineations in the translation are placed in such a way that, for instance, the English in the line marked 1003a35 translates matter from lines 34 and 35 in the Greek text. Thus the lineations err, when at all, on the side of being early. Chapter divisions are traditional (though not due to Aristotle himself); punctuation, parentheses, and paragraphing are my own. Among several useful translations of the Metaphysics into English Sir David Ross's still stands out as the most accurate and perceptive. Since there would have been little point in attempting a second time what he has done already, I have aimed at a more literal rendering, for which there is a greater need now that many students of philosophy come to Aristotle without Greek. In pursuit of this aim I have tried to avoid using the same English word to translate two Greek words; so, for example, the common word 'phanai' is given as 'assert', in order to reserve 'say' (among other renderings) for the equally common 'legein'. I gladly acknowledge my debt to many scholars and colleagues, and first to Sir David Ross, not only for the model which his translation provided but also for the help I have received from the enviably knowledgeable and sensible commentary in his edition of the Metaphysics. I have rarely consulted other Commentaries, except Alexander. Secondly, I thank Professor J. L. Ackrill, editor of this series, whose acute and thorough criticism of my translation and notes has Page vi improved them at many places and in many ways. I owe a great debt to his assistance and encouragement. Thirdly, I am glad to record my thanks to many others who have read drafts or helped me in correspondence: to R.J. Hawkins who checked the proofs and made a number of useful suggestions; to J. Barnes who commented on drafts G 34 and E; to M. Scholar who allowed me to read his detailed essay on G 45; to W. Charlton whose version of, and notes on, Physics II 3 I was able to see before their publication; to J. A. Baker and A. J. P. Kenny who read and criticized the translations of G and D respectively; and to Miss W. F. Hicken and Professor P. T. Geach. Last, I owe thanks to my College and the University of Michigan, the one for giving me the sabbatical leave during which half this book was written, the other for affording me most congenial surroundings for working on it during part of that leave. CHRISTOPHER KIRWAN EXTER, COLLEGE, OXFORD MAY 1970 Note on Second Edition Some corrections were already made in the 1980 reprint; this second edition introduces about a dozen more. Further Comments are added which take account of work published since 1971. The Bibliography is enlarged and updated. An Index Locorum is added. The Subject Index is expanded. I have not tried to revise the Notes, beyond a few minor changes (I would alter many things, if I were now starting afresh). Marginal page references to the Further Comments have been added at a score or so of places in the Notes. I wish to thank Professor J. L. Ackrill, Professor M. Frede, and Dr R. L. Judson for their kindness in reviewing the Further Comments, which improved them. CHRISTOPHER KIRWAN EXTER COLLEGE, OXFORD NOVEMBER 1992 Page ix CONTENTS Translation Book 1 Book 27 Book E 66 Notes General 75 Book 75 Book 122 Book E 183 Further Comments (1992) 201 Metaphysics 201 Contradiction 203 Identity 208 Being 214 Coincidence 217 Determinism 222 Bibliography 227 Glossary 239 Index Locorum 241 Index of Names and Subjects 251 Page 1 Metaphysics Book Gamma Chapter 1 1003a21. There is a discipline which studies that which is qua thingthatis and those things that hold good of this in its own right. This is not the same as any of what are called the special disciplines. For none of the others examines uni versally that which is qua thingthatis, but all select some part of it and study what is coincidental concerning that; as 25 for instance the mathematical disciplines. But since we are seeking origins, i.e. the most extreme causes, it is plain that these are necessarily a particular nature's in its own right. If therefore these origins were also sought by those seeking the elements of the thingsthatare, the elements too are neces 30 sarily of that which is qua thingthatis, not coincidentally. Hence we also have to find the first causes of that which is qua thingthatis. Chapter 2 1003a33. That which is may be so called in several ways, but with reference to one thing, i.e. one particular nature, not homonymously. Just as that which is healthy all has reference 35 to health (either from its preserving, or producing, or being a sign of health, or because recipient of it); and that which is 1003b medical has reference to medical [art] (either it is called medical from possessing medical [art], or from being natur ally suited to it, or from being an exercise of medical [art])— and we shall find other things called [what they are] in ways similar to these: just so that which is may also be so called in 5 several ways, but all with reference to one origin. For some are called things that are because they are substances; some because they are affections of a substance; some because B Page 2 they are a route to a substance, or destructions, or lacks, or qualities, or productive, or generative of a substance or of things called [what they are] with reference to substance; 10 or denials of one of these or of a substance (that is why we assert that even what is not is a thing that is not). 1003b11. Therefore, just as everything that is healthy Falls to one discipline, this is equally so in the other cases too. For it falls to one discipline to study not only things called [what they are] by virtue of one thing, but also things called [what they are] with reference to one nature; indeed in a 15 certain sense the latter too are called [what they are] by virtue of one thing. Plainly, therefore, the thingsthatare also fall to be studied by one discipline qua thingsthatare. 1003b16. In every case the fundamental concern of a discipline is with its primary [object], i.e. that on which the others depend and to which they owe their being called [what they are]. So if this thing is substance, the philosopher will need to have the principles and causes of substances. 1003b19. Every one genus falls to one perception and 20 discipline; as for instance all spoken sounds are studied by grammar, which is one discipline. Hence it also falls to genetically one discipline to study all the forms of that which is qua thingthatis, and the forms of those forms. 1003b22. Suppose it true, then, that that which is and that which is one are the same thing—i.e. one nature—in that each follows from the other as origin and cause do, not as 25 being indicated by one formula (though it makes no differ ence even if we believe them like that—indeed it helps). For one man and a man that is and a man are the same thing; and nothing different is indicated by the reduplication in wording of 'he is one man' and 'he is one man that is' (it is plain that there is no distinction in [the processes of] coming 30 to be or destruction); and equally in the case of that which is one. It follows obviously that the addition indicates the same thing in these cases, and that which is one is nothing
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