’Potency’means1asourceofmovementorchange,whichisin
anotherthingthanthethingmovedorinthesamethingquaother;
e。g。theartofbuildingisapotencywhichisnotinthethingbuilt,
whiletheartofhealing,whichisapotency,maybeintheman
healed,butnotinhimquahealed。’Potency’thenmeansthesource,in
general,ofchangeormovementinanotherthingorinthesamething
quaother,andalso2thesourceofathing’sbeingmovedbyanother
thingorbyitselfquaother。Forinvirtueofthatprinciple,in
virtueofwhichapatientsuffersanything,wecallit’capable’of
suffering;andthiswedosometimesifitsuffersanythingatall,
sometimesnotinrespectofeverythingitsuffers,butonlyifit
suffersachangeforthebetter——3Thecapacityofperformingthis
welloraccordingtointention;forsometimeswesayofthosewho
merelycanwalkorspeakbutnotwellornotastheyintend,thatthey
cannotspeakorwalk。Sotoo4inthecaseofpassivity——5The
statesinvirtueofwhichthingsareabsolutelyimpassiveor
unchangeable,ornoteasilychangedfortheworse,arecalled
potencies;forthingsarebrokenandcrushedandbentandingeneral
destroyednotbyhavingapotencybutbynothavingoneandbylacking
something,andthingsareimpassivewithrespecttosuchprocesses
iftheyarescarcelyandslightlyaffectedbythem,becauseofa
’potency’andbecausethey’can’dosomethingandareinsomepositive
state。
’Potency’havingthisvarietyofmeanings,sotoothe’potent’
or’capable’inonesensewillmeanthatwhichcanbeginamovement
orachangeingeneral,foreventhatwhichcanbringthingsto
restisa’potent’thinginanotherthingorinitselfquaother;and
inonesensethatoverwhichsomethingelsehassuchapotency;andin
onesensethatwhichhasapotencyofchangingintosomething,whether
fortheworseorforthebetterforeventhatwhichperishesis
thoughttobe’capable’ofperishing,foritwouldnothaveperished
ifithadnotbeencapableofit;but,asamatteroffact,ithasa
certaindispositionandcauseandprinciplewhichfitsittosuffer
this;sometimesitisthoughttobeofthissortbecauseithas
something,sometimesbecauseitisdeprivedofsomething;butif
privationisinasense’having’or’habit’,everythingwillbe
capablebyhavingsomething,sothatthingsarecapablebothbyhaving
apositivehabitandprinciple,andbyhavingtheprivationofthis,
ifitispossibletohaveaprivation;andifprivationisnotina
sense’habit’,’capable’isusedintwodistinctsenses;anda
thingiscapableinanothersensebecauseneitheranyotherthing,nor
itselfquaother,hasapotencyorprinciplewhichcandestroyit。
Again,allofthesearecapableeithermerelybecausethething
mightchancetohappenornottohappen,orbecauseitmightdoso
well。Thissortofpotencyisfoundeveninlifelessthings,e。g。in
instruments;forwesayonelyrecanspeak,andanothercannotspeak
atall,ifithasnotagoodtone。
Incapacityisprivationofcapacity-i。e。ofsuchaprincipleas
hasbeendescribedeitheringeneralorinthecaseofsomething
thatwouldnaturallyhavethecapacity,orevenatthetimewhenit
wouldnaturallyalreadyhaveit;forthesensesinwhichweshould
callaboyandamanandaeunuch’incapableofbegetting’are
distinct-Again,toeitherkindofcapacitythereisanopposite
incapacity-bothtothatwhichonlycanproducemovementandtothat
whichcanproduceitwell。
Somethings,then,arecalledadunatainvirtueofthiskindof
incapacity,whileothersaresoinanothersense;i。e。bothdunaton
andadunatonareusedasfollows。Theimpossibleisthatofwhich
thecontraryisofnecessitytrue,e。g。thatthediagonalofa
squareiscommensuratewiththesideisimpossible,becausesucha
statementisafalsityofwhichthecontraryisnotonlytruebutalso
necessary;thatitiscommensurate,then,isnotonlyfalsebutalso
ofnecessityfalse。Thecontraryofthis,thepossible,isfound
whenitisnotnecessarythatthecontraryisfalse,e。g。thataman
shouldbeseatedispossible;forthatheisnotseatedisnotof
necessityfalse。Thepossible,then,inonesense,ashasbeensaid,
meansthatwhichisnotofnecessityfalse;inone,thatwhichis
true;inone,thatwhichmaybetrue-A’potency’or’power’in
geometryissocalledbyachangeofmeaning-Thesesensesof
’capable’or’possible’involvenoreferencetopotency。Butthe
senseswhichinvolveareferencetopotencyallrefertotheprimary
kindofpotency;andthisisasourceofchangeinanotherthingorin
thesamethingquaother。Forotherthingsarecalled’capable’,
somebecausesomethingelsehassuchapotencyoverthem,somebecause
ithasnot,somebecauseithasitinaparticularway。Thesameis
trueofthethingsthatareincapable。Thereforetheproperdefinition
oftheprimarykindofpotencywillbe’asourceofchangein
anotherthingorinthesamethingquaother’。
’Quantum’meansthatwhichisdivisibleintotwoormore
constituentpartsofwhicheachisbynaturea’one’anda’this’。A
quantumisapluralityifitisnumerable,amagnitudeifitisa
measurable。’Plurality’meansthatwhichisdivisiblepotentiallyinto
non-continuousparts,’magnitude’thatwhichisdivisibleinto
continuousparts;ofmagnitude,thatwhichiscontinuousinone
dimensionislength;intwobreadth,inthreedepth。Ofthese,limited
pluralityisnumber,limitedlengthisaline,breadthasurface,
depthasolid。
Again,somethingsarecalledquantainvirtueoftheirown
nature,othersincidentally;e。g。thelineisaquantumbyitsown
nature,themusicalisoneincidentally。Ofthethingsthatarequanta
bytheirownnaturesomearesoassubstances,e。g。thelineisa
quantumfor’acertainkindofquantum’ispresentinthe
definitionwhichstateswhatitis,andothersaremodifications
andstatesofthiskindofsubstance,e。g。muchandlittle,longand
short,broadandnarrow,deepandshallow,heavyandlight,andall
othersuchattributes。Andalsogreatandsmall,andgreaterand
smaller,bothinthemselvesandwhentakenrelativelytoeachother,
arebytheirownnatureattributesofwhatisquantitative;but
thesenamesaretransferredtootherthingsalso。Ofthingsthatare
quantaincidentally,somearesocalledinthesenseinwhichitwas
saidthatthemusicalandthewhitewerequanta,viz。becausethat
towhichmusicalnessandwhitenessbelongisaquantum,andsomeare
quantainthewayinwhichmovementandtimeareso;forthesealso
arecalledquantaofasortandcontinuousbecausethethingsofwhich
theseareattributesaredivisible。Imeannotthatwhichismoved,
butthespacethroughwhichitismoved;forbecausethatisaquantum
movementalsoisaquantum,andbecausethisisaquantumtimeisone。
’Quality’means1thedifferentiaoftheessence,e。g。manisan
animalofacertainqualitybecauseheistwo-footed,andthehorseis
sobecauseitisfour-footed;andacircleisafigureofparticular
qualitybecauseitiswithoutangles,-whichshowsthattheessential
differentiaisaquality-This,then,isonemeaningofquality-the
differentiaoftheessence,but2thereisanothersenseinwhichit
appliestotheunmovableobjectsofmathematics,thesenseinwhich
thenumbershaveacertainquality,e。g。thecompositenumberswhich
arenotinonedimensiononly,butofwhichtheplaneandthesolid
arecopiesthesearethosewhichhavetwoorthreefactors;andin
generalthatwhichexistsintheessenceofnumbersbesidesquantity
isquality;fortheessenceofeachiswhatitisonce,e。g。thatof
isnotwhatitistwiceorthrice,butwhatitisonce;for6is
once6。
3Allthemodificationsofsubstancesthatmovee。g。heatand
cold,whitenessandblackness,heavinessandlightness,andtheothers
ofthesortinvirtueofwhich,whentheychange,bodiesaresaid
toalter。4Qualityinrespectofvirtueandvice,andingeneral,
ofevilandgood。
Quality,then,seemstohavepracticallytwomeanings,andone
oftheseisthemoreproper。Theprimaryqualityisthedifferentiaof
theessence,andofthisthequalityinnumbersisapart;foritisa
differentiaofessences,buteithernotofthingsthatmoveornot
ofthemquamoving。Secondly,therearethemodificationsofthings
thatmove,quamoving,andthedifferentiaeofmovements。Virtueand
vicefallamongthesemodifications;fortheyindicatedifferentiaeof
themovementoractivity,accordingtowhichthethingsinmotion
actorareactedonwellorbadly;forthatwhichcanbemovedor
actinonewayisgood,andthatwhichcandosoinanother——the
contrary——wayisvicious。Goodandevilindicatequalityespeciallyin
livingthings,andamongtheseespeciallyinthosewhichhavepurpose。
Thingsare’relative’1asdoubletohalf,andtrebletoa
third,andingeneralthatwhichcontainssomethingelsemanytimesto
thatwhichiscontainedmanytimesinsomethingelse,andthatwhich
exceedstothatwhichisexceeded;2asthatwhichcanheatto
thatwhichcanbeheated,andthatwhichcancuttothatwhichcan
becut,andingeneraltheactivetothepassive;3asthe
measurabletothemeasure,andtheknowabletoknowledge,andthe
perceptibletoperception。
1Relativetermsofthefirstkindarenumericallyrelated
eitherindefinitelyordefinitely,tonumbersthemselvesorto1。E。g。
thedoubleisinadefinitenumericalrelationto1,andthatwhichis
’manytimesasgreat’isinanumerical,butnotadefinite,
relationto1,i。e。notinthisorinthatnumericalrelationtoit;
therelationofthatwhichishalfasbigagainassomethingelseto
thatsomethingisadefinitenumericalrelationtoanumber;that
whichisnI/ntimessomethingelseisinanindefiniterelationto
thatsomething,asthatwhichis’manytimesasgreat’isinan
indefiniterelationto1;therelationofthatwhichexceedstothat
whichisexceededisnumericallyquiteindefinite;fornumberis
alwayscommensurate,and’number’isnotpredicatedofthatwhichis
notcommensurate,butthatwhichexceedsis,inrelationtothatwhich
isexceeded,somuchandsomethingmore;andthissomethingis
indefinite;foritcan,indifferently,beeitherequalornotequalto
thatwhichisexceeded-Alltheserelations,then,arenumerically
expressedandaredeterminationsofnumber,andsoinanotherway
aretheequalandthelikeandthesame。Forallrefertounity。Those
thingsarethesamewhosesubstanceisone;thosearelikewhose
qualityisone;thoseareequalwhosequantityisone;and1isthe
beginningandmeasureofnumber,sothatalltheserelationsimply
number,thoughnotinthesameway。
2Thingsthatareactiveorpassiveimplyanactiveorapassive
potencyandtheactualizationsofthepotencies;e。g。thatwhichis
capableofheatingisrelatedtothatwhichiscapableofbeing
heated,becauseitcanheatit,and,again,thatwhichheatsis
relatedtothatwhichisheatedandthatwhichcutstothatwhichis
cut,inthesensethattheyactuallydothesethings。Butnumerical
relationsarenotactualizedexceptinthesensewhichhasbeen
elsewherestated;actualizationsinthesenseofmovementtheyhave
not。Ofrelationswhichimplypotencysomefurtherimplyparticular
periodsoftime,e。g。thatwhichhasmadeisrelativetothatwhich
hasbeenmade,andthatwhichwillmaketothatwhichwillbemade。
Foritisinthiswaythatafatheriscalledthefatherofhisson;
fortheonehasactedandtheotherhasbeenactedoninacertain
way。Further,somerelativetermsimplyprivationofpotency,i。e。
’incapable’andtermsofthissort,e。g。’invisible’。
Relativetermswhichimplynumberorpotency,therefore,areall
relativebecausetheirveryessenceincludesinitsnatureareference
tosomethingelse,notbecausesomethingelseinvolvesareference
toit;but3thatwhichismeasurableorknowableorthinkableis
calledrelativebecausesomethingelseinvolvesareferencetoit。For
’thatwhichisthinkable’impliesthatthethoughtofitis
第17章