首页 >出版文学> METAPHYSICS>第26章

第26章

  Itisclearalsofromtheseveryfactswhatconsequence
  confrontsthosewhosaytheIdeasaresubstancescapableofseparate
  existence,andatthesametimemaketheFormconsistofthegenusand
  thedifferentiae。ForiftheFormsexistand’animal’ispresentin
  ’man’and’horse’,itiseitheroneandthesameinnumber,or
  different。Informulaitisclearlyone;forhewhostatesthe
  formulawillgothroughtheformulaineithercase。Ifthenthere
  isa’man-in-himself’whoisa’this’andexistsapart,thepartsalso
  ofwhichheconsists,e。g。’animal’and’two-footed’,mustindicate
  ’thises’,andbecapableofseparateexistence,andsubstances;
  therefore’animal’,aswellas’man’,mustbeofthissort。
  Now1ifthe’animal’in’thehorse’andin’man’isoneandthe
  same,asyouarewithyourself,ahowwilltheoneinthingsthat
  existapartbeone,andhowwillthis’animal’escapebeingdivided
  evenfromitself?
  Further,bifitistosharein’two-footed’and
  ’many-footed’,animpossibleconclusionfollows;forcontrary
  attributeswillbelongatthesametimetoitalthoughitisoneanda
  ’this’。Ifitisnottoshareinthem,whatistherelationimplied
  whenonesaystheanimalistwo-footedorpossessedoffeet?But
  perhapsthetwothingsare’puttogether’andare’incontact’,orare
  ’mixed’。Yetalltheseexpressionsareabsurd。
  But2supposetheFormtobedifferentineachspecies。Then
  therewillbepracticallyaninfinitenumberofthingswhosesubstance
  isanimal’;foritisnotbyaccidentthat’man’has’animal’for
  oneofitselements。Further,manythingswillbe’animal-itself’。For
  ithe’animal’ineachspecieswillbethesubstanceofthespecies;
  foritisafternothingelsethatthespeciesiscalled;ifitwere,
  thatotherwouldbeanelementin’man’,i。e。wouldbethegenusof
  man。Andfurther,iialltheelementsofwhich’man’iscomposed
  willbeIdeas。Noneofthem,then,willbetheIdeaofonethingand
  thesubstanceofanother;thisisimpossible。The’animal’,then,
  presentineachspeciesofanimalswillbeanimal-itself。Further,
  fromwhatisthis’animal’ineachspeciesderived,andhowwillitbe
  derivedfromanimal-itself?Orhowcanthis’animal’,whoseessenceis
  simplyanimality,existapartfromanimal-itself?
  Further,3inthecaseofsensiblethingsboththese
  consequencesandothersstillmoreabsurdfollow。If,then,these
  consequencesareimpossible,clearlytherearenotFormsofsensible
  thingsinthesenseinwhichsomemaintaintheirexistence。
  Sincesubstanceisoftwokinds,theconcretethingandthe
  formulaImeanthatonekindofsubstanceistheformulatakenwith
  thematter,whileanotherkindistheformulainitsgenerality,
  substancesintheformersensearecapableofdestructionforthey
  arecapablealsoofgeneration,butthereisnodestructionofthe
  formulainthesensethatitiseverincourseofbeingdestroyedfor
  thereisnogenerationofiteither;thebeingofhouseisnot
  generated,butonlythebeingofthishouse,butwithoutgeneration
  anddestructionformulaeareandarenot;forithasbeenshownthat
  noonebegetsnormakesthese。Forthisreason,also,thereisneither
  definitionofnordemonstrationaboutsensibleindividual
  substances,becausetheyhavematterwhosenatureissuchthatthey
  arecapablebothofbeingandofnotbeing;forwhichreasonallthe
  individualinstancesofthemaredestructible。Ifthendemonstration
  isofnecessarytruthsanddefinitionisascientificprocess,andif,
  justasknowledgecannotbesometimesknowledgeandsometimes
  ignorance,butthestatewhichvariesthusisopinion,sotoo
  demonstrationanddefinitioncannotvarythus,butitisopinion
  thatdealswiththatwhichcanbeotherwisethanasitis,clearly
  therecanneitherbedefinitionofnordemonstrationaboutsensible
  individuals。Forperishingthingsareobscuretothosewhohavethe
  relevantknowledge,whentheyhavepassedfromourperception;and
  thoughtheformulaeremaininthesoulunchanged,therewillnolonger
  beeitherdefinitionordemonstration。Andsowhenoneofthe
  definition-mongersdefinesanyindividual,hemustrecognizethat
  hisdefinitionmayalwaysbeoverthrown;foritisnotpossibleto
  definesuchthings。
  NorisitpossibletodefineanyIdea。FortheIdeais,asits
  supporterssay,anindividual,andcanexistapart;andtheformula
  mustconsistofwords;andhewhodefinesmustnotinventaword
  foritwouldbeunknown,buttheestablishedwordsarecommontoall
  themembersofaclass;thesethenmustapplytosomethingbesidesthe
  thingdefined;e。g。ifoneweredefiningyou,hewouldsay’an
  animalwhichislean’or’pale’,orsomethingelsewhichwillapply
  alsotosomeoneotherthanyou。Ifanyoneweretosaythatperhaps
  alltheattributestakenapartmaybelongtomanysubjects,but
  togethertheybelongonlytothisone,wemustreplyfirstthatthey
  belongalsotoboththeelements;e。g。’two-footedanimal’belongs
  toanimalandtothetwo-footed。Andinthecaseofeternal
  entitiesthisisevennecessary,sincetheelementsarepriortoand
  partsofthecompound;naymore,theycanalsoexistapart,if’man’
  canexistapart。Foreitherneitherorbothcan。If,then,neither
  can,thegenuswillnotexistapartfromthevariousspecies;butif
  itdoes,thedifferentiawillalso。Secondly,wemustreplythat
  ’animal’and’two-footed’arepriorinbeingto’two-footedanimal’;
  andthingswhicharepriortoothersarenotdestroyedwhentheothers
  are。
  Again,iftheIdeasconsistofIdeasastheymust,sinceelements
  aresimplerthanthecompound,itwillbefurthernecessarythat
  theelementsalsoofwhichtheIdeaconsists,e。g。’animal’and
  ’two-footed’,shouldbepredicatedofmanysubjects。Ifnot,how
  willtheycometobeknown?FortherewillthenbeanIdeawhich
  cannotbepredicatedofmoresubjectsthanone。Butthisisnot
  thoughtpossible-everyIdeaisthoughttobecapableofbeingshared。
  Ashasbeensaid,then,theimpossibilityofdefining
  individualsescapesnoticeinthecaseofeternalthings,especially
  thosewhichareunique,likethesunorthemoon。Forpeopleerrnot
  onlybyaddingattributeswhoseremovalthesunwouldsurvive,e。g。
  ’goingroundtheearth’or’night-hidden’forfromtheirviewit
  followsthatifitstandsstillorisvisible,itwillnolongerbe
  thesun;butitisstrangeifthisisso;for’thesun’meansa
  certainsubstance;butalsobythementionofattributeswhichcan
  belongtoanothersubject;e。g。ifanotherthingwiththestated
  attributescomesintoexistence,clearlyitwillbeasun;theformula
  thereforeisgeneral。Butthesunwassupposedtobeanindividual,
  likeCleonorSocrates。Afterall,whydoesnotoneofthe
  supportersoftheIdeasproduceadefinitionofanIdea?Itwould
  becomeclear,iftheytried,thatwhathasnowbeensaidistrue。
  Evidentlyevenofthethingsthatarethoughttobesubstances,
  mostareonlypotencies,-boththepartsofanimalsfornoneofthem
  existsseparately;andwhentheyareseparated,thentootheyexist,
  allofthem,merelyasmatterandearthandfireandair;fornoneof
  themisaunity,butasitwereamereheap,tilltheyareworkedup
  andsomeunityismadeoutofthem。Onemightmostreadilysupposethe
  partsoflivingthingsandthepartsofthesoulnearlyrelatedto
  themtoturnouttobeboth,i。e。existentincompleterealityaswell
  asinpotency,becausetheyhavesourcesofmovementinsomethingin
  theirjoints;forwhichreasonsomeanimalslivewhendivided。Yetall
  thepartsmustexistonlypotentially,whentheyareoneand
  continuousbynature,-notbyforceorbygrowingintoone,forsuch
  aphenomenonisanabnormality。
  Sincetheterm’unity’isusedliketheterm’being’,andthe
  substanceofthatwhichisoneisone,andthingswhosesubstanceis
  numericallyonearenumericallyone,evidentlyneitherunitynorbeing
  canbethesubstanceofthings,justasbeinganelementora
  principlecannotbethesubstance,butweaskwhat,then,the
  principleis,thatwemayreducethethingtosomethingmoreknowable。
  Nowoftheseconcepts’being’and’unity’aremoresubstantialthan
  ’principle’or’element’or’cause’,butnoteventheformerare
  substance,sinceingeneralnothingthatiscommonissubstance;for
  substancedoesnotbelongtoanythingbuttoitselfandtothat
  whichhasit,ofwhichitisthesubstance。Further,thatwhichisone
  cannotbeinmanyplacesatthesametime,butthatwhichiscommonis
  presentinmanyplacesatthesametime;sothatclearlyno
  universalexistsapartfromitsindividuals。
  ButthosewhosaytheFormsexist,inonerespectareright,in
  givingtheFormsseparateexistence,iftheyaresubstances;butin
  anotherrespecttheyarenotright,becausetheysaytheoneovermany
  isaForm。Thereasonfortheirdoingthisisthattheycannotdeclare
  whatarethesubstancesofthissort,theimperishablesubstances
  whichexistapartfromtheindividualandsensiblesubstances。They
  makethem,then,thesameinkindastheperishablethingsforthis
  kindofsubstanceweknow——’man-himself’and’horse-itself’,adding
  tothesensiblethingstheword’itself’。Yetevenifwehadnot
  seenthestars,nonetheless,Isuppose,wouldtheyhavebeeneternal
  substancesapartfromthosewhichweknew;sothatnowalsoifwedo
  notknowwhatnon-sensiblesubstancesthereare,yetitisdoubtless
  necessarythatthereshouldhesome-Clearly,then,nouniversal
  termisthenameofasubstance,andnosubstanceiscomposedof
  substances。
  Letusstatewhat,i。e。whatkindofthing,substanceshouldbe
  saidtobe,takingoncemoreanotherstarting-point;forperhaps
  fromthisweshallgetaclearviewalsoofthatsubstancewhich
  existsapartfromsensiblesubstances。Since,then,substanceisa
  principleandacause,letuspursueitfromthisstarting-point。
  The’why’isalwayssoughtinthisform——’whydoesonethingattachto
  someother?’Fortoinquirewhythemusicalmanisamusicalman,is
  eithertoinquire——aswehavesaidwhythemanismusical,oritis
  somethingelse。Now’whyathingisitself’isameaninglessinquiry
  fortogivemeaningtothequestion’why’thefactortheexistence
  ofthethingmustalreadybeevident-e。g。thatthemoonis
  eclipsed-butthefactthatathingisitselfisthesinglereason
  andthesinglecausetobegiveninanswertoallsuchquestionsas
  whythemanisman,orthemusicianmusical’,unlessonewereto
  answer’becauseeachthingisinseparablefromitself,anditsbeing
  onejustmeantthis’;this,however,iscommontoallthingsandis
  ashortandeasywaywiththequestion。Butwecaninquirewhymanis
  ananimalofsuchandsuchanature。This,then,isplain,thatweare
  notinquiringwhyhewhoisamanisaman。Weareinquiring,then,
  whysomethingispredicableofsomethingthatitispredicablemust
  beclear;forifnot,theinquiryisaninquiryintonothing。E。g。
  whydoesitthunder?Thisisthesameas’whyissoundproducedinthe
  clouds?’Thustheinquiryisaboutthepredicationofonethingof
  another。Andwhyarethesethings,i。e。bricksandstones,ahouse?
  Plainlyweareseekingthecause。Andthisistheessencetospeak
  abstractly,whichinsomecasesistheend,e。g。perhapsinthe
  caseofahouseorabed,andinsomecasesisthefirstmover;for
  thisalsoisacause。Butwhiletheefficientcauseissoughtinthe
  caseofgenesisanddestruction,thefinalcauseissoughtinthecase
  ofbeingalso。
  Theobjectoftheinquiryismosteasilyoverlookedwhereoneterm
  isnotexpresslypredicatedofanothere。g。whenweinquire’whatman
  is’,becausewedonotdistinguishanddonotsaydefinitelythat
  certainelementsmakeupacertainwhole。Butwemustarticulateour
  meaningbeforewebegintoinquire;ifnot,theinquiryisonthe
  border-linebetweenbeingasearchforsomethingandasearchfor
  nothing。Sincewemusthavetheexistenceofthethingassomething
  given,clearlythequestioniswhythematterissomedefinite
  thing;e。g。whyarethesematerialsahouse?Becausethatwhichwas
  theessenceofahouseispresent。Andwhyisthisindividualthing,
  orthisbodyhavingthisform,aman?Thereforewhatweseekisthe
  cause,i。e。theform,byreasonofwhichthematterissomedefinite
  thing;andthisisthesubstanceofthething。Evidently,then,inthe
  caseofsimpletermsnoinquirynorteachingispossible;ourattitude
  towardssuchthingsisotherthanthatofinquiry。