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第10章

  Therearemanysensesinwhichathingmaybesaidto’be’,but
  allthat’is’isrelatedtoonecentralpoint,onedefinitekindof
  thing,andisnotsaidto’be’byamereambiguity。Everythingwhich
  ishealthyisrelatedtohealth,onethinginthesensethatit
  preserveshealth,anotherinthesensethatitproducesit,anotherin
  thesensethatitisasymptomofhealth,anotherbecauseitis
  capableofit。Andthatwhichismedicalisrelativetothemedical
  art,onethingbeingcalledmedicalbecauseitpossessesit,another
  becauseitisnaturallyadaptedtoit,anotherbecauseitisa
  functionofthemedicalart。Andweshallfindotherwordsused
  similarlytothese。So,too,therearemanysensesinwhichathingis
  saidtobe,butallrefertoonestarting-point;somethingsare
  saidtobebecausetheyaresubstances,othersbecausetheyare
  affectionsofsubstance,othersbecausetheyareaprocesstowards
  substance,ordestructionsorprivationsorqualitiesofsubstance,or
  productiveorgenerativeofsubstance,orofthingswhicharerelative
  tosubstance,ornegationsofoneofthesethingofsubstance
  itself。Itisforthisreasonthatwesayevenofnon-beingthatitis
  nonbeing。As,then,thereisonesciencewhichdealswithall
  healthythings,thesameappliesintheothercasesalso。Fornotonly
  inthecaseofthingswhichhaveonecommonnotiondoesthe
  investigationbelongtoonescience,butalsointhecaseofthings
  whicharerelatedtoonecommonnature;foreventheseinasensehave
  onecommonnotion。Itisclearthenthatitistheworkofonescience
  alsotostudythethingsthatare,quabeing-Buteverywherescience
  dealschieflywiththatwhichisprimary,andonwhichtheother
  thingsdepend,andinvirtueofwhichtheygettheirnames。If,
  then,thisissubstance,itwillbeofsubstancesthatthephilosopher
  mustgrasptheprinciplesandthecauses。
  Nowforeachoneclassofthings,asthereisoneperception,so
  thereisonescience,asforinstancegrammar,beingonescience,
  investigatesallarticulatesounds。Hencetoinvestigateallthe
  speciesofbeingquabeingistheworkofasciencewhichis
  genericallyone,andtoinvestigatetheseveralspeciesistheworkof
  thespecificpartsofthescience。
  If,now,beingandunityarethesameandareonethinginthe
  sensethattheyareimpliedinoneanotherasprincipleandcauseare,
  notinthesensethattheyareexplainedbythesamedefinition
  thoughitmakesnodifferenceevenifwesupposethemtobelike
  that-infactthiswouldevenstrengthenourcase;for’oneman’and
  ’man’arethesamething,andsoare’existentman’and’man’,andthe
  doublingofthewordsin’onemanandoneexistentman’doesnot
  expressanythingdifferentitisclearthatthetwothingsarenot
  separatedeitherincomingtobeorinceasingtobe;andsimilarly
  ’oneexistentman’addsnothingto’existentman’,andthatitis
  obviousthattheadditioninthesecasesmeansthesamething,and
  unityisnothingapartfrombeing;andif,further,thesubstanceof
  eachthingisoneinnomerelyaccidentalway,andsimilarlyisfrom
  itsverynaturesomethingthatis:-allthisbeingso,theremustbe
  exactlyasmanyspeciesofbeingasofunity。Andtoinvestigatethe
  essenceoftheseistheworkofasciencewhichisgenericallyone-I
  mean,forinstance,thediscussionofthesameandthesimilarandthe
  otherconceptsofthissort;andnearlyallcontrariesmaybereferred
  tothisorigin;letustakethemashavingbeeninvestigatedinthe
  ’SelectionofContraries’。
  Andthereareasmanypartsofphilosophyastherearekindsof
  substance,sothattheremustnecessarilybeamongthemafirst
  philosophyandonewhichfollowsthis。Forbeingfallsimmediately
  intogenera;forwhichreasonthesciencestoowillcorrespondto
  thesegenera。Forthephilosopherislikethemathematician,asthat
  wordisused;formathematicsalsohasparts,andthereisafirstand
  asecondscienceandothersuccessiveoneswithinthesphereof
  mathematics。
  Nowsinceitistheworkofonesciencetoinvestigate
  opposites,andpluralityisopposedtounity-anditbelongstoone
  sciencetoinvestigatethenegationandtheprivationbecausein
  bothcaseswearereallyinvestigatingtheonethingofwhichthe
  negationortheprivationisanegationorprivationforweeither
  saysimplythatthatthingisnotpresent,orthatitisnotpresent
  insomeparticularclass;inthelattercasedifferenceispresent
  overandabovewhatisimpliedinnegation;fornegationmeansjust
  theabsenceofthethinginquestion,whileinprivationthereisalso
  employedanunderlyingnatureofwhichtheprivationis
  asserted:-inviewofallthesefacts,thecontrariesofthe
  conceptswenamedabove,theotherandthedissimilarandtheunequal,
  andeverythingelsewhichisderivedeitherfromtheseorfrom
  pluralityandunity,mustfallwithintheprovinceofthescience
  abovenamed。Andcontrarietyisoneoftheseconcepts;forcontrariety
  isakindofdifference,anddifferenceisakindofotherness。
  Therefore,sincetherearemanysensesinwhichathingissaidto
  beone,thesetermsalsowillhavemanysenses,butyetitbelongs
  toonesciencetoknowthemall;foratermbelongstodifferent
  sciencesnotifithasdifferentsenses,butifithasnotonemeaning
  anditsdefinitionscannotbereferredtoonecentralmeaning。And
  sinceallthingsarereferredtothatwhichisprimary,asfor
  instanceallthingswhicharecalledonearereferredtotheprimary
  one,wemustsaythatthisholdsgoodalsoofthesameandtheother
  andofcontrariesingeneral;sothatafterdistinguishingthevarious
  sensesofeach,wemustthenexplainbyreferencetowhatisprimary
  inthecaseofeachofthepredicatesinquestion,sayinghowtheyare
  relatedtoit;forsomewillbecalledwhattheyarecalledbecause
  theypossessit,othersbecausetheyproduceit,andothersinother
  suchways。
  Itisevident,then,thatitbelongstoonesciencetobeable
  togiveanaccountoftheseconceptsaswellasofsubstancethiswas
  oneofthequestionsinourbookofproblems,andthatitisthe
  functionofthephilosophertobeabletoinvestigateallthings。
  Forifitisnotthefunctionofthephilosopher,whoisitwhowill
  inquirewhetherSocratesandSocratesseatedarethesamething,or
  whetheronethinghasonecontrary,orwhatcontrarietyis,orhow
  manymeaningsithas?Andsimilarlywithallothersuchquestions。
  Since,then,theseareessentialmodificationsofunityquaunity
  andofbeingquabeing,notquanumbersorlinesorfire,itis
  clearthatitbelongstothissciencetoinvestigateboththe
  essenceoftheseconceptsandtheirproperties。Andthosewhostudy
  thesepropertieserrnotbyleavingthesphereofphilosophy,butby
  forgettingthatsubstance,ofwhichtheyhavenocorrectidea,is
  priortotheseotherthings。Fornumberquanumberhaspeculiar
  attributes,suchasoddnessandevenness,commensurabilityand
  equality,excessanddefect,andthesebelongtonumberseitherin
  themselvesorinrelationtooneanother。Andsimilarlythesolid
  andthemotionlessandthatwhichisinmotionandtheweightless
  andthatwhichhasweighthaveotherpeculiarproperties。Sotoothere
  arecertainpropertiespeculiartobeingassuch,anditisabout
  thesethatthephilosopherhastoinvestigatethetruth-Anindication
  ofthismaybementioned:dialecticiansandsophistsassumethesame
  guiseasthephilosopher,forsophisticisWisdomwhichexistsonlyin
  semblance,anddialecticiansembraceallthingsintheirdialectic,
  andbeingiscommontoallthings;butevidentlytheirdialectic
  embracesthesesubjectsbecausethesearepropertophilosophy-For
  sophisticanddialecticturnonthesameclassofthingsas
  philosophy,butthisdiffersfromdialecticinthenatureofthe
  facultyrequiredandfromsophisticinrespectofthepurposeofthe
  philosophiclife。Dialecticismerelycriticalwherephilosophyclaims
  toknow,andsophisticiswhatappearstobephilosophybutisnot。
  Again,inthelistofcontrariesoneofthetwocolumnsis
  privative,andallcontrariesarereducibletobeingandnon-being,
  andtounityandplurality,asforinstancerestbelongstounity
  andmovementtoplurality。Andnearlyallthinkersagreethatbeing
  andsubstancearecomposedofcontraries;atleastallnamecontraries
  astheirfirstprinciples-somenameoddandeven,somehotandcold,
  somelimitandtheunlimited,someloveandstrife。Andalltheothers
  aswellareevidentlyreducibletounityandpluralitythisreduction
  wemusttakeforgranted,andtheprinciplesstatedbyotherthinkers
  fallentirelyundertheseastheirgenera。Itisobviousthenfrom
  theseconsiderationstoothatitbelongstoonesciencetoexamine
  beingquabeing。Forallthingsareeithercontrariesorcomposedof
  contraries,andunityandpluralityarethestarting-pointsofall
  contraries。Andthesebelongtoonescience,whethertheyhaveorhave
  notonesinglemeaning。Probablythetruthisthattheyhavenot;
  yetevenif’one’hasseveralmeanings,theothermeaningswillbe
  relatedtotheprimarymeaningandsimilarlyinthecaseofthe
  contraries,evenifbeingorunityisnotauniversalandthesamein
  everyinstanceorisnotseparablefromtheparticularinstancesas
  infactitprobablyisnot;theunityisinsomecasesthatof
  commonreference,insomecasesthatofserialsuccession。Andfor
  thisreasonitdoesnotbelongtothegeometertoinquirewhatis
  contrarietyorcompletenessorunityorbeingorthesameorthe
  other,butonlytopresupposetheseconceptsandreasonfromthis
  starting-point——Obviouslythenitistheworkofonescienceto
  examinebeingquabeing,andtheattributeswhichbelongtoitqua
  being,andthesamesciencewillexaminenotonlysubstancesbut
  alsotheirattributes,boththoseabovenamedandtheconcepts’prior’
  and’posterior’,’genus’and’species’,’whole’and’part’,andthe
  othersofthissort。
  Wemuststatewhetheritbelongstooneortodifferentsciences
  toinquireintothetruthswhichareinmathematicscalledaxioms,and
  intosubstance。Evidently,theinquiryintothesealsobelongsto
  onescience,andthatthescienceofthephilosopher;forthesetruths
  holdgoodforeverythingthatis,andnotforsomespecialgenusapart
  fromothers。Andallmenusethem,becausetheyaretrueofbeing
  quabeingandeachgenushasbeing。Butmenusethemjustsofarasto
  satisfytheirpurposes;thatis,asfarasthegenustowhichtheir
  demonstrationsreferextends。Thereforesincethesetruthsclearly
  holdgoodforallthingsquabeingforthisiswhatiscommonto
  them,tohimwhostudiesbeingquabeingbelongstheinquiryinto
  theseaswell。Andforthisreasonnoonewhoisconductinga
  specialinquirytriestosayanythingabouttheirtruthor
  falsity,-neitherthegeometernorthearithmetician。Somenatural
  philosophersindeedhavedoneso,andtheirprocedurewasintelligible
  enough;fortheythoughtthattheyalonewereinquiringaboutthe
  wholeofnatureandaboutbeing。Butsincethereisonekindof
  thinkerwhoisaboveeventhenaturalphilosopherfornatureis
  onlyoneparticulargenusofbeing,thediscussionofthesetruths
  alsowillbelongtohimwhoseinquiryisuniversalanddealswith
  primarysubstance。PhysicsalsoisakindofWisdom,butitisnotthe
  firstkind-Andtheattemptsofsomeofthosewhodiscussthetermson
  whichtruthshouldbeaccepted,areduetoawantoftrainingin
  logic;fortheyshouldknowthesethingsalreadywhentheycometoa
  specialstudy,andnotbeinquiringintothemwhiletheyarelistening
  tolecturesonit。
  Evidentlythenitbelongstothephilosopher,i。e。tohimwhois
  studyingthenatureofallsubstance,toinquirealsointothe
  principlesofsyllogism。Buthewhoknowsbestabouteachgenusmust
  beabletostatethemostcertainprinciplesofhissubject,sothat
  hewhosesubjectisexistingthingsquaexistingmustbeabletostate
  themostcertainprinciplesofallthings。Thisisthephilosopher,
  andthemostcertainprincipleofallisthatregardingwhichitis
  impossibletobemistaken;forsuchaprinciplemustbeboththe
  bestknownforallmenmaybemistakenaboutthingswhichtheydonot
  know,andnon-hypothetical。Foraprinciplewhicheveryonemusthave
  whounderstandsanythingthatis,isnotahypothesis;andthat
  whicheveryonemustknowwhoknowsanything,hemustalreadyhave
  whenhecomestoaspecialstudy。Evidentlythensuchaprincipleis
  themostcertainofall;whichprinciplethisis,letusproceedto
  say。Itis,thatthesameattributecannotatthesametimebelongand
  notbelongtothesamesubjectandinthesamerespect;wemust