DOCSLIB.ORG

(Chronos) in Aristotle's Natural Philosophy and of Time's Place in Early Naturphilosophie (1750-1800) Chelsea Cathern Harry

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
(Chronos) in Aristotle's Natural Philosophy and of Time's Place in Early Naturphilosophie (1750-1800) Chelsea Cathern Harry Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Spring 2013 Time (Chronos) in Aristotle's Natural Philosophy and of Time's Place in Early Naturphilosophie (1750-1800) Chelsea Cathern Harry Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Harry, C. (2013). Time (Chronos) in Aristotle's Natural Philosophy and of Time's Place in Early Naturphilosophie (1750-1800) (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/632 This Immediate Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TIME (CHRONOS) IN ARISTOTLE‘S NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND OF TIME‘S PLACE IN EARLY NATURPHILOSOPHE (1750-1800) A Dissertation Submitted to the McAnulty Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Chelsea C. Harry May 2013 Copyright by Chelsea C. Harry 2013 TIME (CHRONOS) IN ARISTOTLE‘S NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND OF TIME‘S PLACE IN EARLY NATURPHILOSOPHE (1750-1800) By Chelsea C. Harry Approved March 18, 2013 ________________________________ ________________________________ Ronald M. Polansky Lanei Rodemeyer Professor of Philosophy Associate Professor of Philosophy (Committee Chair) (Committee Member) ________________________________ Gottfried Heinemann Professor of Philosophy Universitaet Kassel (Committee Member) ________________________________ ________________________________ James Swindal Ronald M. Polansky Dean, McAnulty College and Graduate Chair, Philosophy Department School of Liberal Arts Professor of Philosophy Professor of Philosophy iii ABSTRACT TIME (CHRONOS) IN ARISTOTLE‘S NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND OF TIME‘S PLACE IN EARLY NATURPHILOSOPHE (1750-1800) By Chelsea C. Harry May 2013 Dissertation supervised by Ronald M. Polansky In what sense, if any, is time related to nature? In this dissertation, I argue that Aristotle‘s Treatise on Time (Physics iv 10-14) must be read in light of his foregoing discussion of nature (phusis) in Physics i-iv 9. Thus, Aristotle‘s definition of time (chronos) in Physics iv 11, that time is the number (arithmos) of motion (kinesis) with respect to before and after (219b1), is highly contextualized and as such must be understood as not only derivative of both Aristotle‘s definition of nature, as the inner capacity for motion and rest (192b13-22), and of his explanation of kinêsis, but also parallel to his analyses of the infinite (apeiron), place (topos), and void (kenos). What is more, I bring attention to the fact that Aristotle‘s understanding of nature is shaped fundamentally by the distinction he makes in the Physics and elsewhere (Metaphysics iv) between potentiality (dunamis) and actuality (entelecheia). With this in mind, I iv distinguish between the potential for time and actual time in Aristotle and conclude that the human being, along with actual motion, is both the necessary and sufficient condition for actual time on his account. Time, for Aristotle, then, results from an interaction between two or more parts of nature. It is not an a priori substance to be examined qua itself. My conclusions, therefore, offer a solution to those who read Aristotle‘s Treatise on Time as a confused inquiry, i.e. one that switches back and forth between a theory of knowledge and a theory of reality and combines what many believe to be Aristotle‘s characteristic realism with idealism. Finally, I use these conclusions to show a likeness between the account of time I attribute to Aristotle and what I suggest to be a return to thinking about time as derivative of a theory of nature in early Schellingian Naturphilosophie. v DEDICATION For Wolfgang. And, for my parents, who taught me to make the most of time. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENT That it is an awful pun makes it no less true for me to write that I have been thinking about time for quite some time. As such, this dissertation owes a great debt to my sources of influence and encouragement—intellectual, emotional, and financial. First, I would like to thank the organizers, my fellow presenters, and attendees of the following conferences, where I had the opportunity to present earlier versions of some chapters of this dissertation: 2012 Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy, 2011 Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy, 2011 Atiner Conference, and the 5th Annual Aristotle Symposium: On the Issue of Time. The Philosophy Department at Duquesne University and the McAnulty School at Duquesne University for four years of funded doctoral studies including a scholarship to study in residence at the Universität Köln during the 2010-2011 academic year and a summer grant to study intensive German. In particular, I would like to thank James Swindal, Mathesis Publications, Ronald Polansky, and Joan Thompson—my Pittsburgh mom. Vielen vielen dank to Claudia Bickmann, who invited me to conduct doctoral research at Universität Köln and to attend her seminars on Kant, Heidegger, and Schelling during the 2010 Winter Session and the 2011 Summer Session. And, to both Susan Polansky, for permitting me to sit in on German classes at Carnegie Mellon University during the 2009-2010 academic year, and Gabi Eichmanns, for welcoming me into your classroom. vii On this occasion, which I have to say something about time, it would be remiss of me not to mention the guidance I received from past teachers and mentors, especially Bob Vallier, Tamara Albertini, Chung Ying-Cheng, Roger Ames, and Richard Kearney. Similarly, I acknowledge the moral sustenance I received this year from my colleagues at Southern Connecticut State University. And, I look forward to our future together. I extend heartfelt appreciation to my family and friends. Your love, friendship, and support have meant the world to me. A special thank you to my parents, Karen and Tim Harry, Ryan Harry, Fay Harry, Tom Harry Jr., Becky Vartabedian, Justin Habash, Kelsey Ward, Joe Cimakasky, John Fritz, David Hoinski, Norman Schultz, Stephanie Adair, Taine Duncan, Becky Day, Stephanie and Humberto Toledo, Dana Ferrer, Diane Miller, Nolen Gertz, Kyla Dennigan, Elizabeth Churchill. In particular, thanks to my husband, Chris Walsh, and to our canine friends, Jackson and Wolfgang. Chris, I am so grateful that you have been my steady partner in our commitment to one another while allowing me to grow as an individual. Finally, I would like to thank my committee, Ron Polansky, Lanei Rodemeyer, and Gottfried Heinemann, for your expertise, commitment, patience, and flexibility. Namely, thanks to Professor Dr. Heinemann for your close reading, helpful critique, and reasonable evaluation of the project and to Dr. Rodemeyer for so many things, but expressly for the inspiration I received as a student in your Philosophy of Time seminar in the fall of 2009. Most of all, Dr. Polansky, my debts to you go far beyond your contribution to the present work. If there is a sense in which the infinite exists, it characterizes the gratitude I have for all of the ways—big and small—you have helped me to be not just a better scholar, but also a better person. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract .......................................................................................................................... iv Dedication ...................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgement ......................................................................................................... vii Introduction: The Study of Nature and the Nature of Time .............................................. 1 Chapter 1: Time in Context ........................................................................................... 15 I. Physics: Scope, Access, Goals, and Method ........................................... 17 II. Nature and its Archai .............................................................................. 24 III. The Role of Kinesis in Nature ................................................................. 40 IV. From Kinesis to Chronos ........................................................................ 50 Chapter 2: Physics iv 10-11 in Context .......................................................................... 69 Chapter 3: Conditions of Actualized Time ..................................................................... 95 I. Impossibilities for Real Time ................................................................. 97 II. Number Requires Readiness for Thinking ............................................ 107 III. Seeing and Counting Number ............................................................... 115 Chapter 4: Kant‘s Adulteration of Aristotle‘s Treatise on Time ................................... 122 I. Context of Kant‘s Treatment of Time ................................................... 126 II. Kant‘s Treatment of Time .................................................................... 130 Chapter 5: Time‘s Place in Schelling‘s Early Naturphilosophie ................................... 134 I. Situating Schelling‘s Early Naturphilosophie ....................................... 136 II. A Reading of Chapter Two from Schelling‘s Abhandlungen zur Erluaterung des Idealismus der Wissenschaftslehre .............................. 140 III. A Place for Time? Some
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Avoiding the Void: Avicenna on the Impossibility of Circular Motion in a Void*
    Created on 24 December 2006 at 20.51 hours page 1 Avoiding the Void: Avicenna on the Impossibility of Circular Motion in a Void* Jon McGinnis The topic of the void was of significant philosophical and scientific importance in the ancient and medieval world. Some, such as the atomists, maintained that the void was essential if one were to explain motion. Others, such as Aristotle, argued that the exis- tence of the void would absolutely preclude the possibility of motion. Moreover, there were disputes concerning even how to characterize the void. Thus the atomists claimed that interstitial voids were dispersed throughout every body and existed alongside bo- dies in an infinite space. Others, such as the Stoics, held that all bodies were localized in a plenum that was itself situated in an extra-cosmic, infinite void. Still others, such as the Neoplatonist John Philoponus, thought that the void was finite, and although as a matter of fact it is never devoid of a body, it at least is capable of existing independent of any body. The above roughly provides the gamut of positions concerning the void as it reached the medieval Arabic philosopher Avicenna ( 370–428/ 980–1037). In one form or another, Avicenna was aware of the various moves and counter-moves associated with the notion of the void. Like Aristotle, he maintained that the existence of the void would absolutely preclude the possibility of motion. His arguments in some cases simply rehearse those of Aristotle; in other places they expand on the thought of Aristotle in order to respond to new threats that arose after Aristotle’s own time; and in certain situations Avicenna constructs new arguments against the void used neither by Aristotle nor, from what we can gather, Aristotle’s later Greek commentators.
    [Show full text]
  • Separate Material Intellect in Averroes' Mature Philosophy Richard C
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by epublications@Marquette Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications Philosophy, Department of 1-1-2004 Separate Material Intellect in Averroes' Mature Philosophy Richard C. Taylor Marquette University, [email protected] Published version. "Separate Material Intellect in Averroes' Mature Philosophy," in Words, Texts and Concepts Cruising the Mediterranean Sea. Eds. Gerhard Endress, Rud̈ iger Arnzen and J Thielmann. Leuven; Dudley, MA: Peeters, 2004: 289-309. Permalink. © 2004 Peeters Publishers. Used with permission. ORIENTALIA LOVANIENSIA ANALECTA ---139--- 'WORDS, TEXTS AND CONCEPTS CRUISING THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA Studies on the sources, contents and influences of Islamic civilization and Arabic philosophy and science Dedicated to Gerhard Endress on his sixty-fifth birthday edited by R. ARNZEN and J. THIELMANN UITGEVERIJ PEETERS en DEPARTEMENT OOSTERSE STUDIES LEUVEN - PARIS - DUDLEY, MA 2004 SEPARATE MATERIAL INTELLECT IN A VERROES' MATURE PHILOSOPHY Richard C. T AYLOR Marquette University, Milwaukee The doctrine of the material intellect promulgated by Averroes (i126- 1198) in his latest works is surely the teaching for which he has been most maligned both in the medieval era and in modern times. In medi­ eval times Duns Scotus spoke of "That accursed Averroes" whose "fan­ tastic conception, intelligible neither to himself nor to others, assumes the intellective part of man to be a sort
    [Show full text]
  • Kant, Hegel, Schelling, Nietzsche, and Heidegger
    German Philosophers: Kant, Hegel, Schelling, Nietzsche, and Heidegger Daniel Ferrer at Matrin Heidegger’s Todtnauberg haunt (Die Hütte, Rütte, Todtnauberg, Black Forest, Schwarzwald, Germany) By Daniel Fidel Ferrer 1 2011 Daniel Fidel Ferrer. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, digital, optical or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented; or otherwise without the prior permission in writing and signed by the author, Daniel Fidel Ferrer. Photo of Daniel Fidel Ferrer at Heidegger’s Todtnauberg haunt copyright ©Daniel Fidel Ferrer. Photo taken by Dr. Harald van Veghel with my 35 MM camera. Location: front page, title page. Die Hütte, Rütte, Todtnauberg, Black Forest, Schwarzwald, Germany, Deutschland. Some brief cataloging. Ferrer, Daniel Fidel (1952- ) German Philosophers: Kant, Hegel, Schelling, Nietzsche, and Heidegger Includes bibliographical references. Index. 1. Ontology. 2. Metaphysics. 3. Philosophy, German. 4.Thought and thinking. 5. Kant, Immanuel, 1724-1804. 6. Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von, 1775-1854. 7. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770-1831. 8. Philosphy, Asian. 9. Philosophy, Indic. 10. Philosophy, Modern -- 20th century. 11. Philosophy, Modern -- 19th century. 12. Practice (Philosophy). 13. Philosophy and civilization. 14. Postmodernism. 15. Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844-1900. 16. Heidegger, Martin, 1889-1976. -- 17. g r una nd cent. I. Ferrer, Daniel Fidel, 1952-. Dedication and Acknowledgements Family members. Families: Ferrer, Reavis, Kuhn, Lindstrom, Schmidt, and Yeager.
    [Show full text]
  • Philosophy's Subjects
    PARRHESIA NUMBER 3 • 2007 • 55 – 72 PHILOSOPhy’s SUBJECTS Nina Power 1. INTRODUCTION: AN INDISPENSABLE TERM? There are manifold ways of articulating the term ‘subject’ that ultimately bear upon philosophy, and simultaneously, many modes of philosophising that have implications for a conception of the subject. What is surprising, given the term’s indispensability in discussions ranging from politics to philosophy of mind, is the scant conceptual analysis usually devoted to the term. It is as if its theoretical, linguistic and practical ambivalences were acknowledged a priori to be too intricate to untangle. ‘The philosophy of the subject,’ writes Paul Ricoeur, ‘has never existed; rather, there have been a series of reflective styles, arising out of the work of redefinition which the challenge itself has imposed.’1 Adorno also discusses the resistance of ‘subject’ (and ‘object’) to definition: ‘The determination of their meanings requires reflection on the very thing the act of defining truncates for the sake of conceptual manageability.’2 We can go further and state that the question of the subject is not only a problem for ‘reflective’ styles of philosophy (Ricoeur identifies this lineage with the figures of Socrates, Augustine, Descartes, Kant, Fichte, Husserl),3 but for any thinking that concerns the relationship between humanity, thought and practice. ‘It goes without saying,’ writes Vincent Descombes, ‘that philosophy as such, or at least modern philosophy, was on the side of an affirmation of man as “subject”.’4 The subject haunts philosophical and political conceptualisations as both the presupposed bearer of thought (either at the level of the individual, the self, the philosopher him or herself, or at the level of the species) and as the quality of this bearing itself (for instance, as the passive substrate denoted by the Greek hypokeimenon, or an active force, as in Marx’s early conception of the proletariat as a collective subject).
    [Show full text]
  • Matter in Plotinus's Normative Ontology
    Phronesis 143_266-294 11/18/04 1:30 PM Page 266 Matter in Plotinus’s Normative Ontology* CHRISTIAN SCHÄFER ABSTRACT To most interpreters, the case seems to be clear: Plotinus identifies matter and evil, as he bluntly states in Enn. I.8[51] that ‘last matter’ is ‘evil’, and even ‘evil itself’. In this paper, I challenge this view: how and why should Plotinus have thought of matter, the sense-making ¶sxaton of his derivational ontology from the One and Good, evil? A rational reconstruction of Plotinus’s tenets should nei- ther accept the paradox that evil comes from Good, nor shirk the arduous task of interpreting Plotinus’s texts on evil as a fitting part of his philosophy on the whole. Therefore, I suggest a reading of evil in Plotinus as the outcome of an incongruent interaction of matter and soul, maintaining simultaneously that nei- ther soul nor matter are to be considered as bad or evil. When Plotinus calls mat- ter evil, he does so metonymically denoting matter’s totally passive potentiality as perceived by the toiling soul trying to act upon it as a form-bringer. As so often, Plotinus is speaking quoad nos here rather than referring to ‘matter per se’ (for Plotinus, somewhat of an oxymoron) which, as mere potentiality (and noth- ing else) is not nor can be evil. In short: matter is no more evil than the melan- choly evening sky is melancholy – not in itself (for it isn’t), but as to its impression on us who contemplate it. As I buttress this view, it will also become clear that matter cannot tritely be considered to be the aÈtÚ kakÒn as a prima facie-reading of Enn.
    [Show full text]
  • Averroes on Psychology and the Principles of Metaphysics Richard C
    Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications Philosophy, Department of 10-1-1998 Averroes on Psychology and the Principles of Metaphysics Richard C. Taylor Marquette University, [email protected] Published version. Journal of the History of Philosophy, Vol. 36, No. 4 (October, 1998): 507-523. DOI. Copyright © 1998 Journal of the History of Philosophy, Inc. This article first appeared in Journal of the History of Philosophy 36:4 (1998), 507-523. Reprinted with permission by The oJ hns Hopkins University Press. Averroes on Psychology and the Principles of Metaphysics I RICHARD C. TAYLOR FIRST TRANSLATED FROM Arabic into Latin in the early thirteenth century, the philosophical works of Averroes were initially respected as valuable aids to understanding the true philosophy of Aristotle. William of Auvergne, Bishop of Paris and author of a philosophically astute theological synthesis of Greek and Arabic thought with Christian doctrine, openly expressed his appreciation with praise for Averroes. But by the mid-thirteenth century many of Averroes' teachings were under attack with his conceptions of human nature and separate immaterial intellect the subject of sharply focussed and heated argumentative assaults by Aquinas, Albert and others3 Their arguments were not primarily theological but rather philosophical criticisms which charged that Averroes, Drafts of this paper were presented at a conference sponsored by the International Society for the History of Arabic and Islamic Science and Philosophy at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, March 28, 1996, and at the annual meeting of the Medieval Academy of America in Toronto, Canada, April 19, 1997. I benefited from discussions of this article with Alfred Ivry, my colleagues, David B.
    [Show full text]
  • The Emergence of Essence-Function (Ti-Yong) 體用 Hermeneutics in the Sinification of Indic Buddhism: an Overview
    The Emergence of Essence-Function (ti-yong) 體用 Hermeneutics in the Sinification of Indic Buddhism: An Overview A. Charles Muller (University of Tokyo) 국문요약 본질-작용(體用, Ch. ti-yong, J. tai-yū; 일본에서 불교학 이외의 연구에서 는 tai-yō) 패러다임은 기원전 5세기부터 근대 시기에 이르기까지 중국, 한국, 일본의 종교･철학적 문헌을 해석할 때에 가장 널리 사용된 해석학적 틀로 볼 수 있다. 먼저 중국에서는 유교, 도교, 불교에 적용되는 과정에서 풍부한 발전 을 이루었는데, 특히 인도 불교의 중국화 과정에서 폭넓게 적용되었다. 그리고 종종 理事(li-shi)와 유사한 형태로 화엄, 천태, 선과 같은 중국 토착 불교 학파 불교학리뷰 (Critical Review for Buddhist Studies) 19권 (2016. 6) 111p~152p 112 불교학리뷰 vol.19 들의 철학을 위한 토대를 형성하였다. 나아가 송대 신유학(新儒學)에서 ‘체용’ 의 용례는 특히 잇따라 나타나는 또 다른 유사형태인 理氣(li-qi)의 형식으로 변화하고 확장되었다. 불교와 신유학 모두 한국에 뿌리를 내리면서 한국 학자 들은 신유교와 불교 각각의 종교에 대한 해석뿐 아니라, 둘 사이에 있었던 대 화와 논쟁에도 체용 패러다임을 폭넓게 적용하였다. 본 논문은 동양과 서양 모 두의 불교학에서 거의 완전히 무시되었던 이 지극히 중요한 철학적 패러다임 에 관한 논의를 되살려 보고자 한다. 그리고 이것을 중국 불교 주석문헌들 초 기의 용례, ≷대승기신론≸속에 나타난 그 역할, 더불어 한국 불교, 특히 원효와 지눌의 저작에서 사용된 몇 가지 용례들을 조사함으로써 시도할 것이다. 주제어: 본질-작용(體用), 이사(理事), 이기(理氣), ≷대승기신론≸, 중국불교, 원효, 지눌 The Emergence of Essence-Function (ti-yong) 體用 Hermeneutics in the Sinification of Indic Buddhism … 113 I. Essence-function 體用: Introduction This examination of the place of the essence-function paradigm 體用 (Ch. ti-yong, K. che-yong, J.
    [Show full text]
  • Overturning the Paradigm of Identity with Gilles Deleuze's Differential
    A Thesis entitled Difference Over Identity: Overturning the Paradigm of Identity With Gilles Deleuze’s Differential Ontology by Matthew G. Eckel Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts Degree in Philosophy Dr. Ammon Allred, Committee Chair Dr. Benjamin Grazzini, Committee Member Dr. Benjamin Pryor, Committee Member Dr. Patricia R. Komuniecki, Dean College of Graduate Studies The University of Toledo May 2014 An Abstract of Difference Over Identity: Overturning the Paradigm of Identity With Gilles Deleuze’s Differential Ontology by Matthew G. Eckel Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts Degree in Philosophy The University of Toledo May 2014 Taking Gilles Deleuze to be a philosopher who is most concerned with articulating a ‘philosophy of difference’, Deleuze’s thought represents a fundamental shift in the history of philosophy, a shift which asserts ontological difference as independent of any prior ontological identity, even going as far as suggesting that identity is only possible when grounded by difference. Deleuze reconstructs a ‘minor’ history of philosophy, mobilizing thinkers from Spinoza and Nietzsche to Duns Scotus and Bergson, in his attempt to assert that philosophy has always been, underneath its canonical manifestations, a project concerned with ontology, and that ontological difference deserves the kind of philosophical attention, and privilege, which ontological identity has been given since Aristotle.
    [Show full text]
  • Heidegger's Reading of Aristotle's Concept of Pathos
    The University of San Francisco USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center Philosophy College of Arts and Sciences Spring 2012 Heidegger’s Reading of Aristotle’s Concept of Pathos Marjolein Oele University of San Francisco, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.usfca.edu/phil Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Oele, Marjolein, "Heidegger’s Reading of Aristotle’s Concept of Pathos" (2012). Philosophy. Paper 18. http://repository.usfca.edu/phil/18 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts and Sciences at USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy by an authorized administrator of USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HEIDEGGER’S READING OF ARISTOTLE’S CONCEPT OF PATHOS Marjolein Oele, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Dept. of Philosophy University of San Francisco 2130 Fulton Street San Francisco, CA 94117-1080 Email: [email protected] Tel: 415-455-9030 . HEIDEGGER’S READING OF ARISTOTLE’S CONCEPT OF PATHOS Abstract This paper takes as its point of departure the recent publication of Heidegger’s lecture course Basic Concepts of Aristotelian Philosophy and focuses upon Heidegger’s reading of Aristotle’s concept of pathos. Through a comparative analysis of Aristotle’s concept of pathos and Heidegger’s inventive reading of this concept, I aim to show the strengths
    [Show full text]
  • The Generative Dimension, in the Light of Aristotle's Substance
    90 THE GENERATIVE DIMENSION, IN THE LIGHT OF ARISTOTLE’S SUBSTANCE (HYPOKEIMENON) THEORY Xiaoyu XU1 and Xinlei LIU1 ABSTRACT: The paper is dedicated to the analysis of Aristotle’s substance theory within the overall Organicist perception of the universe as a living organism. The suggested analytical pathway begins with the generative substance (in Stagirite’s original term – generative hypokeimenon) and leads to the primary causes, prompted by the constant movement of the “thing”. We argue that Aristotle’s analysis of “matter and form” (in his original texts: “ὕλη – hyle” and “μορφή – morphe”)2 leads to the generative function, reaffirming its dynamism and process expression. KEYWORDS: Aristotle, hypokeimenon, hyle, morphe, potential, reality, dynamism, universe, organism, process, generative function Contents Introduction 1. From the studying of Aristotle’s theory of substance (hypokeimenon) – to realizing the generative dimension 2. From Aristotle’s analysis of “hyle” and “morphe” – to examining the generative potentials that are their natural essences Conclusion 1 Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing, CHINA. 2 Following the approach of the BCnA-journal, we consider it essential to apply the genuine terms and notions, used by the Stagirite in his original works, in expressing the authentic (and our own – neo-Aristotelian) conceptual constructions. Thus, we use (adding Italics); hyle – instead of “matter”; morphe – instead of “form”; hypokeimenon – instead of “substance”, etc. Vol. 8, No. 1, BIOCOSMOLOGY – NEO-ARISTOTELISM Winter 2018 91 ГЕНЕРАТИВНОЕ ИЗМЕРЕНИЕ, В СВЕТЕ АРИСТОТЕЛЕВСКОЙ ТЕОРИИ СУБСТАНЦИИ (ГИПОКЕЙМЕНОНА) Чиаю ЗЮЕ и Шинлей ЛЬЮ АБСТРАКТ: Статья посвящена анализу теории субстанции (гипокейменона) Аристотеля в общем восприятии органической вселенной как живого организма. Предлагаемый аналитический путь начинается с порождающего вещества (в первоначальном выражении Стагирита – порождающего гипокейменона) и приводит к основным причинам, побуждающим постоянное движением «вещи».
    [Show full text]
  • A Cultural History of Physics
    Károly Simonyi A Cultural History of Physics Translated by David Kramer Originally published in Hungarian as A fizika kultûrtörténete, Fourth Edition, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1998, and published in German as Kulturgeschichte der Physik, Third Edition, Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main, 2001. First Hungarian edition 1978. CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300 Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742 © 2012 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business No claim to original U.S. Government works Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Version Date: 20111110 International Standard Book Number: 978-1-56881-329-5 (Hardback) This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowl- edged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint. Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers.
    [Show full text]
  • Avicenna's Theory of Minima Naturalia Jon Mcginnis University of Missouri-St
    University of Missouri, St. Louis IRL @ UMSL Philosophy Faculty Works Philosophy 1-2015 A Small Discovery: Avicenna's Theory of Minima Naturalia Jon McGinnis University of Missouri-St. Louis, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://irl.umsl.edu/philosophy-faculty Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation McGinnis, J. "A Small Discovery: Avicenna’s Theory of Minima Naturalia." Journal of the History of Philosophy, vol. 53 no. 1, 2015, pp. 1-24. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/hph.2015.0002 http://irl.umsl.edu/philosophy-faculty/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Philosophy at IRL @ UMSL. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of IRL @ UMSL. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Small Discovery: Avicenna’s Theory of Minima Naturalia Jon McGinnis Journal of the History of Philosophy, Volume 53, Number 1, January 2015, pp. 1-24 (Article) Published by Johns Hopkins University Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/hph.2015.0002 For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/566924 Access provided by Missouri @ St Louis, Univ of (17 Feb 2017 19:06 GMT) A Small Discovery: Avicenna’s Theory of Minima Naturalia JON MCGINNIS* ABSTRACT There has been a long-held misconception among historians of philosophy and science that apart from brief comments in Aristotle and Averroes, the theory of minima naturalia had to await Latin Schoolmen for its full articulation. Recently scholars have shown that far from sporadic comments on minima naturalia, Averroes in fact had a fully developed and well-integrated theory of them.
    [Show full text]