第14章

Inviewofthesedistinctionsitisobviousthattheone-sided

theorieswhichsomepeopleexpressaboutallthingscannotbevalid-on

theonehandthetheorythatnothingistrue(for，saythey，there

isnothingtopreventeverystatementfrombeinglikethestatement

’thediagonalofasquareiscommensuratewiththeside’)，onthe

otherhandthetheorythateverythingistrue。Theseviewsare

practicallythesameasthatofHeraclitus；forhewhosaysthatall

thingsaretrueandallarefalsealsomakeseachofthese

statementsseparately，sothatsincetheyareimpossible，thedouble

statementmustbeimpossibletoo-Again，thereareobviously

contradictorieswhichcannotbeatthesametimetrue-norontheother

handcanallstatementsbefalse；yetthiswouldseemmorepossiblein

thelightofwhathasbeensaid-Butagainstallsuchviewswemust

postulate，aswesaidabove，’notthatsomethingisorisnot，but

thatsomethinghasameaning，sothatwemustarguefromadefinition，

viz。byassumingwhatfalsityortruthmeans。Ifthatwhichitistrue

toaffirmisnothingotherthanthatwhichitisfalsetodeny，it

isimpossiblethatallstatementsshouldbefalse；foronesideofthe

contradictionmustbetrue。Again，ifitisnecessarywithregardto

everythingeithertoassertortodenyit，itisimpossiblethat

bothshouldbefalse；foritisonesideofthecontradictionthat

isfalse-Thereforeallsuchviewsarealsoexposedtotheoften

expressedobjection，thattheydestroythemselves。Forhewhosays

thateverythingistruemakeseventhestatementcontrarytohisown

true，andthereforehisownnottrue(forthecontrarystatement

deniesthatitistrue)，whilehewhosayseverythingisfalsemakes

himselfalsofalse-Andiftheformerpersonexceptsthecontrary

statement，sayingitaloneisnottrue，whilethelatterexceptshis

ownasbeingnotfalse，nonethelesstheyaredriventopostulatethe

truthorfalsityofaninfinitenumberofstatements；forthatwhich

saysthetruestatementistrueistrue，andthisprocesswillgoon

toinfinity。

Evidently，again，thosewhosayallthingsareatrestarenot

right，norarethosewhosayallthingsareinmovement。Forifall

thingsareatrest，thesamestatementswillalwaysbetrueandthe

samealwaysfalse，-butthisobviouslychanges；forhewhomakesa

statement，himselfatonetimewasnotandagainwillnotbe。Andif

allthingsareinmotion，nothingwillbetrue；everythingtherefore

willbefalse。Butithasbeenshownthatthisisimpossible。Again，

itmustbethatwhichisthatchanges；forchangeisfromsomethingto

something。Butagainitisnotthecasethatallthingsareatrestor

inmotionsometimes，andnothingforever；forthereissomething

whichalwaysmovesthethingsthatareinmotion，andthefirst

moverisitselfunmoved。

’BEGINNING’means(1)thatpartofathingfromwhichonewould

startfirst，e。galineoraroadhasabeginningineitherofthe

contrarydirections。(2)Thatfromwhicheachthingwouldbestbe

originated，e。g。eveninlearningwemustsometimesbeginnotfromthe

firstpointandthebeginningofthesubject，butfromthepoint

fromwhichweshouldlearnmosteasily。(4)Thatfromwhich，asan

immanentpart，athingfirstcomestobe，e，g，asthekeelofaship

andthefoundationofahouse，whileinanimalssomesupposethe

heart，othersthebrain，otherssomeotherpart，tobeofthisnature。

(4)Thatfromwhich，notasanimmanentpart，athingfirstcomesto

be，andfromwhichthemovementorthechangenaturallyfirst

begins，asachildcomesfromitsfatheranditsmother，andafight

fromabusivelanguage。(5)Thatatwhosewillthatwhichismovedis

movedandthatwhichchangeschanges，e。g。themagistraciesincities，

andoligarchiesandmonarchiesandtyrannies，arecalledarhchai，

andsoarethearts，andoftheseespeciallythearchitectonicarts。

(6)Thatfromwhichathingcanfirstbeknown，-thisalsoiscalled

thebeginningofthething，e。g。thehypothesesarethebeginnings

ofdemonstrations。(Causesarespokenofinanequalnumberofsenses；

forallcausesarebeginnings。)Itiscommon，then，toall

beginningstobethefirstpointfromwhichathingeitherisorcomes

tobeorisknown；butofthesesomeareimmanentinthethingand

othersareoutside。Hencethenatureofathingisabeginning，andso

istheelementofathing，andthoughtandwill，andessence，and

thefinalcause-forthegoodandthebeautifularethebeginning

bothoftheknowledgeandofthemovementofmanythings。

2

’Cause’means(1)thatfromwhich，asimmanentmaterial，athing

comesintobeing，e。g。thebronzeisthecauseofthestatueandthe

silverofthesaucer，andsoaretheclasseswhichincludethese。

Theformorpattern，i。e。thedefinitionoftheessence，andthe

classeswhichincludethis(e。g。theratio2:1andnumberingeneral

arecausesoftheoctave)，andthepartsincludedinthedefinition。

Thatfromwhichthechangeortherestingfromchangefirst

begins；e。g。theadviserisacauseoftheaction，andthefathera

causeofthechild，andingeneralthemakeracauseofthethingmade

andthechange-producingofthechanging。(4)Theend，i。e。thatfor

thesakeofwhichathingis；e。g。healthisthecauseofwalking。For

’Whydoesonewalk？’wesay；’thatonemaybehealthy’；andin

speakingthuswethinkwehavegiventhecause。Thesameistrueof

allthemeansthatintervenebeforetheend，whensomethingelsehas

puttheprocessinmotion，ase。g。thinningorpurgingordrugsor

instrumentsintervenebeforehealthisreached；foralltheseare

forthesakeoftheend，thoughtheydifferfromoneanotherinthat

someareinstrumentsandothersareactions。

These，then，arepracticallyallthesensesinwhichcausesare

spokenof，andastheyarespokenofinseveralsensesitfollowsboth

thatthereareseveralcausesofthesamething，andinno

accidentalsense(e。g。boththeartofsculptureandthebronzeare

causesofthestatuenotinrespectofanythingelsebutquastatue；

not，however，inthesameway，buttheoneasmatterandtheother

assourceofthemovement)，andthatthingscanbecausesofone

another(e。g。exerciseofgoodcondition，andthelatterof

exercise；not，however，inthesameway，buttheoneasendandthe

otherassourceofmovement)-Again，thesamethingisthecauseof

contraries；forthatwhichwhenpresentcausesaparticularthing，

wesometimescharge，whenabsent，withthecontrary，e。g。weimpute

theshipwrecktotheabsenceofthesteersman，whosepresencewas

thecauseofsafety；andboth-thepresenceandtheprivation-are

causesassourcesofmovement。

Allthecausesnowmentionedfallunderfoursenseswhichare

themostobvious。Forthelettersarethecauseofsyllables，and

thematerialisthecauseofmanufacturedthings，andfireandearth

andallsuchthingsarethecausesofbodies，andthepartsarecauses

ofthewhole，andthehypothesesarecausesoftheconclusion，in

thesensethattheyarethatoutofwhichtheserespectivelyaremade；

butofthesesomearecauseasthesubstratum(e。g。theparts)，others

astheessence(thewhole，thesynthesis，andtheform)。Thesemen，

thephysician，theadviser，andingeneraltheagent，areall

sourcesofchangeorofrest。Theremainderarecausesastheend

andthegoodoftheotherthings；forthatforthesakeofwhichother

thingsaretendstobethebestandtheendoftheotherthings；let

ustakeitasmakingnodifferencewhetherwecallitgoodorapparent

good。

These，then，arethecauses，andthisisthenumberoftheir

kinds，butthevarietiesofcausesaremanyinnumber，thoughwhen

summarizedthesealsoarecomparativelyfew。Causesarespokenofin

manysenses，andevenofthosewhichareofthesamekindsomeare

causesinapriorandothersinaposteriorsense，e。g。both’the

physician’and’theprofessionalman’arecausesofhealth，andboth

’theratio2:1’and’number’arecausesoftheoctave，andtheclasses

thatincludeanyparticularcausearealwayscausesofthe

particulareffect。Again，thereareaccidentalcausesandthe

classeswhichincludethese；e。g。whileinonesense’thesculptor’

causesthestatue，inanothersense’Polyclitus’causesit，because

thesculptorhappenstobePolyclitus；andtheclassesthatinclude

theaccidentalcausearealsocauses，e。g。’man’-oringeneral

’animal’-isthecauseofthestatue，becausePolyclitusisaman，

andmanisananimal。Ofaccidentalcausesalsosomearemoreremote

ornearerthanothers，as，forinstance，if’thewhite’and’the

musical’werecalledcausesofthestatue，andnotonly’Polyclitus’

or’man’。Butbesidesallthesevarietiesofcauses，whetherproperor

accidental，somearecalledcausesasbeingabletoact，othersas

acting；e。g。thecauseofthehouse’sbeingbuiltisabuilder，ora

builderwhoisbuilding-Thesamevarietyoflanguagewillbefound

withregardtotheeffectsofcauses；e。g。athingmaybecalledthe

causeofthisstatueorofastatueoringeneralofanimage，and

ofthisbronzeorofbronzeorofmatteringeneral；andsimilarly

inthecaseofaccidentaleffects。Again，bothaccidentalandproper

causesmaybespokenofincombination；e。g。wemaysaynot

’Polyclitus’nor’thesculptor’but’Polyclitusthesculptor’。Yetall

thesearebutsixinnumber，whileeachisspokenofintwoways；

for(A)theyarecauseseitherastheindividual，orasthegenus，

orastheaccidental，orasthegenusthatincludestheaccidental，

andtheseeitherascombined，orastakensimply；and(B)allmaybe

takenasactingorashavingacapacity。Buttheydifferinasmuchas

theactingcauses，i。e。theindividuals，exist，ordonotexist，

simultaneouslywiththethingsofwhichtheyarecauses，e。g。this

particularmanwhoishealing，withthisparticularmanwhois

recoveringhealth，andthisparticularbuilderwiththisparticular

thingthatisbeingbuilt；butthepotentialcausesarenotalways

inthiscase；forthehousedoesnotperishatthesametimeasthe

builder。

’Element’means(1)theprimarycomponentimmanentinathing，and

indivisibleinkindintootherkinds；e。g。theelementsofspeech

arethepartsofwhichspeechconsistsandintowhichitisultimately

divided，whiletheyarenolongerdividedintootherformsofspeech

differentinkindfromthem。Iftheyaredivided，theirpartsareof

thesamekind，asapartofwateriswater(whileapartofthe

syllableisnotasyllable)。Similarlythosewhospeakoftheelements

ofbodiesmeanthethingsintowhichbodiesareultimatelydivided，

whiletheyarenolongerdividedintootherthingsdifferingin

kind；andwhetherthethingsofthissortareoneormore，theycall

theseelements。Theso-calledelementsofgeometricalproofs，andin

generaltheelementsofdemonstrations，haveasimilarcharacter；

fortheprimarydemonstrations，eachofwhichisimpliedinmany

demonstrations，arecalledelementsofdemonstrations；andtheprimary

syllogisms，whichhavethreetermsandproceedbymeansofonemiddle，

areofthisnature。

(2)Peoplealsotransfertheword’element’fromthismeaning

andapplyittothatwhich，beingoneandsmall，isusefulformany

purposes；forwhichreasonwhatissmallandsimpleandindivisibleis

calledanelement。Hencecomethefactsthatthemostuniversalthings

areelements(becauseeachofthembeingoneandsimpleispresent

inapluralityofthings，eitherinallorinasmanyaspossible)，

andthatunityandthepointarethoughtbysometobefirst

principles。Now，sincetheso-calledgeneraareuniversaland

indivisible(forthereisnodefinitionofthem)，somesaythe

generaareelements，andmoresothanthedifferentia，becausethe

genusismoreuniversal；forwherethedifferentiaispresent，the

genusaccompaniesit，butwherethegenusispresent，the

differentiaisnotalwaysso。Itiscommontoallthemeaningsthat

theelementofeachthingisthefirstcomponentimmanentineach。