16115
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Change is the implied actuality of that which exists potentially [Aristotle]
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Full Idea:
Change is the actuality of that which exists potentially, in so far as it is potentially this actuality. Thus, the actuality of a thing's capacity for alteration, in so far as it is a capacity for alteration, is alteration.
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From:
Aristotle (Physics [c.337 BCE], 201a10)
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A reaction:
Not very informative, until you add Idea 16114, telling us that potentiality is best seen as 'power'. Then we have 'all change is the active expression of powers', which strikes me as rather interesting.
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16100
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True change is in a thing's logos or its matter, not in its qualities [Aristotle]
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Full Idea:
In that which underlies a change there is a factor corresponding to the definition [logon] and there is a material factor. When a change is in these constitutive factors there is coming to be or passing away, but in a thing's qualities it is alteration.
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From:
Aristotle (Coming-to-be and Passing-away (Gen/Corr) [c.335 BCE], 317a24)
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A reaction:
This seems to be a key summary of Aristotle's account of change, in the context of his hylomorphism (form-plus-matter). The logos is the account of the thing, which seems to be the definition, which seems to give the form (principle or structure).
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12133
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If the substratum persists, it is 'alteration'; if it doesn't, it is 'coming-to-be' or 'passing-away' [Aristotle]
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Full Idea:
Since we must distinguish the substratum and the property whose nature is to be predicated of the substratum,..there is alteration when the substratum persists...but when nothing perceptible persists as a substratum, this is coming-to-be and passing-away.
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From:
Aristotle (Coming-to-be and Passing-away (Gen/Corr) [c.335 BCE], 319b08-16)
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A reaction:
As usual, Aristotle clarifies the basis of the problem, by distinguishing two different types of change. Notice the empirical character of his approach, resting on whether or not the substratum is 'perceptible'.
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1700
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There are six kinds of change: generation, destruction, increase, diminution, alteration, change of place [Aristotle]
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Full Idea:
There are six kinds of change: generation, destruction, increase, diminution, alteration, change of place. A change in our affections would be an example of alteration.
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From:
Aristotle (Categories [c.331 BCE], 15a13)
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A reaction:
You've got to love someone who is willing to attempt assertions of this kind. These all strike me as correct, and I can't think of any others.
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16118
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Nature is an active principle of change, like potentiality, but it is intrinsic to things [Aristotle]
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Full Idea:
Nature [phusis] is in the same genus as dunamis [power/potential], for it is an active principle of change, but not in another thing but in the thing itself qua itself.
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From:
Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1049a09)
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A reaction:
[Gill's translation; Lawson-Tancred refers to 'A nature' rather than 'nature', which implies an essence]. It seems like phusis is intrinsic, and dunamis is relational. Two sorts of power?
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