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Full Idea
If all things are composed of opposites, how can the things of which the opposites are made be composed of opposites?
Gist of Idea
If everything is made of opposites, are the opposed things made of opposites?
Source
Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1075a23)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Metaphysics', ed/tr. Lawson-Tancred,Hugh [Penguin 1998], p.386
A Reaction
A nice warning against being too simplistic in metaphysics.
416 | Beautiful harmony comes from things that are in opposition to one another [Heraclitus] |
425 | A thing can have opposing tensions but be in harmony, like a lyre [Heraclitus] |
232 | Opposites are as unlike as possible [Plato] |
627 | If everything is made of opposites, are the opposed things made of opposites? [Aristotle] |
628 | Not everything is composed of opposites; what, for example, is the opposite of matter? [Aristotle] |