Single Idea 486

[catalogued under 26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / f. Ancient elements]

Full Idea

No plant could grow out of the earth, and no animal or any other thing could come into being, unless it were so compounded as to be the same.

Gist of Idea

Plants and animals can only come into existence if something fixes their species

Source

Diogenes (Apoll) (fragments/reports [c.440 BCE], B02), quoted by Simplicius - On Aristotle's 'Physics' 151.31-

Book Reference

'Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers', ed/tr. Freeman,Kathleen [Harvard 1957], p.87