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Topic: Potentiality and actuality (Aristotle)

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Two Conceptions of Physis in Aristotle’s Ethics and Politics The distinction Aristotle draws between what is required to move from potentiality to actuality in the case of the standard natural capacities, like sight, and in the moral virtues suggests an ontological difference between the way in which we originally possess these capacities. For when Aristotle explains matter as that which is capable of receiving substance (1015a15-16), he refers to form, and similarly, when he explains the processes of change as derived from substance (1015a16-17), again, he refers to form. Politics demonstrate that one central use of nature is as a first potentiality for moral virtue that has to be augmented by good training and practice. www.siue.edu /EASTASIA/Ward_022503.htm   (8268 words)

Aristotle -- Motion and its Place in Nature [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] The growth of the puppy is not the actualization of its potentiality to be a dog, but the actuality of that potentiality as a potentiality. We know however that the things Aristotle called actualities are limited in number, and constitute the world in its ordered finitude rather than in its random particularity. It is the actuality which has not canceled its corresponding potentiality but exists along with it. www.iep.utm.edu /a/aris-mot.htm   (4987 words)

Aristotle -- Motion and its Place in Nature [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] The growth of the puppy is not the actualization of its potentiality to be a dog, but the actuality of that potentiality as a potentiality. We know however that the things Aristotle called actualities are limited in number, and constitute the world in its ordered finitude rather than in its random particularity. It is the actuality which has not canceled its corresponding potentiality but exists along with it. www.iep.utm.edu /a/aris-mot.htm   (4987 words)

Aristotle -- Motion and its Place in Nature [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] I said at the beginning of this entry that Aristotle's definition of motion was made by putting together two terms, actuality and potentiality, which normally contradict each other. Thomas resolved the contradiction by arguing that in every motion actuality and potentiality are mixed or blended, that the condition of becoming-hot of the water is just the simultaneous presence in the same water of some actuality of heat and some remaining potentiality of heat. Thomas' account of the meaning of Aristotle's definition forces him to construe the grammar of the definition in such a way that the clause introduced by the dative singular feminine relative pronoun he has as its antecedent, in two cases, the neuter participle tou ontos, and in the third, the neuter substantive adjective tou dunatou. www.utm.edu /research/iep/a/aris-mot.htm   (4530 words)

Introduction to Scholastic Philosophy The reason the concept of potentiality and actuality is important to scholastic philosophy is because it is the central pillar in Saint Thomas Aquinas’; cosmological proof for the existence of God. This unique blend of pagan wisdom (the philosophy of Aristotle) and revealed wisdom (the Scriptures and teachings of the Church) was called Scholastic philosophy. Since scholastic philosophy relies on many of the principles of Aristotle’s philosophy, it is necessary to explore Aristotelian principles before delving into scholastic works such as Summa Theologica. www.saintaquinas.com /primer.html   (4530 words)

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Aristotle In the "Metaphysics" he takes the stand that the actual is of its nature antecedent to the potential, that consequently, before all matter, and all composition of matter and form, of potentiality and actuality, there must have existed a Being Who is pure actuality, and Whose life is self-contemplative thought (noesis noeseos). In the metaphysical order, the highest determinations of Being are Actuality (entelecheia) and Potentiality (dynamis). Mathematics was recognized by Aristotle as a division of philosophy, co-ordinate with physics and metaphysics, and is defined as the science of immovable being. www.newadvent.org /cathen/01713a.htm   (4530 words)

The Political Life in Giorgio Agamben by Colin McQuillan Agamben reads Aristotle’s claim that “all potentiality is impotentiality of the same and with respect to the same”–as meaning that potentiality “maintains itself in relation to its own privation... For Agamben, this allows the human being to live–unencumbered by the metaphysical primacy of actuality–by and as his own potentiality. For Agamben, this “essential context” or “indissoluble cohesion” is the “inseparable unity of Being and ways of Being, of subject and qualities.” And this “inseparable unity” is the potentiality of bare life, comprising both its power to be and its power not to be. garnet.acns.fsu.edu /~nr03/mcquillan.htm   (3088 words)

The Infinite: A Supplement to Aristotle and Mathematics The infinite in actuality by addition: With the exception of time, since the only notion of infinite series in potentiality by addition which Aristotle accepts corresponds to a infinite series in potentiality by division, it follows that the only acceptable infinite series in actuality by addition would have to satisfy the same finitistic constraints. Hence, there is no infinite acutality by addition for sizes or weights, etc. Aristotle's views on infinite time are less clear, but he is committed to some sense of an actual infinite by addition in the case of time (going into the past), but only in a weak sense, since past changes no longer exist. The infinite series in potentiality by addition is identical with some series of the infinite in potential by division. plato.stanford.edu /entries/aristotle-mathematics/supplement3.html   (3088 words)

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Aristotle All other beings are composed of actuality and potentiality, a dualism which is a general metaphysical formula for the dualism of matter and form, body and soul, substance and accident, the soul and its faculties, passive and active intellect. In the "Metaphysics" he takes the stand that the actual is of its nature antecedent to the potential, that consequently, before all matter, and all composition of matter and form, of potentiality and actuality, there must have existed a Being Who is pure actuality, and Whose life is self-contemplative thought (noesis noeseos). Mathematics was recognized by Aristotle as a division of philosophy, co-ordinate with physics and metaphysics, and is defined as the science of immovable being. www.newadvent.org /cathen/01713a.htm   (5735 words)

The Infinite: A Supplement to Aristotle and Mathematics The infinite in actuality by addition: With the exception of time, since the only notion of infinite series in potentiality by addition which Aristotle accepts corresponds to a infinite series in potentiality by division, it follows that the only acceptable infinite series in actuality by addition would have to satisfy the same finitistic constraints. I shall mean by a convergent series, one that converges on a finite, positive value, and by a non-convergent series, one that increases ad infinitum. The infinite series in potentiality by addition is identical with some series of the infinite in potential by division. plato.stanford.edu /entries/aristotle-mathematics/supplement3.html   (1229 words)

The Infinite: A Supplement to Aristotle and Mathematics The infinite in actuality by addition : With the exception of time, since the only notion of infinite series in potentiality by addition which Aristotle accepts corresponds to a infinite series in potentiality by division, it follows that the only acceptable infinite series in actuality by addition would have to satisfy the same finitistic constraints. Hence, there is no infinite acutality by addition for sizes or weights, etc. Aristotle's views on infinite time are less clear, but he is committed to some sense of an actual infinite by addition in the case of time (going into the past), but only in a weak sense, since past changes no longer exist. The infinite series in potentiality by addition is identical with some series of the infinite in potential by division. plato.stanford.edu /entries/aristotle-mathematics/supplement3.html   (1229 words)

Aristotle -- Motion and its Place in Nature [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] To the extent that an actuality is also a potentiality it is a motion, and to the extent that an actuality is a motion it is a potentiality. Motion will thus not have to be understood as the mysterious departure of things from rest, which alone can be described, but as the outcome of the action upon one another of divergent and conflicting innate tendencies of things. If motion is such an ultimate term, then to define it by means of anything but synonyms is willfully to choose to dwell in a realm of darkness, at the sacrifice of the understanding which is naturally ours in the form of "good sense" or ordinary common sense. www.utm.edu /research/iep/a/aris-mot.htm   (4987 words)

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Aristotle All other beings are composed of actuality and potentiality, a dualism which is a general metaphysical formula for the dualism of matter and form, body and soul, substance and accident, the soul and its faculties, passive and active intellect. In the metaphysical order, the highest determinations of Being are Actuality (entelecheia) and Potentiality (dynamis). When Aristotle defines the purpose of art to be "the imitation of nature" he does not mean that the plastic arts and poetry should merely copy natural productions; his meaning is that as nature embodies the idea so also does art, but in a higher and more perfect form. www.newadvent.org /cathen/01713a.htm   (4987 words)

Aristotle. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001 Aristotle believed that form caused matter to move and defined motion as the process by which the potentiality of matter (the thing itself) became the actuality of form (motion itself). He held that the Prime Mover alone was pure form and as the “unmoved mover” and final cause was the goal of all motion. In modern thought the efficient cause is generally considered the central explanation of a thing, but for Aristotle the final cause had primacy. www.bartleby.com /65/ar/Aristotl.html   (4987 words)

Selections from the Philosophy of Aristotle Something that is both immaterial and has potentiality does not easily fit into Aristotle's scheme of things. The prime mover is pure actuality-being totally devoid of matter or potentiality. To be an unmoved and eternal mover of a universe everlasting in motion, the prime mover must be immutable. www.filetron.com /grkmanual/aristotle.html   (1809 words)

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Aristotle In the "Metaphysics" he takes the stand that the actual is of its nature antecedent to the potential, that consequently, before all matter, and all composition of matter and form, of potentiality and actuality, there must have existed a Being Who is pure actuality, and Whose life is self-contemplative thought (noesis noeseos). In the "Physics" he adopts and improves on Socrates's teleological argument, the major premise of which is, "Whatever exists for a useful purpose must be the work of an intelligence". In the same treatise, he argues that, although motion is eternal, there cannot be an infinite series of movers and of things moved, that, therefore, there must be one, the first in the series, which is unmoved, to proton kinoun akineton--primum movens immobile. www.newadvent.org /cathen/01713a.htm   (1809 words)

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Aristotle In the "Metaphysics" he takes the stand that the actual is of its nature antecedent to the potential, that consequently, before all matter, and all composition of matter and form, of potentiality and actuality, there must have existed a Being Who is pure actuality, and Whose life is self-contemplative thought (noesis noeseos). Mathematics was recognized by Aristotle as a division of philosophy, co-ordinate with physics and metaphysics, and is defined as the science of immovable being. According to a well-known story, first told by Strabo and repeated by Plutarch and Suidas, Aristotle's library, including the manuscripts of his own works, was willed by him to Theophrastus, his successor as head of the Peripatetic School. www.newadvent.org /cathen/01713a.htm   (1809 words)

theta.txt Likewise we often make a parallel distinction between "activity" (and perhaps "action") and "actuality," whereas Aristotle himself in this instance uses his terms more indistinctly (Bonitz, Index, p. For this new sort we usually use the word, "potentiality," to distinguish it from "power." Aristotle often distinguishes it by the use of the dative, dunamei, as opposed to dunamis. But it contains sound Aristotelian doctrine and terminology, and is quite appropriate to the context. www.morec.com /classics/theta.txt   (1809 words)

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Aristotle In the "Metaphysics" he takes the stand that the actual is of its nature antecedent to the potential, that consequently, before all matter, and all composition of matter and form, of potentiality and actuality, there must have existed a Being Who is pure actuality, and Whose life is self-contemplative thought ( noesis noeseos). Suffice it to say that, taken as a system of knowledge, it is scientific rather than metaphysical; its starting-point is observation rather than intuition; and its aim, to find the ultimate cause of things rather than to determine the value (ethical or aesthetic) of things. The fact is, the individual substance ( first substance) of our sense experience-- this book, this table, this house--has certain individuating qualities (its particular size, shape, colour, etc.) which distinguish it from others of its species and which alone are perceived by the senses. www.newadvent.org /cathen/01713a.htm   (1809 words)

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Aristotle In the "Metaphysics" he takes the stand that the actual is of its nature antecedent to the potential, that consequently, before all matter, and all composition of matter and form, of potentiality and actuality, there must have existed a Being Who is pure actuality, and Whose life is self-contemplative thought (noesis noeseos). No doubt there were divergencies of opinion between the master, who took his stand on sublime, idealistic principles, and the scholar, who, even at that time, showed a preference for the investigation of the facts and laws of the physical world. It brings to bear on the phenomenon a power peculiar to the mind, by virtue of which it renders intelligible essences which are imperceptible to the senses, because hidden under the non-essential qualities. www.newadvent.org /cathen/01713a.htm   (1809 words)

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Cause This first moving cause must, on Aristotle's principle, be an absolute actuality, since, were it not entirely in act, it could not be the moving cause of all things nor keep them eternally in motion. While the material cause of corporeal entities is one, in the sense that it is one indeterminate potentiality, the formal cause is said to be one in the sense that one substantial formal cause only can exist in each effect, or result, of the union of form and matter. With certain important modifications concerning the eternity of the material cause, the substantiality of certain formal causes of material entities, and the determination of the final cause, the fourfold division was handed on to the Christian teachers of patristic and scholastic times. www.newadvent.org /cathen/03459a.htm   (8941 words)

Aristotle -- Motion and its Place in Nature [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] Thomas' account of the meaning of Aristotle's definition forces him to construe the grammar of the definition in such a way that the clause introduced by the dative singular feminine relative pronoun he has as its antecedent, in two cases, the neuter participle tou ontos, and in the third, the neuter substantive adjective tou dunatou. If the clause is understood adverbially, then, the sentence must mean something like: if motion is a potentiality, it is the actuality of a potentiality. It is true that this particular feminine relative pronoun often had an adverbial sense to which its gender was irrelevant, but in the three statements of the definition of motion there is no verb but estin. www.iep.utm.edu /a/aris-mot.htm   (4530 words)

Aristotle -- Motion and its Place in Nature [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] As parts of the motion of the pencil, these positions, though distinct, function identically in the ordered continuity determined by the potentiality of the pencil to be on the floor. The words energeia and entelecheia have very different meanings, but function as synonyms because the world is such that things have identities, belong to species, act for ends, and form material into enduring organized wholes. The word actuality as thus used is very close in meaning to the word life, with the exception that it is broader in meaning, carrying no necessary implication of mortality. www.iep.utm.edu /a/aris-mot.htm   (4530 words)

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Aristotle All other beings are composed of actuality and potentiality, a dualism which is a general metaphysical formula for the dualism of matter and form, body and soul, substance and accident, the soul and its faculties, passive and active intellect. From the fact that the soul in its intellectual operations attains a knowledge of the abstract and universal, and thus transcends matter and material conditions, Aristotle argues that it is immaterial and immortal. Like the human soul or God, the object may be devoid of quantity, and of all physical motion; yet so long as it is a being, it comes within the scope of metaphysics. www.newadvent.org /cathen/01713a.htm   (5735 words)

On Assassination Conspiracy Theories This goes back to Aristotle’s principle that actuality is prior to potentiality: that is, what is potentially so-and-so can only be made actually so by something that is itself actually so. I suggest that it is not logical, and inconsistent with the office of scholar, to accuse people or organizations of criminal behavior before the action or event that is under investigation has, in fact, been determined to have been caused by criminal means. In accusing George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Carol Carmody, et al, of the murder of Paul Wellstone, Fetzer has done wrong in his public attack upon their characters. www.floodlight.org /litigation/ctlp1.htm   (5735 words)

Aristotle -- General Introduction [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] The development of potentiality to actuality is one of the most important aspects of Aristotle's philosophy. To escape prosecution he fled to Chalcis in Euboea so that (Aristotle says) "The Athenians might not have another opportunity of sinning against philosophy as they had already done in the person of Socrates." In the first year of his residence at Chalcis he complained of a stomach illness and died in 322 BCE. It was intended to solve the difficulties which earlier thinkers had raised with reference to the beginnings of existence and the relations of the one and many. www.utm.edu /research/iep/a/aristotl.htm   (5735 words)

Aristotle -- Motion and its Place in Nature [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] As parts of the motion of the pencil, these positions, though distinct, function identically in the ordered continuity determined by the potentiality of the pencil to be on the floor. The words energeia and entelecheia have very different meanings, but function as synonyms because the world is such that things have identities, belong to species, act for ends, and form material into enduring organized wholes. The word actuality as thus used is very close in meaning to the word life, with the exception that it is broader in meaning, carrying no necessary implication of mortality. www.iep.utm.edu /a/aris-mot.htm   (5735 words)

Plato’s Theaetetus [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] What Aristotle later called a distinction between potentiality and actuality becomes the conceptual foundation of this model. Although the aviary’s distinction between potential and actual knowledge improves our understanding of the nature of episteme, it is soon rejected by Socrates on the grounds that it explains false judgment as “the interchange of pieces of knowledge” (199c). The birds are pieces of knowledge, to hand them over to someone else is to teach, to stock the aviary is to learn, to catch a particular bird is to remember a thing once learned and thus potentially known. www.iep.utm.edu /t/theatetu.htm   (4442 words)

Aristotle -- Motion and its Place in Nature [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] This refers to the he toiouton, or he kineton, or he dunaton, which appears in each version of the definition, and which, being grammatically dependent on entelecheia, signifies something the very actuality of which is potentiality. The most serious defect in Saint Thomas' interpretation of Aristotle's definition is that, like Ross' interpretation, it broadens, dilutes, cheapens, and trivializes the meaning of the word entelecheia. Earlier it was stated that there was a qualifying clause in Aristotle's definition which seemed to intensify, rather than relieve, the contradiction. www.iep.utm.edu /a/aris-mot.htm   (4530 words)

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