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16 results

  • 10 - On Generation and Corruption II 9

  • from Part I - Introduction and Interpretative Essays
  • Edited by Panos Dimas, Universitetet i Oslo, Andrea Falcon, Concordia University, Montréal, Sean Kelsey, University of Notre Dame, Indiana
  • Book:
    Aristotle: <i>On Generation and Corruption</i> Book II
    Published online:
    10 November 2022
    Print publication:
    24 November 2022, pp 192-215

  • Summary

    GC II 9 resumes the task announced already in GC I 3: explicating generation and corruption so as to account for the fact that these processes are ontologically distinct from alteration. Aristotle identifies the causes of generation and corruption with a view to explaining their contribution in bringing these processes about. First, the chapter discusses the material cause and identifies the kind of matter that functions as a cause of these processes. Rather than presenting matter as merely passive the chapter paints a picture of it as contributing to the causation of generation by supplying the capacities without which form would be unable to fulfill its forming function, and as contributing to that of corruption by its readiness to both lose properties and gain others. The chapter goes on to censure Aristotle’s predecessors for failing to point to an efficient cause of generation and corruption, even though they claim that identifying such a cause is a principal motivation for their theorizing. Though largely critical, this discussion is carefully calibrated to unveil essential features of the efficient cause and in that way prepare the account for this cause in GC II 10.

Aristotle: On Generation and Corruption Book II
  • Introduction, Translation, and Interpretative Essays
  • Edited by Panos Dimas, Andrea Falcon, Sean Kelsey
  • Published online:
    10 November 2022
    Print publication:
    24 November 2022
  • Generation and Corruption II is concerned with Aristotle's theory of the elements, their reciprocal transformations and the cause of their perpetual generation and corruption. These matters are essential to Aristotle's picture of the world, making themselves felt throughout his natural science, including those portions of it that concern living things. What is more, the very inquiry Aristotle pursues in this text, with its focus on definition, generality, and causation, throws important light on his philosophy of science more generally. This volume contains eleven new essays, one for each of the chapters of this Aristotelian text, plus a general introduction and an English translation of the Greek text. It gives substantial attention to an important and neglected text, and highlights its relevance to other topics of current and enduring interest.