Academica eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 347 pages of information about Academica.

Academica eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 347 pages of information about Academica.
tode ti], when affected by the form. (Cf. [Greek:  tode, touto], Plato Tim. 49 E, 50 A, also Arist. Metaph H, 1, R. and P. 270—­274).  A figurative description of the process is given in Timaeus, 50 D. In eo quod efficeret ... materiam quandam:  Cic. is hampered by the patrii sermonis egestas, which compels him to render simple Greek terms by laboured periphrases. Id quod efficit is not distinct from, but equivalent to vis, id quod efficitur to materia. Materiam quandam:  it is extraordinary how edd. (esp Goer.) could have so stumbled over quandam and quasi used in this fashion.  Both words (which are joined below) simply mark the unfamiliarity of the Latin word in its philosophical use, in the Greek [Greek:  hyle] the strangeness had had time to wear off. In utroque:  for in eo quod ex utroque (sc. vi et materia) fit, the meaning is clearly given by the next clause, viz. that Force and Matter cannot actually exist apart, but only in the compound of the two, the formed entity, which doctrine is quite Aristotelian.  See the reff. given above. Nihil enim est quod non alicubi esse cogatur:  the meaning of this is clear, that nothing can exist except in space (alicubi), it is more difficult to see why it should be introduced here.  Unless est be taken of merely phenomenal existence (the only existence the Stoics and Antiochus would allow), the sentence does not represent the belief of Aristotle and Plato.  The [Greek:  ideai] for instance, though to Plato in the highest sense existent, do not exist in space. (Aristotle explicitly says this, Phys. III. 4).  Aristotle also recognised much as existent which did not exist in space, as in Phys. IV. 5 (qu.  R. and P. 289).  Cic. perhaps translates here from Tim. 52 B, [Greek:  phamen anankaion einai pou to hon hapan en tini topo].  For ancient theories about space the student must be referred to the histories of philosophy.  A fair summary is given by Stob. Phys. [Greek:  peri kenou kai topou kai choras], ch.  XVIII. 1. Corpus et quasi qualitatem:  note that corpus is formed, as contrasted with materia, unformed matter. Qualitas is here wrongly used for quale; it ought to be used of Force only, not of the product of Force and Matter, cf. 28.  The Greeks themselves sometimes confuse [Greek:  poiotes] and [Greek:  poion], the confusion is aided by the ambiguity of the phrase [Greek:  to poion] in Greek, which may either denote the [Greek:  tode ti] as [Greek:  poion], or the Force which makes it [Greek:  poion], hence Arist. calls one of his categories [Greek:  to poion] and [Greek:  poiotes] indifferently For the Stoic view of [Greek:  poiotes], see Zeller, 96—­103, with footnotes.

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Academica from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.