A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

ARISTOTELES.

sessed of life, a process of becoming and being
produced, in which the moving power, consisting in
the formative principle, is that which gives it its
shape. In natural existence nmatter ('A7), deprivation (e-rippjr-es), and the formative principle, are
in inseparable union. Matter is the foundation
of the manifold, for everything, according to the
formative principle, which in itself is perfect, strives
to advance from it to that which is more perfect,
till it attains to actuality. The internal formative
principle, on the other hand, is the basis of what
is unchangeable in that which is manifold. For
the formative principle is in itself eternal and imperishable, and is perishable only in so far as it
engenders itself in the material. Natural science
considers the formative principles which in motion
and change continually reengender themselves. The
formative principle and the purpose are the same,
only conceived of in a different relation:-the
formative principle in relation to that which actually exists; purpose, in relation to the why? of
it. The identity of the two is the operative cause.
The relation of purpose is the highest cause, in
which all physical causes concentrate themselves.
(Phys. ii. 7-9.) Wherever there is purpose there
is activity (irpdaTerat, Pylis. ii. 8) in relation to
this purpose, and according to the activity of each
thing, so is its natural constitution. Nature now
has a purpose, but it is independent of all reflection
and consideration. (Phys. 1. c.) It creates according to an unconscious impulse, and its activity is a
daemonical, but not a divine activity (7i ydp d(PS6
sapseovrSa dAA' ovi ela, de Div. per Somn. c. 2).
Sometimes it does not attain its object, because in
its formative process it cannot overpower the
material; and then, through this partial frustration
of the purpose, abortions are produced. (Phys. 1. c.,
de Gener. Anim. iv. 4.) Nature therefore has the
foundation of its development and existence in
itself,-is its own purpose; it is an organic whole,
in which everything is in a state of vigorous reciprocal action, and exhibits a series of gradations
from the less perfect to the more perfect. The
fashioning active principle is the elaos, and this
when perfected is YreiAXEia and evEpyeia, in contrast with which the material, as the merely potential, is the lower principle. The connecting
link between the two is motion, the process of becoming; accordingly motion is a condition in all
nature, and he who has not arrived at the cognition of motion does not understand nature. (Phys.
iii. 1.) Motion is the means by which everything
strives to advance from potentiality (matter) to that
actuality, of which, according to its nature, it is
capable, i. e. to the form appropriate to it, which is
its purpose. The elaos is thus what is true in the
visible object, but not apart from the process of becoming; but it is the basis of this process of becoming itself, inasmuch as it is the active, fashioning
principle. The true principle of natural science,
therefore, lies in the dynamico-genetical method,
which looks upon nature as something continually
becoming, as it strives to advance from potentiality
to actuality. Motion itself is eternal and unproduced; it is the life (oloev wnj -is oon-a) in all
natural thingshy (Phys. viii. 1.) Through this
striving of all natural existences after the imperishable, everything is in some sort filled with soul.
(De Gener. Anim. iii. 11.) The elementary bodies,
considered in themselves, have motion in themselves, reciprocally produce each other, and so

AISTOTELES. 339
imitate the imperishable (as e. g. earth and fire,
Met. ix. 8). Things possessed of life produce
in the process of generation an object of like kind
with themselves (de Anim. ii. 4. 2), and so participate in eternity as far as they can, since in their
individual existence, as one according to number
(Psv dptOi), they are not eternal. A constant
dynamical connexion exhibits itself in the process
of development of natural life, it aims at more and
more perfect formations, and makes the lower and
less perfect forms a preliminary condition of the
higher, so that the higher sphere comprehends also
the lower. (De Caelo, iv. 3.) Thus in the gradations of the elements between earth and heaven,
the several elements are separated by no definite
limit, but pass insensibly from one to the other
(Phys. iv. 5; De Caelo, iv. 1, 4), and also in
organisms possessed of life the same gradation,
from the lower to the more and more perfect forms,
shews itself. (De Animea, ii. 2, 3.) Natural science
then must follow this process of development, for it
is only in this way that it attains to a lively apprehension of nature.
To develop how Aristotle, according to these
leading outlines, treats the particular natural
sciences, how he first develops the gradations of
the elements, the motion of the heavenly bodies,
and the unmoved moving principle, and then points
out the process of formation in inorganic and
organic nature, and lastly arrives at sman, as the
end and centre of the entire creation, of which he
is the most complete organization (Polit. i. 8; fHist.
Anim. ix. I; De Partib. Anim. iv. 10), would
lead us farther than our present limits allow. We
can only again direct attention to the excellent
delineation, a perfect model of its kind, in the
work of Biese above referred to, vol. ii. pp. 59 -216.
2. Mathemiatics and tlhe Mathematical Sciences.
Mathematics and Physics have the same objects
in common, but not in the same manner; for
mathematics abstract from the concrete attributes
of sensible things, and consider, only the quantitative.
(Met. xiii. 3.) This is the only side of that which
is material on which the understanding (Jaidvoia)
dwells, where it considers the universal in the
way in which it is presented by the abstractive
power of the understanding. This mode of procedure, however, does not admit of being applied
in all cases (Phys. ii. 2); and mathematics, from
their very nature, cannot rise above the material
and reach real existence as such. The investigations of this science are restricted to one part of
material existence (wrepti TI fepos T&S oiKceias c Ae' S
lroreiETai Tj)v eceWpiEa, lMet. xi. 4).
The relation between the three theoretical sciences, therefore, is this: the science of plhysics
busies itself indeed with the internal formative
principle, with that which has an absolute existence, but only in so far as this has passed into the
material, and is accordingly not immoveable. (Met.
vi. 1, xii. 7.)
The science of emathematics, on the other hand,
occupies itself indeed with that which is immoveable and at rest, as its definitions are fixed and
unalterable; but not with that which is absolutely
immoveable, but immoveable in so far as it is connected with matter.
The science of meetaphysics, lastly, occupies itself
with that which exists really and absolutely, with
that which is eternal and immoveable.
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