In Aristotle's Metaphysics Lambda 1, at 1069a32, there is a program for research about elements of heavenly bodies. This passage has been neglected by scholars, and the Greek text crucially modified by editors. But it is possible to preserve the manuscript reading and to show how the program is soon answered in Lambda 2 1069b24-26, which talks about the peculiar kind of matter that heavenly bodies have: it is not matter sensu stricto, since it comes to be only "pothen poi," "from-one-place-to-another". The suggested analysis shows that "pothen" and "poi" do not need to mark a pair of contraries, a form and its privation. This allows for an agreement with Theta 8’s denial that eternal things can have matter as their own substance. It also allows for an understanding of how Aristotle can imply in Lambda 10 1075b13-14 that he—unlike his predecessors—has successfully responded to the 10th aporia of Beta.
Heavenly matter in Aristotle, Metaphysics Lambda 2
Fazzo, Silvia
2013-01-01
Abstract
In Aristotle's Metaphysics Lambda 1, at 1069a32, there is a program for research about elements of heavenly bodies. This passage has been neglected by scholars, and the Greek text crucially modified by editors. But it is possible to preserve the manuscript reading and to show how the program is soon answered in Lambda 2 1069b24-26, which talks about the peculiar kind of matter that heavenly bodies have: it is not matter sensu stricto, since it comes to be only "pothen poi," "from-one-place-to-another". The suggested analysis shows that "pothen" and "poi" do not need to mark a pair of contraries, a form and its privation. This allows for an agreement with Theta 8’s denial that eternal things can have matter as their own substance. It also allows for an understanding of how Aristotle can imply in Lambda 10 1075b13-14 that he—unlike his predecessors—has successfully responded to the 10th aporia of Beta.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione
