Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T20:28:46.407Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Aristotle's Physics II 1 and Cultivated Plants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Errol G. Katayama
Errol G. Katayama*
Affiliation:
Ohio Northern University E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Argument

The aim of this paper is two-fold: to offer an interpretation that preserves the natural reading of Physics II 1 – that Aristotle is drawing a stark distinction between what is natural and what is artificial; and to show how there is logical room for a tertium quid – a category for things that are products of both nature and art. This aim is attained by highlighting two important qualifications Aristotle makes about the products of art in relation to an innate internal principle of change and pointing out that the proper understanding of the significance of the essential-accidental distinction that Aristotle draws must be viewed in the context where he identifies two kinds of nature – form and matter. Based on these analyses, the following three logical categories are shown to be consistent with the passage: 1) purely natural things; 2) essentially artificial objects; and 3) essentially natural things with artificial aspects.

Type
Research Article
Information
Science in Context , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , December 2018 , pp. 405 - 419
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aristotle. 1924. Aristotle's Metaphysics. 2 vols. A Revised Text with Introduction and Commentary by Ross, W.D.. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1936a. Aristotle's Physics. A Revised Text with Introduction and Commentary by Ross, W. D.. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1936b. Aristotle: On the Heavens. Translated by Guthrie, W. K. C. for Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1936c. Aristotle: On the Soul, Parva Naturalia, On Breath. Translated by Hett, W. S. for Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1937. Aristotle: Parts of Animals, Movement of Animals, Progression of Animals. Translated by Peck, L. and Forster, E. S. for Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1942. Aristotle: Generation of Animals. Translated by Peck, A. L. for Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1957. Aristotelis Metaphysica. Edited by Werner Jaeger for Oxford Classical Text. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1961. Aristotle's Protrepticus: An Attempt at Reconstruction. Edited by Düring, Ingemar. Göteborg: Elanders Boktryckeri Aktiebolag.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1965. Aristotle: History of Animals Books I-III. Translated by Peck, A. L. for Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1970a. Aristotle's Physics Books I and II. Translated with Introduction and Notes by Charlton, W.. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1970b. Aristotle: History of Animals Books IV-VI. Translated by Peck, A. L. for Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1980. Aristotle's Physics. Translated with Comments and Glossary by Apostle, Hippocrates. Grinnell IA: Peripatetic Press.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1984. The Complete Works of Aristotle. The Revised Oxford Translation in 2 vols. Edited by Barnes, Jonathan. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1991. Aristotle: History of Animals Books VII-X. Edited and Translated by Balme, D. M. for Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 2001. Aristotle: On the Parts of Animals I-IV. Translated with an Introduction and Commentary by Lennox, James. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Balme, David M. 1987. “Aristotle's Biology was not Essentialist.” In Gotthelf and Lennox 1987, 291–312.Google Scholar
Charles, David. 2000. Aristotle on Meaning and Essence. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Charles, David, ed. 2010a. Definition in Greek Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Charles, David. 2010b. “Definition and Explanation in the Posterior Analytics and Metaphysics.” In Charles 2010a, 286–328.Google Scholar
Gotthelf, Allan, and Lennox, James, eds. 1987. Philosophical Issues in Aristotle's Biology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Herodotus. 1942. The Persian Wars. Translated by Rawlinson, George. New York: Modern Library.Google Scholar
Herodotus. 2015. Herodoti Historiae, 2 vols. Edited by Wilson, N. G. for Oxford Classical Text. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Homer. 1967. The Odyssey of Homer. Translated by Lattimore, Richmond. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Katayama, Errol G. 1999. Aristotle on Artifacts: A Metaphysical Puzzle. Albany: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Katayama, Errol G. 2008. “Substantial Unity and Living Things in Aristotle.” Aperion 41:99–127.Google Scholar
Katayama, Errol G. 2011. “Soul and Elemental Motion in Aristotle's Physics VIII 4.” Aperion 44:163–190.Google Scholar
Katayama, Errol G. 2017. “A Note on TA ESXATA EIDH at 644a23 in Aristotle's Part. An. 1, 4.” Classical Quarterly 67:422–428.Google Scholar
Lang, Helen S. 1992. Aristotle's Physics and Its Medieval Varieties. Albany: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Lennox, James. 1987. “Kinds, Forms of Kinds, and the More and the Less in Aristotle's Biology.” In Gotthelf and Lennox 1987, 339–359.Google Scholar
Lennox, James. 2010. “Bios and Explanatory Unity in Aristotle's Biology.” In Charles 2010a, 329–355.Google Scholar
Leunissen, Mariska, ed. 2015. Aristotle's Physics: A Critical Guide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pease, Arthur Stanley. 1933. “Notes on Ancient Grafting.” Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 64:66–76.Google Scholar
Plato. 1900. Platonis Opera, Vol 1. Edited by Burnet, John. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Plato. 1997. Plato's Complete Works. Edited by Cooper, John M.. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Theophrastus. 1916. De Historia Plantarum. 2 vols. Translated by Hort, Arthur for Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Theophrastus. 1927. De Causis Plantarum, Book One. Text, Critical Apparatus, Translation, and Commentary by Dengler, Robert D.. Philadelphia: Westbrook Pub. Co.Google Scholar
Theophrastus. 1976. De Causis Plantarum. 3 vols. Translated by Einarson, Benedict for Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Wardy, Robert. 2005. “The Mysterious Aristotelian Olive.” Science in Context 18:69–81.Google Scholar