[1003a]
[21]
There is a science which studies Being
qua Being, and the properties inherent in
it in virtue of its own nature. This science is not the same as any of
the so-called particular sciences, for none of the others contemplates
Being generally qua Being; they divide off some
portion of it and study the attribute of this portion, as do for
example the mathematical sciences.But since it is for the first principles and
the most ultimate causes that we are searching, clearly they must
belong to something in virtue of its own nature. Hence if these
principles were investigated by those also who investigated the
elements of existing things, the elements must be elements of Being
not incidentally, but qua Being. Therefore it
is of Being qua Being that we too must grasp
the first causes.The term "being" is used in various
senses, but with reference to one central idea and one definite
characteristic, and not as merely a common epithet. Thus as the term
"healthy" always relates to health (either as preserving it or as
producing it or as indicating it or as receptive of it),
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