[1032a]
[1]
as is
clear from what we have just stated; for it is not by accident that
the essence of "one," and "the one," are one.Moreover, if they are different, there
will be an infinite series; for the essence of "one" and "the one"
will both exist; so that in that case too the same principle will
apply.1 Clearly, then, in the case of
primary and self-subsistent terms, the individual thing and its
essence are one and the same.It is obvious that the
sophistical objections to this thesis are met in the same way as the
question whether Socrates is
the same as the essence of
Socrates; for there is no difference either in the
grounds for asking the question or in the means of meeting it
successfully. We have now explained in what sense the essence is, and
in what sense it is not, the same as the individual thing.Of things which are generated, some are generated naturally, others
artificially, and others spontaneously; but everything which is
generated is generated by something and from something and becomes
something. When I say "becomes something" I mean in any of the
categories; it may come to be either a particular thing or of some
quantity or quality or in some place.Natural generation is the generation of things whose generation is
by nature.That from which
they are generated is what we call matter; that by which, is something
which exists naturally; and that which they become is a man or a plant
or something else of this kind, which we call substance in the highest
degree.
[20]
All things
which are generated naturally or artificially have matter; for it is
possible for each one of them both to be and not to be, and this
possibility is the matter in each individual thing.And in general both that from which and
that in accordance with which they are generated, is nature; for the
thing generated, e.g. plant or animal, has a nature. And that by which
they are generated is the so-called "formal" nature, which has the
same form as the thing generated (although it is in something else);
for man begets man.Such is the
generation of things which are naturally generated; the other kinds of
generation are called productions. All productions proceed from either
art or potency or thought.Some of them are also generated spontaneously and by chance in much
the same way as things which are naturally generated; for sometimes
even in the sphere of nature the same things are generated both from
seed and without it.2
We shall consider cases of this kind later.3
1 i.e. since there is a distinct term "essence of one" besides "one," there will be a third distinct term "essence of essence of one"; and so on as in the case of "horse" above.
2 e.g. fish (Aristot. Hist. An. 569a 11) and insects (Aristot. Hist. An. 539a 24).
3 In Aristot. Met. 7.9.
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