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Aristotle - Metaphysics
Atec Февраль 16 2008 19:57:08
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.e. 'whether both came or
one of the two':-if, then, the question 'whether' is always
concerned with opposites, and we can ask 'whether it is greater or
less or equal', what is the opposition of the equal to the other
two? It is not contrary either to one alone or to both; for why should
it be contrary to the greater rather than to the less? Further, the
equal is contrary to the unequal. Therefore if it is contrary to the
greater and the less, it will be contrary to more things than one. But
if the unequal means the same as both the greater and the less
together, the equal will be opposite to both (and the difficulty
supports those who say the unequal is a 'two'), but it follows that
one thing is contrary to two others, which is impossible. Again, the
equal is evidently intermediate between the great and the small, but
no contrariety is either observed to be intermediate, or, from its
definition, can be so; for it would not be complete if it were
intermediate between any two things, but rather it always has
something intermediate between its own terms.
It remains, then, that it is opposed either as negation or as
privation. It cannot be the negation or privation of one of the two;
for why of the great rather than of the small? It is, then, the
privative negation of both. This is why 'whether' is said with
reference to both, not to one of the two (e.g. 'whether it is
greater or equal' or 'whether it is equal or less'); there are
always three cases
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