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Aristotle - Metaphysics
Atec Февраль 16 2008 19:57:08
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. that it is the relative (as if he
had said 'the qualitative'), which is neither potentially the one or
being, nor the negation of the one nor of being, but one among beings.
And it was much more necessary, as we said, if he was inquiring how
beings are many, not to inquire about those in the same category-how
there are many substances or many qualities-but how beings as a
whole are many; for some are substances, some modifications, some
relations. In the categories other than substance there is yet another
problem involved in the existence of plurality. Since they are not
separable from substances, qualities and quantities are many just
because their substratum becomes and is many; yet there ought to be
a matter for each category; only it cannot be separable from
substances. But in the case of 'thises', it is possible to explain how
the 'this' is many things, unless a thing is to be treated as both a
'this' and a general character. The difficulty arising from the
facts about substances is rather this, how there are actually many
substances and not one.
But further, if the 'this' and the quantitative are not the
same, we are not told how and why the things that are are many, but
how quantities are many. For all 'number' means a quantity, and so
does the 'unit', unless it means a measure or the quantitatively
indivisible. If, then, the quantitative and the 'what' are
different, we are not told whence or how the 'what' is many; but if
any one says they are the same, he has to face many inconsistencies
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