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Aristotle - On The Parts Of Animals
Atec Февраль 16 2008 20:01:06
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. For a given germ does not give rise to any
chance living being, nor spring from any chance one; but each germ
springs from a definite parent and gives rise to a definite progeny.
And thus it is the germ that is the ruling influence and fabricator of
the offspring. For these it is by nature, the offspring being at any
rate that which in nature will spring from it. At the same time the
offspring is anterior to the germ; for germ and perfected progeny
are related as the developmental process and the result. Anterior,
however, to both germ and product is the organism from which the
germ was derived. For every germ implies two organisms, the parent and
the progeny. For germ or seed is both the seed of the organism from
which it came, of the horse, for instance, from which it was
derived, and the seed of the organism that will eventually arise
from it, of the mule, for example, which is developed from the seed of
the horse. The same seed then is the seed both of the horse and of the
mule, though in different ways as here set forth. Moreover, the seed
is potentially that which will spring from it, and the relation of
potentiality to actuality we know.
There are then two causes, namely, necessity and the final end.
For many things are produced, simply as the results of necessity. It
may, however, be asked, of what mode of necessity are we speaking when
we say this. For it can be of neither of those two modes which are set
forth in the philosophical treatises
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