Humanitext Reader

Aristotle · Categories §9

Action, Affection, and the Remaining Categories

Passage 13 of 19 · Greek

Summary

The author demonstrates that doing and suffering admit of contrariety and variation of degree, and briefly concludes the discussion of the remaining categories (position, time, place, and state) as they are already clear.

§9Ἐπιδέχεται δὲ καὶ τὸ ποιεῖν καὶ τὸ πάσχειν ἐναντιότητα καὶ τὸ μᾶλλον καὶ τὸ ἧττον·
Doing and suffering also admit of contrariety and the more and the less.
τὸ γὰρ θερμαίνειν τῷ ψύχειν ἐναντίον καὶ τὸ θερμαίνεσθαι τῷ ψύχεσθαι καὶ τὸ ἥδεσθαι τῷ λυπεῖσθαι, ὥστε ἐπιδέχεται ἐναντιότητα.
For heating is contrary to cooling, and being heated to being cooled, and feeling pleasure to feeling pain, so that they admit of contrariety.
Καὶ τὸ μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἧττον· θερμαίνειν γὰρ μᾶλλον καὶ ἧττον ἔστι, καὶ θερμαίνεσθαι μᾶλλον καὶ ἧττον.
And they also admit of the more and the less; for it is possible to heat more and less, and to be heated more and less.
Ἐπιδέχεται οὖν τὸ μᾶλλον καὶ τὸ ἧττον τὸ ποιεῖν καὶ τὸ πάσχειν.
Therefore, doing and suffering admit of the more and the less.
Ὑπὲρ μὲν οὗν τούτων τοσαῦτα λέγεται·
About these, then, so much is said.
εἴρηται δὲ καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ κεῖσθαι ἐν τοῖς πρός τι, ὅτι παρωνύμως ἀπὸ τῶν θέσεων λέγεται.
And about "being posited" (position) it has been said in the category of relation that it is spoken of paronymously from postures.
Ὑπὲρ δὲ τῶν λοιπῶν, τοῦ τε ποτὲ καὶ τοῦ ποῦ καὶ τοῦ ἔχειν, διὰ τὸ προφανῆ εἶναι οὐδὲν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἄλλο λέγεται ἢ ὅσα ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐρρέθη, ὅτι τὸ ἔχειν μὲν σημαίνει τὸ ὑποδεδέσθαι, τὸ ὡπλίσθαι, τὸ δὲ ποῦ οἷον ἐν Λυκείῳ, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα δὲ ὅσα ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἐρρέθη.
And about the remaining ones—"when", "where", and "having"—because they are clear, nothing else is said about them than what was said at the beginning: that "having" signifies, for example, being shod or being armed, and "where" signifies, for example, in the Lyceum, and whatever else was said about them.

Notes

  1. ¦3¦τοῦ κεῖσθαι ἐν τοῖς πρός τι — The genitive infinitive `τοῦ κεῖσθαι` is governed by the preposition `ὑπὲρ` carried over from the preceding sentence. `ἐν τοῖς πρός τι` means "in the category of relation," referring back to the discussion in Chapter 7.
  2. ¦3¦διὰ τὸ προφανῆ εἶναι — An accusative-with-infinitive construction governed by the preposition `διά`, where `προφανῆ` is the predicate accusative neuter plural (contracted from `προφανέα`) of the adjective `προφανής`, and the subject accusative representing the remaining categories is omitted. It functions adverbially to express cause: "because they are obvious."

Cite this passage

Aristotle, Categories §9. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0086.tlg006.humanitext-grc1:9

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