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Aristotle · Metaphysics §5.9-5.10

Definitions of Same, Other, Opposite, and Contrary

Passage 50 of 159 · Greek

Summary

In §5.9, 'same', 'other', 'different', and 'like' are defined, establishing identity as a kind of oneness. In §5.10, the various definitions of 'opposite', 'contrary', and 'other in species' are developed in connection with the categories.

§5.9ταὐτὰ λέγεται τὰ μὲν κατὰ συμβεβηκός, οἷον τὸ λευκὸν καὶ τὸ μουσικὸν τὸ αὐτὸ ὅτι τῷ αὐτῷ συμβέβηκε, καὶ ἄνθρωπος καὶ μουσικὸν ὅτι θάτερον θατέρῳ συμβέβηκεν, τὸ δὲ μουσικὸν ἄνθρωπος ὅτι τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ συμβέβηκεν· ἑκατέρῳ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ τούτῳ ἑκάτερον ἐκείνων, καὶ γὰρ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τῷ μουσικῷ καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος καὶ τὸ μουσικὸν ταὐτὸ λέγεται, καὶ τούτοις ἐκεῖνο (διὸ καὶ πάντα ταῦτα καθόλου οὐ λέγεται· οὐ γὰρ ἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν ὅτι πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ταὐτὸ καὶ τὸ μουσικόν· τὰ γὰρ καθόλου καθʼ αὑτὰ ὑπάρχει, τὰ δὲ συμβεβηκότα οὐ καθʼ αὑτά· ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ τῶν καθʼ ἕκαστα ἁπλῶς λέγεται· ταὐτὸ γὰρ δοκεῖ Σωκράτης καὶ Σωκράτης εἶναι μουσικός· τὸ δὲ Σωκράτης οὐκ ἐπὶ πολλῶν, διὸ οὐ πᾶς Σωκράτης λέγεται ὥσπερ πᾶς ἄνθρωπος)· —καὶ τὰ μὲν οὕτως λέγεται ταὐτά, τὰ δὲ καθʼ αὑτὰ ὁσαχῶσπερ καὶ τὸ ἕν· καὶ γὰρ ὧν ἡ ὕλη μία ἢ εἴδει ἢ ἀριθμῷ ταὐτὰ λέγεται καὶ ὧν ἡ οὐσία μία, ὥστε φανερὸν ὅτι ἡ ταυτότης ἑνότης τίς ἐστιν ἢ πλειόνων τοῦ εἶναι ἢ ὅταν χρῆται ὡς πλείοσιν, οἷον ὅταν λέγῃ αὐτὸ αὑτῷ ταὐτόν·
Things are said to be the same in one sense accidentally, for instance, the white and the musical are the same because they are accidental to the same thing, and man and musical because the one is accidental to the other, and the 'musical man' because the musical is accidental to the man; and this is said of each of those, and each of those of this; for both 'man' and 'musical' are said to be the same as 'musical man', and that is said to be the same as these (for which reason also all these are not said universally; for it is not true to say that 'every man is the same as the musical'; for universals belong in themselves, but accidents do not belong in themselves; but they are said simply in the case of particulars; for Socrates and 'musical Socrates' seem to be the same; but 'Socrates' is not predicated of many, and for this reason 'every Socrates' is not said, as 'every man' is). — In these ways, then, are things said to be the same, but others are so in themselves, in as many ways as 'one' is said; for those things are said to be the same whose matter is one either in species or in number, and those whose substance is one, so that it is clear that identity is a certain oneness, either of the being of more than one thing, or when a thing is used as more than one, as when one says a thing is the same as itself; for it is then used as two. — Others are said of things whose species or matter or formula of substance is more than one; and in general 'other' is said in opposition to 'same'.
ὡς δυσὶ γὰρ χρῆται αὐτῷ. —ἕτερα δὲ λέγεται ὧν ἢ τὰ εἴδη πλείω ἢ ἡ ὕλη ἢ ὁ λόγος τῆς οὐσίας· καὶ ὅλως ἀντικειμένως τῷ ταὐτῷ λέγεται τὸ ἕτερον. διάφορα δὲ λέγεται ὅσʼ ἕτερά ἐστι τὸ αὐτό τι ὄντα, μὴ μόνον ἀριθμῷ ἀλλʼ ἢ εἴδει ἢ γένει ἢ ἀναλογίᾳ·
'Different' is said of those things which, being some same thing, are other, not only in number but either in species or in genus or in analogy; further, those whose genus is other, and contraries, and all that have otherness in their substance.
ἔτι ὧν ἕτερον τὸ γένος, καὶ τὰ ἐναντία, καὶ ὅσα ἔχει ἐν τῇ οὐσίᾳ τὴν ἑτερότητα. ὅμοια λέγεται τά τε πάντῃ ταὐτὸ πεπονθότα, καὶ τὰ πλείω ταὐτὰ πεπονθότα ἢ ἕτερα, καὶ ὧν ἡ ποιότης μία·
'Like' is said of things which have experienced the same in every way, and those which have experienced more things the same than other, and those whose quality is one; and of contraries, in respect of those attributes in which they are capable of changing, that which has more of them or the more important of them is like that other.
καὶ καθʼ ὅσα ἀλλοιοῦσθαι ἐνδέχεται τῶν ἐναντίων, τούτων τὸ πλείω ἔχον ἢ κυριώτερα ὅμοιον τούτῳ.
And in opposition to the like, the unlike.
ἀντικειμένως δὲ τοῖς ὁμοίοις τὰ ἀνόμοια. §5.10ἀντικείμενα λέγεται ἀντίφασις καὶ τἀναντία καὶ τὰ πρός τι καὶ στέρησις καὶ ἕξις καὶ ἐξ ὧν καὶ εἰς ἃ ἔσχατα αἱ γενέσεις καὶ φθοραί·
'Opposite' is said of contradiction, contraries, relatives, privation and possession, and the extremes from which and into which generation and destruction take place; and whatever cannot be present at the same time in that which is receptive of both, these are said to be opposed, either themselves or the things from which they are composed.
καὶ ὅσα μὴ ἐνδέχεται ἅμα παρεῖναι τῷ ἀμφοῖν δεκτικῷ, ταῦτα ἀντικεῖσθαι λέγεται ἢ αὐτὰ ἢ ἐξ ὧν ἐστίν. φαιὸν γὰρ καὶ λευκὸν ἅμα τῷ αὐτῷ οὐχ ὑπάρχει·
For grey and white cannot belong to the same thing at the same time; and for this reason the things from which they are composed are opposite.
διὸ ἐξ ὧν ἐστὶν ἀντίκειται.
'Contrary' is said of those things which, being different in genus, cannot be present at the same time in the same thing, and those which differ most among the things in the same genus, and those which differ most among the things in the same receptive subject, and those which differ most among the things under the same power, and those whose difference is greatest either simply or in genus or in species.
ἐναντία λέγεται τά τε μὴ δυνατὰ ἅμα τῷ αὐτῷ παρεῖναι τῶν διαφερόντων κατὰ γένος, καὶ τὰ πλεῖστον διαφέροντα τῶν ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ γένει, καὶ τὰ πλεῖστον διαφέροντα τῶν ἐν ταὐτῷ δεκτικῷ, καὶ τὰ πλεῖστον διαφέροντα τῶν ὑπὸ τὴν αὐτὴν δύναμιν, καὶ ὧν ἡ διαφορὰ μεγίστη ἢ ἁπλῶς ἢ κατὰ γένος ἢ κατʼ εἶδος.
Other things are called contrary either because they have such contraries, or because they are receptive of them, or because they are active or passive with respect to them, or are actually doing or suffering them, or because they are rejections or acquisitions, or possessions or privations of such things.
τὰ δʼ ἄλλα ἐναντία λέγεται τὰ μὲν τῷ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἔχειν, τὰ δὲ τῷ δεκτικὰ εἶναι τῶν τοιούτων, τὰ δὲ τῷ ποιητικὰ ἢ παθητικὰ εἶναι τῶν τοιούτων, ἢ ποιοῦντα ἢ πάσχοντα, ἢ ἀποβολαὶ ἢ λήψεις, ἢ ἕξεις ἢ στερήσεις εἶναι τῶν τοιούτων. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸ ἓν καὶ τὸ ὂν πολλαχῶς λέγεται, ἀκολουθεῖν ἀνάγκη καὶ τἆλλα ὅσα κατὰ ταῦτα λέγεται, ὥστε καὶ τὸ ταὐτὸν καὶ τὸ ἕτερον καὶ τὸ ἐναντίον, ὥστʼ εἶναι ἕτερον καθʼ ἑκάστην κατηγορίαν. —ἕτερα δὲ τῷ εἴδει λέγεται ὅσα τε ταὐτοῦ γένους ὄντα μὴ ὑπάλληλά ἐστι, καὶ ὅσα ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ γένει ὄντα διαφορὰν ἔχει, καὶ ὅσα ἐν τῇ οὐσίᾳ ἐναντίωσιν ἔχει·
Since 'one' and 'being' are said in many ways, it must follow that all other things which are said in terms of these also follow them, and so 'same', 'other' and 'contrary' must also follow, so that there is an 'other' in each category. — 'Other in species' is said of those things which, belonging to the same genus, are not subordinate to one another, and those which, being in the same genus, have a difference, and those which have contrariety in their substance; and contraries are other in species from one another, either all of them or those which are so called in the primary sense; and all those of which, in the last species of the genus, the formulae are other (as man and horse are indivisible in genus, but their formulae are other), and those which, being in the same substance, have a difference.
καὶ τὰ ἐναντία ἕτερα τῷ εἴδει ἀλλήλων ἢ πάντα ἢ τὰ λεγόμενα πρώτως, καὶ ὅσων ἐν τῷ τελευταίῳ τοῦ γένους εἴδει οἱ λόγοι ἕτεροι (οἷον ἄνθρωπος καὶ ἵππος ἄτομα τῷ γένει οἱ δὲ λόγοι ἕτεροι αὐτῶν), καὶ ὅσα ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ οὐσίᾳ ὄντα ἔχει διαφοράν. ταὐτὰ δὲ τῷ εἴδει τὰ ἀντικειμένως λεγόμενα τούτοις.
And 'same in species' is said of those things which are called in opposition to these.

Notes

  1. 1017b29ἑκατέρῳ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ τούτῳ ἑκάτερον ἐκείνων — Identifying the referents of these pronouns is a crux. If 'man' is A, 'musical' is B, and 'musical man' is C, then C (τοῦτο) is said to be the same as each of A and B (ἑκατέρῳ), and each of A and B (ἑκάτερον ἐκείνων) is said to be the same as C (τούτῳ). The subsequent clause starting with καὶ γὰρ confirms and illustrates this structure.
  2. 1018a8ἢ ὅταν χρῆται ὡς πλείοσιν, οἷον ὅταν λέγῃ αὐτὸ αὑτῷ ταὐτόν — This explains the syntax of self-identity ('A is A'), where what is essentially one is mentally divided into two (subject and predicate). It defines identity (ἑνότης) as occurring 'when a thing is used as more than one', and the explanatory clause ὡς δυσὶ γὰρ χρῆται αὐτῷ clarifies that the mind treats the single entity as if it were two.
  3. 1018a24ἐξ ὧν ἐστὶν — The relative pronoun ὧν refers to the constituent elements (e.g., black and white) from which intermediate colors like grey (and white) are composed. Since grey is a mixture of black and white, the logical structure here shows that grey and white are opposed because the primary constituents from which they are made (black and white) are opposed (ἀντίκειται).
  4. 1018b5ἄτομα τῷ γένει — The phrase 'indivisible in genus' means occupying the position of the 'lowest species' (species infima), which undergoes no further subdivision within the logical classification. Both man and horse are ultimate species under the same genus 'animal', but because their definitions (λόγοι) are different (ἕτεροι), they serve as an illustration of being 'other in species'.

Cite this passage

Aristotle, Metaphysics §5.9-5.10. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0086.tlg025.humanitext-grc2:5.9-5.10

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