Authors/Aristotle/metaphysics/l5/c26

Chapter 26 Whole

Latin	English
Totum dicitur et cuius nulla pars abest ex quibus * dicitur totum natura, et continens contenta ut unum aliquid ƿ sunt illa;	Chapter 26. A whole means (1) that from which is absent none of the parts of which it is said to be naturally a whole, and (2) that which so contains the things it contains that they form a unity;
hoc autem dupliciter; aut enim ut unumquodque unum aut ut ex hiis unum.	and this in two senses – either as being each severally one single thing, or as making up the unity between them.
Universale quidem enim, et quod ↵ totaliter dicitur ut totum aliquid ens, sic est universale quasi multa continens in predicari de unoquoque et unum omnia esse ut unumquodque, puta hominem, equum, deum, quia omnia animalia.	For (a) that which is true of a whole class and is said to hold good as a whole (which implies that it is a kind whole) is true of a whole in the sense that it contains many things by being predicated of each, and by all of them, e.g. man, horse, god, being severally one single thing, because all are living things.
Continuum vero et finitum, quando unum aliquid ex pluribus est quae insunt maxime quidem ** potentia, ↵ si autem non et energia.	But (b) the continuous and limited is a whole, when it is a unity consisting of several parts, especially if they are present only potentially, but, failing this, even if they are present actually.
Horum vero eorundem magis quae sunt natura quam arte talia, quemadmodum et in uno dicimus, tamquam existente totalitate unione aliqua.	Of these things themselves, those which are so by nature are wholes in a higher degree than those which are so by art, as we said in the case of unity also, wholeness being in fact a sort of oneness.
↵ Amplius quanto habente principium et medium et ultimum, quorum quidem non facit positio differentiam, omne dicitur, quorum vero facit, totum. Et quaecumque ambo, dicuntur et totum et omne. Sunt autem haec quorumcumque natura quidem ↵ eadem manet transpositione, forma vero non, ut cera et uestis; et enim totum et omne dicuntur, habent enim ambo. Aqua vero et quaecumque sunt humida et numerus omne quidem dicuntur, totus vero numerus et tota aqua non dicitur nisi methaphora, omnia vero dicuntur in quibus ‘omne’ ut in uno, ↵ in hiis ‘omnia’ ut in divisis: omnis hic numerus, omnes hae unitates.	[24a] Again (3) of quanta that have a beginning and a middle and an end, those to which the position does not make a difference are called totals, and those to which it does, wholes. Those which admit of both descriptions are both wholes and totals. These are the things whose nature remains the same after transposition, but whose form does not, e.g. wax or a coat; they are called both wholes and totals; for they have both characteristics. Water and all liquids and number are called totals, but the whole number or the whole water one does not speak of, except by an extension of meaning. To things, to which qua one the term total is applied, the term all is applied when they are treated as separate; this total number, all these units.