Authors/Aristotle/metaphysics/l5/c25

Chapter 25 Part

Latin

English

Pars dicitur uno quidem modo in quam dividetur utique quantum quantacumque; semper enim ablatum a quanto in quantum quantum pars illius dicitur, ut trium duo pars dicuntur aliqualiter. Alio vero modo quae talia mensurant ↵ solum; propter quod duo trium sunt quidem ut dicitur pars, sunt autem ut non. Amplius in quae dividetur utique species sine quantitate, et haec partes huius dicuntur; quare species generis dicunt esse partes. Amplius in quae dividitur aliquid aut ex quibus componitur totum, aut species aut habens spe↵ciem, ut spere eree aut cubi erei et es pars * (hoc autem est materia in qua species) et angulus pars. Amplius quae sunt in ratione unumquodque ostendente, et haec partes * totius; propter quod genus speciei et pars dicitur, aliter autem species gene↵ris pars.

Chapter 25. Part means (1) (a) that into which a quantum can in any way be divided; for that which is taken from a quantum qua quantum is always called a part of it, e.g. two is called in a sense a part of three. It means (b), of the parts in the first sense, only those which measure the whole; this is why two, though in one sense it is, in another is not, called a part of three.(2) The elements into which a kind might be divided apart from the quantity are also called parts of it; for which reason we say the species are parts of the genus.(3) The elements into which a whole is divided, or of which it consists – the whole meaning either the form or that which has the form; e.g. of the bronze sphere or of the bronze cube both the bronze – i.e. the matter in which the form is – and the characteristic angle are parts.(4) The elements in the definition which explains a thing are also parts of the whole; this is why the genus is called a part of the species, though in another sense the species is part of the genus.