Dissertation on Philosophy by Aristotle
Among the prodigies of genius who have largely benefited mankind by disseminating philosophy, Aristotle maintains a very distinguished rank. When we consider that he was not only well acquainted with every science, as his works abundantly evince, but that he wrote on almost every subject which is comprehended in the circle of human knowledge, and this with the most consummate accuracy and skill, we know not which to admire most, the penetration or extent of his mind. For capacious indeed must that mind have been which embraced the vast orb of existence, and left nothing unexplored in the heavens or the earth, and penetrating that genius which arrived at the luminous boundaries of human knowledge, and rendered them accessible to others. With a bold, yet not impious hand, he appears to have withdrawn the awful veil of Nature herself, to have detected her most secret mysteries, and ranged through every part of her variegated dominions. In short, he seems to have possessed, and to have exercised the power of reasoning in the greatest perfection possible to man; and such of his works as have escaped the ravages of time, will ever be considered by the genuine lovers of science, as treasures which from their singular excellence are destined to perish in no less a catastrophe than that of a deluge or conflagration.
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το ἀῑδιον, ἀῑδιος to aidion, aidios | The perpetual
That which subsists in conjunction with time as divided into the present, past, and future. The constitutive factor for the universe would be eternal, but the world would be perpetual. Taylor uses the phrase the fabricator of the world with Latin reference, the one to create, make, produce.
Cf. Perseus variant sense: ἀῑδιος, aidios, everlasting.
Cf. a similar word shape: το ἀιδήν, ἀιδής, to aiden, aides | That has not been seen or has been annihilated, Perseus.
το αἰώνιον, αἰώνιος to aionion, aionios | The eternal
That which exists without connection with time, and neither consumes nor is consumed.
Taylor compares Boethius: Eternity is the at-once total and perfect possession of boundless life, and refers to Plotinus: Eternity is infinite life, the whole of which is at once present, without any thing belonging to it being consumed, and in which there is neither past nor future.
In modern terms, we would need to imagine a non-metabolic life form, as complete as not to interact structurally. On Earth and around, there is not any substance or matter for which there would not be a reactant and all life forms are metabolic: substances become dissolved, carbon chains or rings expanded or broken, etc.
Cf. Perseus variant sense: αἰώνιος, aionios, lasting for an age.
αἰτία aitia | Causes
Fourfold denomination: both energy or capacity can be simple or complex (4), these can be proximate or remote (8), and these essential or accidental, the 16 to be material or formal, efficient, or final; altogether 64 modes.
Cf. Perseus variant sense: αἰτία, aitia, responsibility; αἴτιος, aitios, culpable.
ἀλλοίωσις alloiosis | Change in quality, alliation
Cf. Perseus variant sense: ἀλλοῖος, alloios, of another sort.
το ἀμέθεκτον | The imparticipable
That which is not consubsistent with another.
Cf. Perseus related term: μετέχω, meteho, partake, share in.
γενεσις genesis | Generation
The visible or corporeal nature, as opposed to the invisible or incorporeal.
Cf. Perseus variant sense: γένεσις, genesis, origin, source.
το γίγνεσθαι gignesthai | Becoming
Taylor compares το ειναι, to einai, being, that which exists, and το ον, to on, being.
διάνοια dianoia | Thinking capacity
διεξοδικά του λογου ενεργεια, diexodika tou logou energeia, the power to reason scientifically, on intellectual principles.
Work in progress.
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