[1059a]
[18]
That wisdom is a science of first
principles is clear from our Introductory remarks,1 in which we of raised objections to
the statements of other thinkers about the first principles.
[20]
It might be asked, however,
whether we should regard Wisdom as one science or as more than
one.2 If as one, it may be objected that
the objects of one science are always contraries; but the first
principles are not contraries. And if it is not one, what sort of
sciences are we to suppose them to be? Again, is it the
province of one science, or of more than one, to study the principles
of demonstration?3 If of one, why of it rather than of any
other? And if of more than one, of what sort are we to suppose them to
be?Again, are we to suppose that
Wisdom deals with all substances or not?4 If not with
all, it is hard to lay down with what kind it does deal; while if
there is one science of them all, it is not clear how the same science
can deal with more than one subject. Again, is this
science concerned only with substances, or with attributes as
well?5 For if it is a demonstration of
attributes, it is not concerned with substances; and if there is a
separate science of each, what is each of these sciences, and which of
them is Wisdom? qua demonstrative, the science
of attributes appears to be Wisdom; but qua
concerned with that which is primary, the science of
substances. Nor must we suppose that the science
which we are seeking is concerned with the causes described in the
Physics.6 It is not
concerned with the final cause; for this is the Good, and this belongs
to the sphere of action and to things which are in motion; and it is
this which first causes motion (for the end is of this
nature); but there is no Prime Mover in the sphere of immovable
things.And in
general it is a difficult question whether the science which we are
now seeking is concerned with sensible substances,
2 Cf. Aristot. Met. 3.1.5, Aristot. Met. 3.2.1-10.
3 Cf. Aristot. Met. 3.1.5, , Aristot. Met. 3.2.10-15, where the problem takes a slightly different form.
4 Cf. Aristot. Met. 3.1.6, Aristot. Met. 3.2.15-17.
5 Cf. Aristot. Met. 3.1.8-10, Aristot. Met. 3.2.18-19.
6 Aristot. Physics 2.3.
Aristotle. Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vols.17, 18, translated by Hugh Tredennick. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1933, 1989.
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