[1067a]
[1]
nor fire nor any other
element.Apart from
the question of how any of them could be infinite, the All, even if it
is finite, cannot be or become any one of the elements, as Heraclitus
says1 all things
at certain times become fire. The same argument applies as to the One
which the physicists posit besides the elements; for all change
proceeds from the contrary, e.g. from hot to cold.2 Again, a sensible body is in
some region, and the region of the whole and of the part (e.g. of the
earth) is the same.3 Therefore if the infinite body is homogeneous, it
will be immovable or will always be in motion4; but this is impossible,
for why should there be rest or motion below rather than above or in
any other region? E.g., if there were a clod, in what region would it
move or be at rest?The
region proper to the body which is homogeneous with the clod is
infinite. Then will the clod occupy the whole of that region? How can
it? Then what of its rest or motion? It will either rest
everywhere—in which case it cannot move—or move
everywhere; in which case it cannot rest.5 And if the whole is not alike
throughout, the regions proper to its parts are unlike also; and (a)
the body of the whole is not one, except in virtue of contact; (b) the
parts will be either finite or infinite in kind.Finite they cannot be, for then those
of one kind would be infinite6 and those of
another would not (if the whole is infinite); e.g., fire or water
would be infinite.
[20]
But such
a condition would involve the destruction of the contraries. But if
the parts are infinite7 and simple, the regions proper to them
are infinite and the elements will be infinite. And since this is
impossible,8 the regions are finite9 and the whole must be finite. In general, there cannot be an infinite body and a
place for bodies if every body which is sensible has either weight or
lightness; for it will have to move either towards the center or
upwards, and the infinite—either the whole or the
half—cannot do either; for how can you divide it? How can
the infinite be part up and part down, or part extreme and part
center?Further,
every sensible body is in some place, and of place there are six
kinds,10 but these cannot exist in an infinite body. In
general, if an infinite place is impossible, so is an infinite body;
because that which is in a place is somewhere, and this means either
up or down or one of the other kinds of place, and each of these is a
limit. The infinite is not the same in the sense
that it is one nature whether it applies to magnitude or to motion or
to time; the posterior is derived from the prior sense, e.g. motion is
called infinite in virtue of the magnitude involved when a thing is
moved or changed or increased, and time is so called on account of
motion.11
1 Cf. Hereclitus Fr. 20-22 (Bywater).
2 The argument seems to be: Since all change is from contrary to contrary, and it is impossible that either (a) one of the elements should be contrary to the rest, or (b) one material principle should be contrary to all four elements, it follows that no one element, and similarly that no one material principle apart from the elements, can be the ultimate material principle of the universe.
3 i.e., the region of the universe which is proper to a given element is proper also to any part of that element. The proper region of earth is the center, of fire the circumference of the universe. Cf. Aristot. De Caelo 1.2.
4 Ross is evidently right in taking this to refer to the rest or motion of the parts. An infinite body cannot move as a whole, because there is no space outside it.
5 If earth is an infinite body, its region must be infinite. But the infinite has no center (cf. sect. 13). Therefore a clod, which cannot occupy the whole region proper to earth, will have no region proper to itself to which it can move or in which it can rest.
6 sc. in quantity. If the universe is infinite in quantity, and the elements are limited in kind, some of the elements (or at least one) must be infinite in quantity. But this is impossible, just as it is impossible that all the elements should be infinite in quantity. Cf. sect. 7 above
7 sc. in kind or number.
8 Cf. sect. 6 n.
9 Cf. sect. 14 n.
10 i.e., above and below, before and behind, right and left (Aristot. Phys. 205b 31).
11 Cf. Aristot. Met. 5.13.5.
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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