[1020b]
[1]
which
shows that the essential differentia is quality.In this one sense, then, "quality"
means differentia of essence; but (b) in another it is used as of
immovable and mathematical objects, in the sense that numbers are in a
way qualitative—e.g. such as are composite and are
represented geometrically not by a line but by a plane or solid (these
are products respectively of two and of three factors)—and
in general means that which is present besides quantity in the
essence. For the essence of each number is that which goes into it
once; e.g. that of 6 is not what goes twice or three times, but what
goes once; for 6 is once 6.(c) All affections of substance in motion in respect of which bodies
become different when they (the affections) change—e.g. heat
and cold, whiteness and blackness, heaviness and lightness, etc. (d)
The term is used with reference to goodness and badness, and in
general to good and bad.Thus there are, roughly
speaking, two meanings which the term "quality" can bear, and of these
one is more fundamental than the other. Quality in the primary sense
is the differentia of the essence; and quality in numbers falls under
this sense, because it is a kind of differentia of essences, but of
things either not in motion or not qua in
motion. Secondly, there are the affections of things in motion qua in motion, and the differentiae of
motions.Goodness
and badness fall under these affections,
[20]
because they denote differentiae of the motion or
functioning in respect of which things in motion act or are acted upon
well or badly. For that which can function or be moved in
such-and-such a way is good, and that which can function in
such-and-such a way and in the contrary way is bad. Quality refers
especially to "good" and "bad" in the case of living things, and of
these especially in the case of such as possess choice.Things are called "relative" (a) In the sense that "the double" is
relative to the half, and "the triple" to the third; and in general
the "many times greater" to the "many times smaller," and that which
exceeds to the thing exceeded. (b) In the sense that the thing which
heats or cuts is relative to the thing heated or cut; and in general
the active to the passive. (c) In the sense that the measurable is
relative to the measure, and the knowable to knowledge, and the
sensible to sensation.(a) In the first sense they
are said to be numerically relative; either simply, or in a definite
relation to numbers or to 1. E.g., "the double" in relation to 1 is a
definite number; the "many times as great" is in a numerical relation
to 1, but not in a definite relation such as this or
that ;
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