Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 3: In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four PeriodsPlotinus
Philosophy
Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 3: In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four Periods
Plotinus
Plotinus
Let us, indeed, suppose, that something which formerly was a
potentiality succeeds in assuming a form, as "potentiality that becomes
a statue," or that passes to actualization, as a man's walk.[421] In
the case where the metal becomes a statue, this passage is a movement;
in the case of the walking, the walk itself is a movement, like the
dance, with one who is capable of it. In the movement of the first
kind, where the metal passes into the condition of being a statue,
there is the production of another form which is realized by the
movement.[422] The movement of the second kind, the dance, is a simple
form of the potentiality, and, when it has ceased, leaves nothing that
subsists after it.[423]
MOVEMENT IS ACTIVE FORM, AND CAUSE OF OTHER FORMS.
We are therefore justified in calling movement "an active form that
is aroused," by opposition to the other forms which remain inactive.
(They may be so named), whether or not they be permanent. We may add
that it is "the cause of the other forms," when it results in producing
something else. This (sense-) movement may also be called the "life of
bodies." I say "this movement," because it bears the same name as the
movements of the intelligence, and those of the soul.
QUESTIONS ABOUT MOVEMENT.
What further proves that movement is a genus, is that it is very
difficult, if not impossible, to grasp it by a definition. But how can
it be called a form when its result is deterioration, or something
passive? It may then be compared to the warming influence of the rays
of the sun, which exerts on some things an influence that makes them
grow, while other things it shrivels. In both cases, the movement has
something in common, and is identical, so far as it is a movement; the
difference of its results is due to the difference of the beings in
which it operates. Are then growing sick and convalescence identical?
Yes, so far as they are movements. Is their difference then due to
their subjects, or to anything else? This question we will consider
further on, while studying alteration. Now let us examine the elements
common to all movements; in that way we shall be able to prove that
movement is a genus.
COMMON ELEMENT IN GROWTH, INCREASE AND GENERATION.
First, the word "movement" can be used in different senses, just as
essence, when considered a genus. Further, as we have already said,
all the movements by which one thing arrives at a natural state, or
produces an action suitable to its nature, constitute so many species.
Then, the movements by which one thing arrives at a state contrary to
its nature, have to be considered as analogous to that to which they
lead.
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