(ii) Pairs of opposites which are contraries are not in any way
interdependent, but are contrary the one to the other. The good is not
spoken of as the good of the bad, but as the contrary of the bad, nor
is white spoken of as the white of the black, but as the contrary of
the black. These two types of opposition are therefore distinct. Those
contraries which are such that the subjects in which they are naturally
present, or of which they are predicated, must necessarily contain
either the one or the other of them, have no intermediate, but those in
the case of which no such necessity obtains, always have an
intermediate. Thus disease and health are naturally present in the body
of an animal, and it is necessary that either the one or the other
should be present in the body of an animal. Odd and even, again, are
predicated of number, and it is necessary that the one or the other
should be present in numbers. Now there is no intermediate between the
terms of either of these two pairs. On the other hand, in those
contraries with regard to which no such necessity obtains, we find an
intermediate. Blackness and whiteness are naturally present in the
body, but it is not necessary that either the one or the other should
be present in the body, inasmuch as it is not true to say that
everybody must be white or black. Badness and goodness, again, are
predicated of man, and of many other things, but it is not necessary
that either the one quality or the other should be present in that of
which they are predicated: it is not true to say that everything that
may be good or bad must be either good or bad. These pairs of
contraries have intermediates: the intermediates between white and
black are grey, sallow, and all the other colours that come between;
the intermediate between good and bad is that which is neither the one
nor the other.
Some intermediate qualities have names, such as grey and sallow and all
the other colours that come between white and black; in other cases,
however, it is not easy to name the intermediate, but we must define it
as that which is not either extreme, as in the case of that which is
neither good nor bad, neither just nor unjust.
(iii) 'privatives' and 'positives' have reference to the same subject.
Thus, sight and blindness have reference to the eye. It is a universal
rule that each of a pair of opposites of this type has reference to
that to which the particular 'positive' is natural. We say that that is
capable of some particular faculty or possession has suffered privation
when the faculty or possession in question is in no way present in that
in which, and at the time at which, it should naturally be present. We
do not call that toothless which has not teeth, or that blind which has
not sight, but rather that which has not teeth or sight at the time
when by nature it should. For there are some creatures which from birth
are without sight, or without teeth, but these are not called toothless
or blind.