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Search results for epsilon,1251 in Adler number:
Headword:
*)ene/rgeia
Adler number: epsilon,1251
Translated headword: activity, actuality, actualization
Vetting Status: high
Translation: Activity is more universal than motion, and motion [more universal] than being affected (pa/sxein). For everything that is being affected is also set in motion, and everything that is being set in motion is also active; however, what is being activated is no longer in motion. For an activity is the entire transition from the possession [sc. of certain qualities], but motion is an activity incomplete.[1] For the way coming from what is first in potentiality, toward the possession, is motion (ki/nhsis).
Every coming-to-be and every activity is generated for the sake of some other end; for "to exist" (to\ ei)=nai) is the purpose of coming-to-be and of what is coming to be, and "to have activated" [is the purpose] of both activity and being in activity. Yet this [is] not true in all cases: for happiness exists in the condition of being in activity in accordance with virtue, not in the condition of having already been in activity. So it is necessary to consider whether activity [is] the end of potentiality, or [is] a certain work and deed. Now, those who refer to activity in the cases in which a work is involved make a mistake; for in these cases the deed [is] the end and [it is] better than activity. But we have to posit only activity in the cases where activity [is] simple; for "to have come into being" [is] not a goal of many things, but [the goal is] "to come into being". Certainly, we choose to be delighted rather than to have ceased delight, and to contemplate rather than to have contemplated.[2]
Greek Original:*)ene/rgeia: o(/ti h( e)ne/rgeia kaqolikwte/ra e)sti\ th=s kinh/sews, h( de\ ki/nhsis tou= pa/sxein. pa=n me\n ga\r to\ pa/sxon kai\ kinei=tai, pa=n de\ to\ kinou/menon kai\ e)nergei=, ou)ke/ti me/ntoi to\ e)nergou/menon kinei=tai. e)ne/rgeia me\n ga/r e)stin h( a)qro/a prosbolh\ a)po\ th=s e(/cews, ki/nhsis de/ e)stin a)telh\s e)ne/rgeia. h( ga\r a)po\ tou= prw/tou duna/mei e)pi\ th\n e(/cin o(do\s ki/nhsi/s e)stin. pa=sa de\ ge/nesis kai\ pa=sa e)ne/rgeia a)/llou tino\s gi/netai te/lous xa/rin: te/los ga\r th=s gene/sews kai\ tou= ginome/nou to\ ei)=nai, kai\ th=s e)nergei/as kai\ tou= e)nergei=n to\ e)nhrghke/nai. ou)k e)pi\ pa/ntwn de\ tou=to a)lhqe/s: h( ga\r eu)daimoni/a e)n tw=| e)nergei=n kat' a)reth/n, ou)k e)n tw=| e)nerghke/nai. dei= ou)=n skopei=n, po/teron e)ne/rgeia to\ te/los th=s duna/mews, h)\ poi/hma/ ti kai\ e)/rgon. e)f' w(=n me\n ou)=n poi/hma ptai/ousin oi( pro\s th\n e)ne/rgeian a)podo/ntes: te/los ga\r e)pi\ tou/twn to\ e)/rgon kai\ be/ltion th=s e)nergei/as. e)f' w(=n de\ e)ne/rgeia yilh/, e)ne/rgeian mo/nhn qete/on: pollw=n ga\r ou) to\ gegenh=sqai te/los, a)lla\ to\ gi/nesqai. kai\ ga\r h(/desqai ma=llon ai(rou/meqa h)\ pepau=sqai th=s h(donh=s, kai\ qewrei=n h)\ teqewrhke/nai.
Notes:
See already at
epsilon 1126. The present entry's material derives first (as far as '...is motion') from John
Philoponus,
On Aristotle's de anima 296.22-27 Hayduck; thereafter, in Wallies' opinion, from Alexander of
Aphrodisias.
[1] According to
Aristotle's account, a motion or a process (
kinesis), such as "building a house", has its end beyond the action itself (the builder, when building a house, has not built it yet, i.e. the agent is not doing something and at the same time has done something). By contrast, an activity does not aim at an end, it is an end (see
Aristotle,
Metaphysics 1048b18-35). That is the reason why an activity is complete or perfect in itself. For further explanation and bibliography cf.
eta 97.
[2] cf.
Plotinus,
Enneads 1.1.
Translated by: Marcelo Boeri on 9 December 1999@18:08:35.
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