Abstract
At Aristotle, Metaphysics E.1, 1026a14, Schwegler’s conjectural emendation of the manuscript reading ἀχώριστα to χωριστά has been widely adopted. The objects of physical science are therefore here ‘separate’, or ‘independently existent’. By contrast, the manuscripts make them ‘not separate’, construed by earlier commentators as dependent on matter. In this paper, I offer a new defense of the manuscript reading. I review past defenses based on the internal consistency of the chapter, explore where they have left supporters of the emendation unpersuaded, and attempt to strengthen their appeal. I challenge Schwegler’s central case, developed by Ross and others, that the construction μὲν ἀλλ’ οὐκ demands an implausible ‘logical antithesis’ between inseparability and mobility. This is arguably the fundamental obstacle to the manuscript reading, and counterexamples have not to date convinced emenders. I offer a new, systematic review of Aristotle’s use of the phrase, including relevant cases from the Rhetoric, to show how its usual meaning in Aristotle supports the transmitted text; I also reply to possible objections. Finally, I explore the implications of this defense for the classification of the sciences in E.1.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Blood and the Awareness of Perception. From Early Greek Thought to Plato’s Timaeus
- The Nature of Courage in Plato’s Laches
- Socrates’ Understanding of ‘Protection’ (Boētheia) in His Other-Oriented Ethics: The Case of the Athenians in Plato’s Apology and Gorgias
- The Dispute Over the Part-Whole Puzzle in Aristotelian Hylomorphism and Ackrill’s Problem: The Argument in Metaphysics Z 17, 1041b11-33
- Natural Inseparability in Aristotle, Metaphysics E.1, 1026a14
- Complete Life in the Eudemian Ethics
- Misprinted Representations in Stoicism
- Aristotelian Motives in Middle Platonic Theology. Aristotelian Threads and Categories in the Theory of God in Alcinous’ Didaskalikos
- Three Instances of the Good in Proclus
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Blood and the Awareness of Perception. From Early Greek Thought to Plato’s Timaeus
- The Nature of Courage in Plato’s Laches
- Socrates’ Understanding of ‘Protection’ (Boētheia) in His Other-Oriented Ethics: The Case of the Athenians in Plato’s Apology and Gorgias
- The Dispute Over the Part-Whole Puzzle in Aristotelian Hylomorphism and Ackrill’s Problem: The Argument in Metaphysics Z 17, 1041b11-33
- Natural Inseparability in Aristotle, Metaphysics E.1, 1026a14
- Complete Life in the Eudemian Ethics
- Misprinted Representations in Stoicism
- Aristotelian Motives in Middle Platonic Theology. Aristotelian Threads and Categories in the Theory of God in Alcinous’ Didaskalikos
- Three Instances of the Good in Proclus