Aristotle’s Rejection of an Infinite Body: An Interpretation of Physics, III,5, 205a25–28

• Authors: Marcinkowska-Rosół Maria
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The article deals with Physics III,5, 205a25–28 and examines its function in Aristotle’s argumentation against the existence of an infinite sensible body. Since attempts to connect this passage with the preceding argument (205a23–25) have so far proved unsuccessful, scholars have resorted to transposing this text after Ph. 205a19 or 205b1 or to postulating a lacuna directly before it (205a25). This paper shows why those proposals are unsatisfactory and instead proposes anoth- er, less radical solution which consists in interpreting the passage in its transmitted context. More precisely, instead of trying to connect it with 205a23–25 it suggests treating the text as elliptical and seeing in 205a25–28 an important step in an argument based on Aristotle’s theory of natural place, one that is directed against the existence of an infinite heterogeneous body composed of a finite number of constituents (205a22–28).

Keywords

EN

Aristotle; infinite; pre-Socratics; theory of natural place

• Publisher: Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Eirene. Studia Graeca et Latina
• Year: 2014
• Volume: 50
• Issue: 1-2
• Pages: 165-175

Contributors

author

Marcinkowska-Rosół Maria