Abstract
I argue that Aristotle’s discussion of changes in shape and external form as well as changes in somatic and psychic states in Physics VII.3 suggests a hylomorphic account of events. On this account, an event consists of two parts: the coming-to-be into a state of excellence at the formal level and the genuine qualitative change at the material level. In the first half of the paper, I consider the substance-based account of coming-to-be (γίγνεσθαι), in which what comes to be in a non-genuine qualitative change is construed as either a substance or something quasi-substantial. As passage 246a4-9 does not clarify why changes in shape and external form are non-genuine qualitative changes, except they are accompanied with the material qualitative changes of the proper affections, I argue that an in-depth account is offered in passage 246a10-b3, which we should take as the general account of coming-to-be. Through construing τελείωµα and τελείωσις as perfectnesstoken and perfectnesstype in passage 246a10-b3, I argue that what concerns Aristotle in Physics VII.3 is the coming-to-be of perfectness, i. e., actuality (ἐνέργεια), in which the subject exhibits its excellence most in accordance with its nature, which I call the actuality-based account of coming-to-be. This explains why it is absurd to assert that changes in shape and external form and changes in somatic and psychic states are genuine qualitative changes, because they are neither changes in respect of substance, nor changes in respect of quality, or in general any kind of change at all (246b12). In the second half of the paper, I consider the one-directional supervenience interpretation, in which the coming-to-be into a state of excellence such as becoming healthy at 246b3-20 is construed as something that supervenes upon the concomitant genuine qualitative change at the material level. Through highlighting the actuality-based account of coming-to-be that suggests excellence plays a much stronger role than moderating the material affections within the organism, I give an alternative interpretation that in Physics VII.3 Aristotle has offered a two-directional hylomorphic account of events: (i) the coming-to-be of actuality that imposes the formal constraint from the top down, and (ii) the concomitant genuine qualitative change of the proper affections at the material level that bestows the material necessitation from the bottom up. This shall help us move toward establishing an overall picture of Aristotle’s theory of event.
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