Note 36 — Chapter XII · DE ANIMÂ, ETC.

Ibid. Θ. viii. p. 1050, b. 10. He says, p. 1048, a. 35, that this distinction between Potential and Actual cannot be defined, but can only be illustrated by particular examples, several of which he proceeds to enumerate. Trendelenburg observes (Note ad. Aristot. De Animâ, p. 307):—“Δύναμις contraria adhuc in se inclusa tenet, ut in utrumque abire possit: ἐνέργεια alterum excludit.” Compare also ib. p. 302. This May or May not be is the widest and most general sense of the terms δύναμις and δυνατόν, common to all the analogical or derivative applications that Aristotle points out as belonging to them. It is more general than that which he gives as the κύριος ὅρος τῆς πρώτης δυνάμεως — ἀρχή μεταβλητικὴ ἐν ἄλλῳ ἢ ᾗ ἄλλο, and ought seemingly to be itself considered as the κύριος ὅρος. Cf. Arist. Metaphys. Δ. xii. p. 1020, a. 5, with the comment of Bonitz, who remarks upon the loose language of Aristotle in this chapter but imputes to Aristotle a greater amount of contradiction than he seems to deserve (Comm. ad Metaphys. pp. 256, 393).