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Aristotle

Note 10 — II. FIRST PRINCIPLES. A. — Sir William Hamilton on Aristotle’s Doctrine.

Reading edition

Ethic. Eud. VII. xiv. p. 1248, a. 24: τὸ δὲ ζητούμενον τοῦτ’ ἐστί, τίς ἡ τῆς κινήσεως ἀρχὴ ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ; δῆλον δή, ὥσπερ ἐν τῷ ὅλῳ θεός, καὶ πᾶν (Fritzsche reads ἐν) ἐκείνῳ. κινεῖ γάρ πως πάντα τὸ ἐν ἡμῖν θεῖον. λόγου δ’ ἀρχὴ οὐ λόγος ἀλλὰ τι κρεῖττον. τί οὖν ἂν κρεῖττον καὶ ἐπιστήμης εἴποι πλὴν θεός; Instead of εἴποι (the last word but two) Fritzsche reads εἴη καὶ νοῦ.

This is the passage translated by Sir W. Hamilton. The words of the original immediately following are these: ἡ γὰρ ἀρετὴ τοῦ νοῦ ὄργανον· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οἱ πάλαι ἔλεγον — “εὐτυχεῖς καλοῦνται, οἱ ἂν ὁρήσωσι κατοπθοῦσιν ἄλογοι ὄντες, καὶ βουλεύεσθαι οὐ συμφέρει αὐτοῖς” — ἔχουσι γὰρ ἀρχὴν τοιούτην ἡ κρείττων τοῦ νοῦ καὶ βουλεύσεως. οἱ δὲ τὸν λόγον· τοῦτο δ’ οὐκ ἔχουσι. καὶ ἐνθουσισμοί· τοῦτο δ’ οὐ δύνανται· ἄλογοι γὰρ ὄντες ἐπιτυγχάνουσι (so Fritzsche reads in place of ἀποτυγχάνουσι).

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