Page:Early Greek philosophy by John Burnet, 3rd edition, 1920.djvu/69

Rh the term in discussing Thales, he meant what is called the "material cause," and it is hard to believe that it means anything else here.

15. It was natural for Aristotle to regard this theory as an anticipation or presentiment of his own doctrine of "indeterminate matter," and that he should sometimes express the views of Anaximander in terms of the later theory of "elements." He knew that the Boundless was a body, though in his own system there was no room for anything corporeal prior to the elements; so he had to speak of it as a boundless body "alongside of" or "distinct from" the elements (παρὰ τὰ στοιχεῖα). So far as I know no one has doubted that, when he uses this phrase, he is referring to Anaximander.

In a number of other places Aristotle speaks of some one who held the primary substance to be something "intermediate between" the elements or between two of them.