Page:O. F. Owen's Organon of Aristotle Vol. 2 (1853).djvu/137

 Further, (examine) whether or not, the (definition) is assigned of what is first, when it happens to belong to many things, e.g. that prudence is the virtue of man, or of the soul, and not of the reasoning part, for prudence is the virtue of the reasoning part primarily, since according to this, both the soul and man are said to be prudent.

Again, he errs, unless that is receptive of which the thing defined is stated to be the passion, or disposition, or something else; for every disposition and every passion is naturally generated in that of which it is the disposition or passion, as science in the soul, being a disposition of the soul. Sometimes indeed men mistake in these things, as they do who say that sleep is the impotency of sense, and that doubt is the equality of contrary arguments, and that pain is a separation accompanied with violence, of connascent parts; for neither is sleep present with sense, which it ought to be if it is the impotency of sense, likewise neither is doubt present with contrary arguments, nor pain with eonnascent parts, for things inanimate would suffer pain, since pain would be present with them. Such also is the definition of health if it is the harmony of hot and cold, for it is necessary that things hot and cold should be in health, since the harmony of each, is in those of which it is the harmony, so that health would be in them; besides, by those who thus define, it happens that the thing made is reduced to the maker, or contrariwise, for neither is the separation of connascent parts, pain, but is productive of pain, nor is the impotency of sense, sleep, but one is effective of the other, for either we sleep in consequence of becoming powerless, or we become powerless in consequence of sleep. Likewise, also, the equality of contrary arguments would appear productive of doubt, for when in reasoning on both sides of a question, every thing appears to us to have equal weight on either side, then we doubt which we shall adopt.

Moreover, we must consider according to all times, whether there is any discrepancy, e. g. if one defined the immortal, to be what is now an incorruptible animal, for the animal now incorruptible will be now immortal. Or does this not happen in this case, for to be now incorruptible is ambiguous, for it either