On Generation and Corruption
The treatise distinguishes substantial coming-to-be from ordinary alteration. Contact, mixture and elemental transformation explain how one thing arises from another without emerging absolutely from nothing.
Understanding the text
These two books extend the Physics and engage especially with atomists and Empedocles.
Key points
- 01
Generation
A new substance arises when change exceeds the modification of qualities belonging to an otherwise persisting subject.
- 02
Mixture
Genuine mixture preserves ingredients potentially; it is not simply the juxtaposition of tiny intact particles.
- 03
Elements
Hot, cold, dry and wet organize transformations among four elements within a historically situated physical theory.
How to read it
Compare mixing, growth and combustion to identify the criteria governing Aristotle’s classifications.
Editions & sources
- Consult the reference 1classics.mit.edunew tab
- Consult the reference 2plato.stanford.edunew tab
- Consult the reference 3classics.mit.edunew tab
Summaries and key points are original editorial interpretations. They accompany reading the work and do not replace an edition of the text. Editorial method ↗