Chapter III.—Sketch of Aristotle’s
Philosophy.
Aristotle, then, makes a threefold division of
substance. For one portion of it is a certain genus, and another
a certain species, as that (philosopher) expresses it, and a third a
certain individual. What is individual, however, (is so) not
through any minuteness of body, but because by nature it cannot admit
of any division whatsoever. The genus, on the other hand, is a
sort of aggregate, made up of many and different germs. And from
this genus, just as (from) a certain heap, all the species of existent
things derive their distinctions.
805
And the genus constitutes a competent
cause for (the production of) all generated entities. In order,
however, that the foregoing statement may be clear, I shall prove (my
position) through an example. And by means of this it will be
possible for us to retrace our steps over the entire speculation of the
Peripatetic (sage).
805
Or,
“dispositions.”