下载辰思小说免费APP
WEhavetreatedofthatwhichisprimarilyandtowhichallthe
othercategoriesofbeingarereferred-i。e。ofsubstance。Foritisin
virtueoftheconceptofsubstancethattheothersalsoaresaidto
be-quantityandqualityandthelike；forallwillbefoundtoinvolve
theconceptofsubstance，aswesaidinthefirstpartofourwork。
Andsince’being’isinonewaydividedintoindividualthing，
quality，andquantity，andisinanotherwaydistinguishedin
respectofpotencyandcompletereality，andoffunction，letusnow
addadiscussionofpotencyandcompletereality。Andfirstletus
explainpotencyinthestrictestsense，whichis，however，notthe
mostusefulforourpresentpurpose。Forpotencyandactuality
extendbeyondthecasesthatinvolveareferencetomotion。Butwhen
wehavespokenofthisfirstkind，weshallinourdiscussionsof
actuality’explaintheotherkindsofpotencyaswell。
Wehavepointedoutelsewherethat’potency’andtheword’can’
haveseveralsenses。Ofthesewemayneglectallthepotenciesthat
aresocalledbyanequivocation。Forsomearecalledsobyanalogy，
asingeometrywesayonethingisorisnota’power’ofanotherby
virtueofthepresenceorabsenceofsomerelationbetweenthem。But
allpotenciesthatconformtothesametypeareoriginativesourcesof
somekind，andarecalledpotenciesinreferencetooneprimarykind
ofpotency，whichisanoriginativesourceofchangeinanother
thingorinthethingitselfquaother。Foronekindisapotencyof
beingactedon，i。e。theoriginativesource，intheverythingacted
on，ofitsbeingpassivelychangedbyanotherthingorbyitselfqua
other；andanotherkindisastateofinsusceptibilitytochangefor
theworseandtodestructionbyanotherthingorbythethingitself
quaotherbyvirtueofanoriginativesourceofchange。Inallthese
definitionsisimpliedtheformulaifpotencyintheprimary
sense-Andagaintheseso-calledpotenciesarepotencieseitherof
merelyactingorbeingactedon，orofactingorbeingactedon
well，sothatevenintheformulaeofthelattertheformulaeofthe
priorkindsofpotencyaresomehowimplied。
Obviously，then，inasensethepotencyofactingandofbeing
actedonisone(forathingmaybe’capable’eitherbecauseitcan
itselfbeactedonorbecausesomethingelsecanbeactedonbyit)，
butinasensethepotenciesaredifferent。Fortheoneisinthe
thingactedon；itisbecauseitcontainsacertainoriginative
source，andbecauseeventhematterisanoriginativesource，thatthe
thingactedonisactedon，andonethingbyone，anotherby
another；forthatwhichisoilycanbeburnt，andthatwhichyieldsin
aparticularwaycanbecrushed；andsimilarlyinallothercases。But
theotherpotencyisintheagent，e。g。heatandtheartofbuilding
arepresent，oneinthatwhichcanproduceheatandtheotherinthe
manwhocanbuild。Andso，insofarasathingisanorganicunity，
itcannotbeactedonbyitself；foritisoneandnottwodifferent
things。And’impotence’and’impotent’standfortheprivationwhichis
contrarytopotencyofthissort，sothateverypotencybelongstothe
samesubjectandreferstothesameprocessasacorresponding
impotence。Privationhasseveralsenses；foritmeans(1)thatwhich
hasnotacertainqualityand(2)thatwhichmightnaturallyhaveit
buthasnotit，either(a)ingeneralor(b)whenitmightnaturally
haveit，andeither(a)insomeparticularway，e。g。whenithasnot
itcompletely，or(b)whenithasnotitatall。Andincertain
casesifthingswhichnaturallyhaveaqualityloseitbyviolence，we
saytheyhavesufferedprivation。
Sincesomesuchoriginativesourcesarepresentinsoulless
things，andothersinthingspossessedofsoul，andinsoul，andin
therationalpartofthesoul，clearlysomepotencieswill，be
non-rationalands
