Importance Of Being In Aristotle

Analysis of being (to on) as potential and actual is a central part of Aristotle’s inquiry into the different senses of being. The guiding definition of potency is “an originative source of change in another thing or in the thing itself qua other.” Thus, being a source of change is one way of being. The source of change which is not actually a being or not something by virtue of itself is called a potency. Source is a translation for the word arche. In Metaphysics Delta there are several definitions for it. Arche can be a starting point of a thing or the chief part of it. It may denote to the one at whose will something happens or to the beginning point of our knowledge of a thing. Some archai are immanent to the things they belong to, some are outside of …show more content…
However, some activities finish when they reach their ends while the others have their ends with them from the beginning. This is the distinction Aristotle makes between movement and actuality. For instance, I sleep in order to wake up the other day, however, although I may aim to see some specific entity, the activity of seeing does not stop when I saw a certain thing. Rather, I have always seen and I keep seeing, if I am not hindered in some way. The activity which has its end with it from the beginning is an actuality. We can say that actuality is the complete form of movement since it does not need attainment of a further end. Hence, they are both explicable with the principles of motion in a broader sense because all these different activities involve change. That is, all activities are possible insofar as they come from a certain potency and go towards an end. Indeed, in order to see, I need to have the potency to see, for instance, I need to have an eye, and I need the things to see in order to be actually seeing. Potency is the source of the activity insofar as it implies an inclination towards