Kitap 1
2
The originatorsOr perhaps importers from the Pythagoreans of S. Italy. of this theory, then, used not to postulate Ideas of groups of things in which they positedPerhaps we posit. an order of priority and posteriorityA is prior in nature (though not necessarily in time) to B, when A can exist without B but not B without A; and they cannot then be on a par as members of one class. (for which reason they did not construct an Idea of numbers in general). But Good is predicated alike in the Categories of Substance, of Quality, and Relation; yet the Absolute,Lit. that which is by itself. or Substance, is prior in nature to the Relative, which seems to be a sort of offshoot or accident of Substance; so that there cannot be a common Idea corresponding to the absolutely good and the relatively good.
3
Again, the word good is used in as many senses as the word is; for we may predicate good in the Category of Substance, for instance of God, or intelligence; in that of Quality—the excellences; in that of Quantity—moderate in amount; in that of Relation—useful; in that of Time—a favorable opportunity; in that of Place—a suitable habitatδίαιτα is used of the habitat of a species of animals, De mundo 398b 32; though it has been taken here to mean a favorable climate for human beings. In Aristoph. Frogs 114 it may mean a lodging, and later it denotes an apartment or suite of rooms, as in Pliny’s descriptions of Italian villas.; and so on. So clearly good cannot be a single and universal general notion; if it were, it would not be predicable in all the Categories, but only in one.
