For they cannot even exist if severed from the
whole; for it is not a finger in any and every state that is the
finger of a living thing, but a dead finger is a finger only in
name. Some parts are neither prior nor posterior to the whole, i.e.
those which are dominant and in which the formula, i.e. the
essential substance, is immediately present, e.g. perhaps the heart or
the brain; for it does not matter in the least which of the two has
this quality. But man and horse and terms which are thus applied to
individuals, but universally, are not substance but something composed
of this particular formula and this particular matter treated as
universal; and as regards the individual, Socrates already includes in
him ultimate individual matter; and similarly in all other cases. 'A
part' may be a part either of the form (i.e. of the essence), or of
the compound of the form and the matter, or of the matter itself.
But only the parts of the form are parts of the formula, and the
formula is of the universal; for 'being a circle' is the same as the
circle, and 'being a soul' the same as the soul. But when we come to
the concrete thing, e.g. this circle, i.e. one of the individual
circles, whether perceptible or intelligible (I mean by intelligible
circles the mathematical, and by perceptible circles those of bronze
and of wood),-of these there is no definition, but they are known by
the aid of intuitive thinking or of perception; and when they pass out
of this complete realization it is not clear whether they exist or
not; but they are always stated and recognized by means of the
universal formula.
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