But matter is unknowable in itself. And some matter
is perceptible and some intelligible, perceptible matter being for
instance bronze and wood and all matter that is changeable, and
intelligible matter being that which is present in perceptible
things not qua perceptible, i.e. the objects of mathematics.
We have stated, then, how matters stand with regard to whole and
part, and their priority and posteriority. But when any one asks
whether the right angle and the circle and the animal are prior, or
the things into which they are divided and of which they consist, i.e.
the parts, we must meet the inquiry by saying that the question cannot
be answered simply. For if even bare soul is the animal or the
living thing, or the soul of each individual is the individual itself,
and 'being a circle' is the circle, and 'being a right angle' and
the essence of the right angle is the right angle, then the whole in
one sense must be called posterior to the art in one sense, i.e. to
the parts included in the formula and to the parts of the individual
right angle (for both the material right angle which is made of
bronze, and that which is formed by individual lines, are posterior to
their parts); while the immaterial right angle is posterior to the
parts included in the formula, but prior to those included in the
particular instance, and the question must not be answered simply. If,
however, the soul is something different and is not identical with the
animal, even so some parts must, as we have maintained, be called
prior and others must not.
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