e. in eternal things, there
is nothing bad, nothing defective, nothing perverted (for perversion
is something bad).
It is an activity also that geometrical constructions are
discovered; for we find them by dividing. If the figures had been
already divided, the constructions would have been obvious; but as
it is they are present only potentially. Why are the angles of the
triangle equal to two right angles? Because the angles about one point
are equal to two right angles. If, then, the line parallel to the side
had been already drawn upwards, the reason would have been evident
to any one as soon as he saw the figure. Why is the angle in a
semicircle in all cases a right angle? If three lines are equal the
two which form the base, and the perpendicular from the centre-the
conclusion is evident at a glance to one who knows the former
proposition. Obviously, therefore, the potentially existing
constructions are discovered by being brought to actuality; the reason
is that the geometer's thinking is an actuality; so that the potency
proceeds from an actuality; and therefore it is by making
constructions that people come to know them (though the single
actuality is later in generation than the corresponding potency).
(See diagram.)
10
The terms 'being' and 'non-being' are employed firstly with
reference to the categories, and secondly with reference to the
potency or actuality of these or their non-potency or nonactuality,
and thirdly in the sense of true and false.
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