But as
it is, they say one of these things but do not say the other. Others
oppose the different and the other to the One, and others oppose
plurality to the One. But if, as they claim, things consist of
contraries, and to the One either there is nothing contrary, or if
there is to be anything it is plurality, and the unequal is contrary
to the equal, and the different to the same, and the other to the
thing itself, those who oppose the One to plurality have most claim to
plausibility, but even their view is inadequate, for the One would
on their view be a few; for plurality is opposed to fewness, and the
many to the few.
'The one' evidently means a measure. And in every case there is
some underlying thing with a distinct nature of its own, e.g. in the
scale a quarter-tone, in spatial magnitude a finger or a foot or
something of the sort, in rhythms a beat or a syllable; and
similarly in gravity it is a definite weight; and in the same way in
all cases, in qualities a quality, in quantities a quantity (and the
measure is indivisible, in the former case in kind, and in the
latter to the sense); which implies that the one is not in itself
the substance of anything. And this is reasonable; for 'the one' means
the measure of some plurality, and 'number' means a measured plurality
and a plurality of measures. (Thus it is natural that one is not a
number; for the measure is not measures, but both the measure and
the one are starting-points.) The measure must always be some
identical thing predicable of all the things it measures, e.
Pages:
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377