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We have said previously, in our distinction of the various meanings
of words, that 'one' has several meanings; |
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(1) There
is the continuous, either in general, or especially that which is
continuous by nature and not by contact nor by being together; |
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(2) That which is a whole and has a certain
shape and form is one in a still higher degree; |
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(3) In number, then, the
individual is indivisible, and
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(4) in kind, that which in intelligibility
and in knowledge is indivisible, so that that which causes substances
to be one must be one in the primary sense. |
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But it must be observed that the questions, what sort of things are
said to be one, and what it is to be one and what is the definition
of it, should not be assumed to be the same. |
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In all these, then, the measure and starting-point is something one
and indivisible, since even in lines we treat as indivisible the line
a foot long. |
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But the measure is not always one in number -- sometimes there are
several; |
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The measure is always homogeneous with the thing measured; |
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Knowledge, also, and perception, we call the measure of things for
the same reason, because we come to know something by them - while as
a matter of fact they are measured rather than measure other things. |
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Evidently, then, unity in the strictest sense, if we define it according
to the meaning of the word, is a measure, and most properly of quantity,
and secondly of quality. |