Theoneandthemanyareopposedinseveralways，ofwhichone
istheoppositionoftheoneandpluralityasindivisibleand
divisible；forthatwhichiseitherdividedordivisibleiscalleda
plurality，andthatwhichisindivisibleornotdividediscalledone。
Nowsinceoppositionisoffourkinds，andoneofthesetwotermsis
privativeinmeaning，theymustbecontraries，andneither
contradictorynorcorrelativeinmeaning。Andtheonederivesitsname
anditsexplanationfromitscontrary，theindivisiblefromthe
divisible，becausepluralityandthedivisibleismoreperceptible
thantheindivisible，sothatindefinitionpluralityispriorto
theindivisible，becauseoftheconditionsofperception。
Totheonebelong，asweindicatedgraphicallyinour
distinctionofthecontraries，thesameandthelikeandtheequal，
andtopluralitybelongtheotherandtheunlikeandtheunequal。’The
same’hasseveralmeanings；1wesometimesmean’thesame
numerically’；again，2wecallathingthesameifitisonebothin
definitionandinnumber，e。g。youareonewithyourselfbothin
formandinmatter；andagain，3ifthedefinitionofitsprimary
essenceisone；e。g。equalstraightlinesarethesame，andsoare
equalandequal-angledquadrilaterals；therearemanysuch，butin
theseequalityconstitutesunity。
Thingsarelikeif，notbeingabsolutelythesame，norwithout
differenceinrespectoftheirconcretesubstance，theyarethesame
inform；e。g。thelargersquareislikethesmaller，andunequal
straightlinesarelike；theyarelike，butnotabsolutelythesame。
Otherthingsarelike，if，havingthesameform，andbeingthingsin
whichdifferenceofdegreeispossible，theyhavenodifferenceof
degree。Otherthings，iftheyhaveaqualitythatisinformoneand
same-e。g。whiteness-inagreaterorlessdegree，arecalledlike
becausetheirformisone。Otherthingsarecalledlikeifthe
qualitiestheyhaveincommonaremorenumerousthanthoseinwhich
theydiffer-eitherthequalitiesingeneralortheprominent
qualities；e。g。tinislikesilver，quawhite，andgoldislike
fire，quayellowandred。
Evidently，then，’other’and’unlike’alsohaveseveral
meanings。Andtheotherinonesenseistheoppositeofthesameso
thateverythingiseitherthesameasorotherthaneverything
else。Inanothersensethingsareotherunlessboththeirmatter
andtheirdefinitionareonesothatyouareotherthanyour
neighbour。Theotherinthethirdsenseisexemplifiedintheobjects
ofmathematics。’Otherorthesame’canthereforebepredicatedof
everythingwithregardtoeverythingelse-butonlyifthethingsare
oneandexistent，for’other’isnotthecontradictoryof’the
same’；whichiswhyitisnotpredicatedofnon-existentthingswhile
’notthesame’issopredicated。Itispredicatedofallexisting
things；foreverythingthatisexistentandoneisbyitsvery
natureeitheroneornotonewithanythingelse。
Theother，then，andthesamearethusopposed。Butdifference
isnotthesameasotherness。Fortheotherandthatwhichitisother
thanneednotbeotherinsomedefiniterespectforeverythingthat
isexistentiseitherotherorthesame，butthatwhichis
differentisdifferentfromsomeparticularthinginsomeparticular
respect，sothattheremustbesomethingidenticalwherebythey
differ。Andthisidenticalthingisgenusorspecies；foreverything
thatdiffersdifferseitheringenusorinspecies，ingenusifthe
thingshavenottheirmatterincommonandarenotgeneratedoutof
eachotheri。e。iftheybelongtodifferentfiguresof
predication，andinspeciesiftheyhavethesamegenus’genus’
meaningthatidenticalthingwhichisessentiallypredicatedofboth
thedifferentthings。
Contrariesaredifferent，andcontrarietyisakindofdifference。
Thatwearerightinthissuppositionisshownbyinduction。Forall
ofthesetooareseentobedifferent；theyarenotmerelyother，
butsomeareotheringenus，andothersareinthesamelineof
predication，andthereforeinthesamegenus，andthesameingenus。
Wehavedistinguishedelsewherewhatsortofthingsarethesameor
otheringenus。
Sincethingswhichdiffermaydifferfromoneanothermoreor
less，thereisalsoagreatestdifference，andthisIcall
contrariety。Thatcontrarietyisthegreatestdifferenceismadeclear
byinduction。Forthingswhichdifferingenushavenowaytoone
another，butaretoofardistantandarenotcomparable；andfor
thingsthatdifferinspeciestheextremesfromwhichgenerationtakes
placearethecontraries，andthedistancebetweenextremes-and
thereforethatbetweenthecontraries-isthegreatest。
Butsurelythatwhichisgreatestineachclassiscomplete。For
thatisgreatestwhichcannotbeexceeded，andthatiscompletebeyond
whichnothingcanbefound。Forthecompletedifferencemarksthe
endofaseriesjustastheotherthingswhicharecalledcomplete
aresocalledbecausetheyhaveattainedanend，andbeyondtheend
thereisnothing；forineverythingitistheextremeandincludesall
else，andthereforethereisnothingbeyondtheend，andthe
completeneedsnothingfurther。Fromthis，then，itisclearthat
contrarietyiscompletedifference；andascontrariesaresocalledin
severalsenses，theirmodesofcompletenesswillanswertothevarious
modesofcontrarietywhichattachtothecontraries。
Thisbeingso，itisclearthatonethinghavemorethanone
contraryforneithercantherebeanythingmoreextremethanthe
extreme，norcantherebemorethantwoextremesfortheone
interval，and，toputthemattergenerally，thisisclearif
contrarietyisadifference，andifdifference，andthereforealsothe
completedifference，mustbebetweentwothings。
Andtheothercommonlyaccepteddefinitionsofcontrariesarealso
necessarilytrue。Fornotonlyis1thecompletedifferencethe
greatestdifferenceforwecangetnodifferencebeyonditof
thingsdifferingeitheringenusorinspecies；forithasbeen
shownthatthereisno’difference’betweenanythingandthethings
outsideitsgenus，andamongthethingswhichdifferinspeciesthe
completedifferenceisthegreatest；butalso2thethingsinthe
samegenuswhichdiffermostarecontraryforthecompletedifference
isthegreatestdifferencebetweenspeciesofthesamegenus；and3
thethingsinthesamereceptivematerialwhichdiffermostare
contraryforthematteristhesameforcontraries；and4ofthe
thingswhichfallunderthesamefacultythemostdifferentare
contraryforonesciencedealswithoneclassofthings，andinthese
thecompletedifferenceisthegreatest。
Theprimarycontrarietyisthatbetweenpositivestateand
privation-noteveryprivation，howeverfor’privation’hasseveral
meanings，butthatwhichiscomplete。Andtheothercontrariesmust
becalledsowithreferencetothese，somebecausetheypossessthese，
othersbecausetheyproduceortendtoproducethem，othersbecause
theyareacquisitionsorlossesoftheseorofothercontraries。Now
ifthekindsofoppositionarecontradictionandprivationand
contrarietyandrelation，andofthesethefirstiscontradiction，and
contradictionadmitsofnointermediate，whilecontrariesadmitof
one，clearlycontradictionandcontrarietyarenotthesame。But
privationisakindofcontradiction；forwhatsuffersprivation，
eitheringeneralorinsomedeterminateway，eitherthatwhichis
quiteincapableofhavingsomeattributeorthatwhich，beingof
suchanatureastohaveit，hasitnot；herewehavealreadya
varietyofmeanings，whichhavebeendistinguishedelsewhere。
Privation，therefore，isacontradictionorincapacitywhichis
determinateortakenalongwiththereceptivematerial。Thisisthe
reasonwhy，whilecontradictiondoesnotadmitofanintermediate，
privationsometimesdoes；foreverythingisequalornotequal，but
noteverythingisequalorunequal，orifitis，itisonlywithinthe
sphereofthatwhichisreceptiveofequality。If，then，the
comings-to-bewhichhappentothematterstartfromthecontraries，
andproceedeitherfromtheformandthepossessionoftheformor
fromaprivationoftheformorshape，clearlyallcontrarietymustbe
privation，butpresumablynotallprivationiscontrarietythereason
beingthatthathassufferedprivationmayhavesuffereditinseveral
ways；foritisonlytheextremesfromwhichchangesproceedthatare
contraries。
Andthisisobviousalsobyinduction。Foreverycontrariety
involves，asoneofitsterms，aprivation，butnotallcasesare
alike；inequalityistheprivationofequalityandunlikenessof
likeness，andontheotherhandviceistheprivationofvirtue。But
thecasesdifferinawayalreadydescribed；inonecasewemean
simplythatthethinghassufferedprivation，inanothercasethat
ithasdonesoeitheratacertaintimeorinacertainparte。g。
atacertainageorinthedominantpart，orthroughout。Thisis
whyinsomecasesthereisameantherearemenwhoareneither
goodnorbad，andinothersthereisnotanumbermustbeeitherodd
oreven。Further，somecontrarieshavetheirsubjectdefined，
othershavenot。Thereforeitisevidentthatoneofthecontrariesis
alwaysprivative；butitisenoughifthisistrueofthefirst-i。e。
thegeneric-contraries，e。g。theoneandthemany；fortheothers
canbereducedtothese。
Sinceonethinghasonecontrary，wemightraisethequestion
howtheoneisopposedtothemany，andtheequaltothegreatandthe
small。Forifweusedtheword’whether’onlyinanantithesissuchas
’whetheritiswhiteorblack’，or’whetheritiswhiteornot
white’wedonotask’whetheritisamanorwhite’，unlessweare
proceedingonapriorassumptionandaskingsomethingsuchas’whether
itwasCleonorSocratesthatcame’asthisisnotanecessary
disjunctioninanyclassofthings；yeteventhisisanextensionfrom
thecaseofopposites；foroppositesalonecannotbepresenttogether；
andweassumethisincompatibilityheretooinaskingwhichofthetwo
came；foriftheymightbothhavecome，thequestionwouldhavebeen
absurd；butiftheymight，evensothisfallsjustasmuchintoan
antithesis，thatofthe’oneormany’，i。e。’whetherbothcameor
oneofthetwo’:-if，then，thequestion’whether’isalways
concernedwithopposites，andwecanask’whetheritisgreateror
lessorequal’，whatistheoppositionoftheequaltotheother
two？Itisnotcontraryeithertoonealoneortoboth；forwhyshould
itbecontrarytothegreaterratherthantotheless？Further，the
equaliscontrarytotheunequal。Thereforeifitiscontrarytothe
greaterandtheless，itwillbecontrarytomorethingsthanone。But
iftheunequalmeansthesameasboththegreaterandtheless
together，theequalwillbeoppositetobothandthedifficulty
supportsthosewhosaytheunequalisa’two’，butitfollowsthat
onethingiscontrarytotwoothers，whichisimpossible。Again，the
equalisevidentlyintermediatebetweenthegreatandthesmall，but
nocontrarietyiseitherobservedtobeintermediate，or，fromits
definition，canbeso；foritwouldnotbecompleteifitwere
intermediatebetweenanytwothings，butratheritalwayshas
somethingintermediatebetweenitsownterms。
Itremains，then，thatitisopposedeitherasnegationoras
privation。Itcannotbethenegationorprivationofoneofthetwo；
forwhyofthegreatratherthanofthesmall？Itis，then，the
privativenegationofboth。Thisiswhy’whether’issaidwith
referencetoboth，nottooneofthetwoe。g。’whetheritis
greaterorequal’or’whetheritisequalorless’；thereare
alwaysthreecases。Butitisnotanecessaryprivation；fornot
everythingwhichisnotgreaterorlessisequal，butonlythe
thingswhichareofsuchanatureastohavetheseattributes。
Theequal，then，isthatwhichisneithergreatnorsmallbutis
naturallyfittedtobeeithergreatorsmall；anditisopposedto
bothasaprivativenegationandthereforeisalsointermediate。And
thatwhichisneithergoodnorbadisopposedtoboth，buthasno
name；foreachofthesehasseveralmeaningsandtherecipientsubject
isnotone；butthatwhichisneitherwhitenorblackhasmoreclaim
tounity。Yeteventhishasnotonename，thoughthecoloursof
whichthisnegationisprivativelypredicatedareinawaylimited；
fortheymustbeeithergreyoryelloworsomethingelseofthe
kind。Thereforeitisanincorrectcriticismthatispassedbythose
whothinkthatallsuchphrasesareusedinthesameway，sothatthat
whichisneitherashoenorahandwouldbeintermediatebetweena
shoeandahand，sincethatwhichisneithergoodnorbadis
intermediatebetweenthegoodandthebad-asiftheremustbean
intermediateinallcases。Butthisdoesnotnecessarilyfollow。For
theonephraseisajointdenialofoppositesbetweenwhichthereis
anintermediateandacertainnaturalinterval；butbetweenthe
othertwothereisno’difference’；forthethings，thedenialsof
whicharecombined，belongtodifferentclasses，sothatthe
substratumisnotone。