Глава LII. О действии и страдании

It should be borne in mind that action and suffering, i.e. active force and passive force belong to the category of quality. On the contrary, that which acts and that which suffers is a certain substance acting in a certain way. To act means to have in oneself a cause of action; to suffer means to have the cause of suffering both in oneself and in another; for example, the creator and the created. He who creates has within himself the cause of creation; what is created has in the creator the cause of creation, and in itself the ability to perceive suffering. By creator in this case we mean a craftsman, for example, a carpenter; under the created - the material with which the artisan deals, for example, wood, for it is subject to (processing) the carpenter. Action and pain are sometimes spoken of simply in the same sense as is the case with productive trades, such as carpentry, blacksmithing, and the like, which are distinguished by the fact that the product of the work remains when the action ceases; so, when the architect stops building, what was built remains, and sometimes they say “create” in relation to such cases when what is being done is not preserved with the cessation of activity. So, if a flute player stops playing, then the flute playing will not be preserved, but will disappear. Sometimes they say “to create” in the sense of contemplation, for example, to study astronomy, geometry, reflect, etc. There are other types of action that are found in inanimate objects: fire, stone, wood, etc. The first three types of action are characteristic of intelligent objects; the latter are inanimate and unreasonable. In this case, the object acts not insofar as it has a soul, but insofar as one body approaches another. (The category in question) has two properties. First, it allows for opposition; So heating is the opposite of cooling. Secondly, it accepts the definitions: more or less, because it is possible to heat more and cool less, as well as to heat up more and cool less. In all categories one can find action and suffering: in substance - to give birth and be born, in quantity - to count and be counted, in relations - to double and double, in quality - to whiten and be whitened, in position - to place and be placed, in a state (εχειν) - to carry and be carried, in the category of place - to contain and be contained, in the category of time - to contain and be contained in the present, past and future tense. You might be interested in: