[246] For the general theory of Actuality and Possibility, see Metaph., VIII.
[247] Grant’s Aristotle, p. 176.
[248] Metaph., XII., viii., p. 1074, a, 36.
[249] Grant’s Aristotle, p. 176.
[250] ‘The rational attitude of a thinking mind towards the supernatural, whether in natural or revealed religion, is that of scepticism, as distinguished from belief on the one hand and atheism on the other.’—Mill’s Essays on Religion, p. 242.
[251] Grant’s Aristotle, p. 177.
[252] τὸ δ’ εἶναι οὐκ οὐσία οὐδενί· οὐ γὰρ γένος τὸ ὄν.—An. Post., II., vii., p. 92, b, 13.
[253] Metaph., XIII., x.
[254] ‘Non pensar oltre lei [la terra] essere un corpo senza alma e vita et anche feccia tra le sustanze corporali.’ Giordano Bruno, Cena de le Ceneri, p. 130 (Opere, ed. Wagner). ‘Non dovete stimar ... che il corpo terreno sia vile e più degli altri ignobile.’—De l’Infinito Universo e Mondi, p. 54 (ib.).
[255] This conjecture of Empedocles deserves more attention than it has as yet received. It illustrates once more the superior insight of the early thinkers as compared with Aristotle.