as a man, and so not during youth and not during old age, when indeed the longest time has elapsed. Aristotle treats life-stages extensively in Rhetoric, Book 2, Chapters 12–15. It is to be noted that it is not the case that the oldest, simply by virtue of their temporal span, have the possibility of being genuinely in the ἕξις, while in the case of ἐπιστήμη, this is already possible. Ἕξις, in relation to the πάθη, is to be our clue to the more precise conception of the being-structure of the πάθη themselves.
b) The Four General Meanings of πάθος
For the definition of πάθος, we search the books of definitions, Metaphysics δ, Chapter 21.
1. πάθος λέγεται ἕνα μὲν τρόπον ποιότης καθ’ ἣν ἀλλοιοῦσθαι ἐνδέχεται, οἷον τὸ λευκὸν καὶ τὸ μέλαν, καὶ γλυκὺ καὶ πικρόν, καὶ βαρύτης καὶ κουφότης, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα τοιαῦτα.238 The primary and initial definition of πάθος is “beingconstituted, ποιότης, regarding which something underlies alteration [therefore not just any endowment as such, but one that is characterized such that in itself it offers the possibility of what was thus constituted being reversed] white-black, sweet-bitter . . .” This definition characterizes a being as something that can in some way be affected by something. Something can happen to such a being. “To happen” touches upon what is meant by πάσχειν and πάθος in the genuine sense. In πάθος, Aristotle sees, with the facts regarding motion, not so much the passive, but that something occurs for me. Here, πάθος is taken in the broadest and the plainest meaning: possibility of ἀλλοίωσις, of “becoming-otherwise.” Πάθος is a determination of beings with the character of alterability.
2. ἕνα δὲ αἱ τούτων ἐνέργειαι καὶ ἀλλοιώσεις ἤδη.239 These beings are characterized such that they carry in themselves the possibility of something occurring to them in the circle of their constitution, perhaps in relation to a color. For now, occurring itself is taken as πάθος in its being-there itself. Ἐνέργεια: the “being-there” of such a shifting occurring-to-one.
3. ἔτι τούτων μᾶλλον αἱ βλαβεραὶ ἀλλοιώσεις καὶ κινήσεις, καὶ μάλιστα αἱ λυπηραὶ βλάβαι.240 The definition of πάθος becomes more and more narrow: πάθος as the occurring-to-one that has the character of the unpleasant, of the βλαβερόν. That which happens to me is harmful to me in its happening. This is, indeed, the way that we use the expression “to happen.” But πάθος is defined still more precisely: harmfulness is related mostly to λύπη, so that, as a result, my attunement to this occurring affects me. It is a becoming-relevant of something, which aims at my attunement, a becoming-otherwise in the sense of becoming-depressed.
4. ἔτι τὰ μεγέθη τῶν συμφορῶν καὶ λυπηρῶν πάθη λέγεται.241 In a pointed
238. Met. Δ 21, 1022 b 15 sqq.
239. Met. Δ 21, 1022 b 18.
240. Met. Δ 21, 1022 b 18 sqq.
241. Met. Δ 21, 1022 b 20 sq.