its there, as ἐνέργεια. “If that is so, then the ἀντικείμενα are to be considered still earlier.”319 And thus it also is with the most primary possibilities of being of a living thing, with αὔξησις, which Aristotle groups together with γέννησις, “growth” and “bringing into the world.” To be studied first, here, is being-by-nourishment, and in connection with it, the bringing of another into the world, another just like the living being itself. Γέννησις: this becoming means nothing other than coming into the world; not simply that something lies before us, a still-born, but that the being is there in such a way that it is in its world. On this basis, you see that the basic determination from which I set out in the first lectures, that living means being-in-the-world, and always has its ground in accordance with a definite possibility.
β. Proof from the Character of Being-Moved Itself
The second proof proceeds directly from the study of becoming, from the character of being-moved itself. We have seen, on the basis of the indirect proof that has been carried out, that only ἀνόητα come into consideration. For the φυσικός, this being that is moved is the primary topic with regard to the basic determination of its being as being-in-the-world. Three modes of moving-oneself in the world: (1) αὔξησις, (2) ἀλλοίωσις, (3) φορά.320 These three possibilities of being-in-the-world, characterized by movement, are to be studied with regard to the ἀρχή, in accordance with the “whence” of this being, in accordance with the being-character of the genuine possibility of being-in-the-world.
Specifically, αὔξησις is characterized solely in the special sense that is limited to plants and the being of plants.321 Plants have no αἴσθησις. They are in the world in such a way that they do not perceive the world in which they are, that they do take nourishment from it, and that in taking nourishment they move themselves in distinctive ways. One would like to say that the way Aristotle primarily sees the genuine being-moved of plants is almost phenomenological, as is shown by De Anima 413a26 sqq. Plants, which he speaks of here, have this distinctive being-possibility of being-in-the-world—that they grow “out toward opposed places, directions.” φαίνεται γὰρ ἐν αὑτοῖς ἔχοντα δύναμιν καὶ ἀρχὴν τοιαύτην, δι’ ἧς αὔξησίν τε καὶ φθίσιν λαμβάνουσι κατὰ τοὺς ἐναντίους τόπους.322 Plants move themselves, in their growth, out toward all sides, and they nourish themselves from all sides, and thus they live. Αὔξησις is the primary and only determination of the living of plants.
Aristotle characteristically apprehends αἴσθησις as ἀλλοίωσις.323 For a being that is in the world in the mode of perceiving-the-world, something other is there and is encountered from out of the world at each moment. Living is with-another; it itself becomes other. That can only make sense if it is itself
319. De an. Β 4, 415 a 20 sq.: εἰ δ᾽ οὕτως, τούτων δ᾽ ἔτι πρότερα τὰ ἀντικείμενα δεῖ τεθεωρηκέναι.
320. Cf. De part. an. Α 1, 641 b 5 sqq.
321. De part. an. Α 1, 641 b 5 sq.: αὐξήσεως μὲν ὅπερ καὶ ἐν τοῖς φυτοῖς.
322. De an. Β 2, 413 a 26 sqq.
323. De part. an. Α 1, 641 b 6: ἀλλοιώσεως δὲ τὸ αἰσθητικόν.