Kitap 11
9
Therefore it remains that the philosopher is the man who studies the things which we have described, in so far as they are Being. And since everything that is , although the term has several meanings, is so described in virtue of some one common concept, and the same is true of the contraries (since they can be referred to the primary contrarieties and differences of Being), and since things of this kind can fall under one science, the difficulty which we stated at the beginningAristot. Met. 11.1.1. may be regarded as solvedAlso the problem stated in ch. i. 3.—I mean the problem as to how there can be one science of several things which are different in genus.
1
Since even the mathematician uses the common axioms only in a particular application, it will be the province of Primary Philosophy to study the principles of these as well.This chapter corresponds to Aristot. Met. 4.3.1-6, and answers the problem stated in Aristot. Met. 11.1.2.
2
That when equals are taken from equals the remainders are equal is an axiom common to all quantities; but mathematics isolates a particular part of its proper subject matter and studies it separately; e.g. lines or angles or numbers or some other kind of quantity, but not qua Being, but only in so far as each of them is continuous in one, two or three dimensions. But philosophy does not investigate particular things in so far as each of them has some definite attribute, but studies that which is , in so far as each particular thing is .
