Kitap 7
1
Of things which are generated, some are generated naturally, others artificially, and others spontaneously; but everything which is generated is generated by something and from something and becomes something. When I say becomes something I mean in any of the categories; it may come to be either a particular thing or of some quantity or quality or in some place.
1
Natural generation is the generation of things whose generation is by nature.
2
That from which they are generated is what we call matter; that by which, is something which exists naturally; and that which they become is a man or a plant or something else of this kind, which we call substance in the highest degree. All things which are generated naturally or artificially have matter; for it is possible for each one of them both to be and not to be, and this possibility is the matter in each individual thing.
3
And in general both that from which and that in accordance with which they are generated, is nature; for the thing generated, e.g. plant or animal, has a nature. And that by which they are generated is the so-called formal nature, which has the same form as the thing generated (although it is in something else); for man begets man.
3
Such is the generation of things which are naturally generated; the other kinds of generation are called productions. All productions proceed from either art or potency or thought.
