Makin translates this term with reference to a distinction between “possibility” and “capacity” that is essential to both commentary and translation (cf. He does not say whether he considered “potency” as a translation.Įven greater complexity arises with dunaton.
However, in chapters 1-5, he finds this term “unnecessarily opaque” and, with a few exceptions, uses “capacity” instead, along with its convenient privative form, “incapacity.” Makin finds the resultant near uniformity across large portions of text attractive (xxii-xxiv). Because this form appears almost exclusively in chapters 6-10, Makin renders other forms of this noun as “potentiality” in those chapters. The verb dunasthai is “to be capable.” The noun dunamis is “potentially” in the adverbial dative. Greater complications attach to the translation of the “potential” terms. Entelecheia is “fulfilment.” The explanation of Aristotle’s neologisms and their translations (xxvii-xxx) is helpful and clear. Makin renders energeia as “actuality” (“actually” in the adverbial dative). As Makin has anticipated (166-67), the study of this book could help many bioethicists profitably refine their use of terms like “potential” and “possible.” I. It is hard to disagree with his apparent assumption that Aristotle scholars already want to consider this book and that he need motivate only those not already drawn to Aristotle. He tries to appeal to “readers who are not predisposed to be interested in Aristotle and to give those readers a way into Θ” (xxii). Avoiding or “finessing” (e.g., xxii, 66, 227) historical questions in favor of conceptual ones seems to be a deliberate strategy. He proceeds by formulating claims from the text and then analyzing their meaning, supporting argumentation, and implications in relation to issues of interest or other Aristotelian claims. Generally, his interpretation is conceptual rather than historical. Makin charts a path through the text and genuinely engages with its arguments (xx). The fifteen-page translation of Aristotle’s central text on potentiality and actuality paired with some 285 pages of commentary (including the introduction) strikes a fair balance.
Stephen Makin has produced an interesting and demanding contribution to the Clarendon Aristotle Series: Metaphysics Theta.
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