Ἐντελέχεια
actuality, complete reality, entelechy
Translated by Marcelo Boeri30 Jun 2003Vetting: high11 revisions
Translation
[This term means] the fulfilment and the form of the substrate; that is, the form that comes upon the matter out of a particular composition of elements; or [it is] the form [that is] inseparable from the body. For actuality is the form and the fulfilment of the body.1 But what is separable from the body [also] is called actuality, as the sailor [is separable from] the ship. Actuality, when it is external, not only places in order but also regulates, and fulfils the substratum. Now when [one] calls the irrational and natural soul “actuality”, one is meaning the inseparable form of actuality; but when [one] calls the rational soul “actuality”, [one is meaning] the separated [form].
[Note] that actuality is the form beyond unity and what is fulfilled and what is held together. For the form is the cause of unity and fulfilment for matter;2 in fact it is a fulfilment of the substratum and it holds it together.
For each existing thing [comes] above all from its proper actuality, and it is named according to that -- since a statue is named that way, “statue”, but not “bronze”.3
Porphyrius, the Tyrian philosopher who wrote against the Christians, calls the soul “actuality”.4
[Note] that actuality is the form beyond unity and what is fulfilled and what is held together. For the form is the cause of unity and fulfilment for matter;2 in fact it is a fulfilment of the substratum and it holds it together.
For each existing thing [comes] above all from its proper actuality, and it is named according to that -- since a statue is named that way, “statue”, but not “bronze”.3
Porphyrius, the Tyrian philosopher who wrote against the Christians, calls the soul “actuality”.4