Ross (OCT, 1955) · Beare (1908)
Beare (1908)
Greek line numbers are exact. The translations carry no Bekker numbers of their own, so those beside the English are aligned to the Greek: upright = fixed (anchored to this point in the text), italic grey = approximate (interpolated estimate).
Chapter 1 (449b4–451a17)
449b
Περὶ μνήμης καὶ τοῦ μνημονεύειν λεκτέον τί ἐστι καὶ διὰ τίν' αἰτίαν γίγνεται καὶ τίνι
5 τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς μορίων συμβαίνει τοῦτο τὸ πάθος καὶ τὸ
ἀναμιμνήσκεσθαι· οὐ γὰρ οἱ αὐτοί εἰσι μνημονικοὶ καὶ
ἀναμνηστικοί, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ μνημονικώτεροι μὲν οἱ
βραδεῖς, ἀναμνηστικώτεροι δὲ οἱ ταχεῖς καὶ εὐμαθεῖς.
πρῶτον μὲν οὖν σκεπτέον ποῖά ἐστι τὰ μνημονευτά· πολλάκις
10 γὰρ ἐξαπατᾷ τοῦτο. οὔτε γὰρ τὸ μέλλον ἐνδέχεται
μνημονεύειν, ἀλλ' ἔστι δοξαστὸν καὶ ἐλπιστόν (εἴη δ' ἂν
καὶ ἐπιστήμη τις ἐλπιστική, καθάπερ τινές φασι τὴν μαντικήν),
οὔτε τοῦ παρόντος, ἀλλ' αἴσθησις· ταύτῃ γὰρ οὔτε τὸ
μέλλον οὔτε τὸ γενόμενον γνωρίζομεν, ἀλλὰ τὸ παρὸν μόνον.
15 ἡ δὲ μνήμη τοῦ γενομένου· τὸ δὲ παρὸν ὅτε πάρεστιν,
οἷον τοδὶ τὸ λευκὸν ὅτε ὁρᾷ, οὐδεὶς ἂν φαίη μνημονεύειν,
οὐδὲ τὸ θεωρούμενον, ὅτε θεωρῶν τυγχάνει καὶ νοῶν, ἀλλὰ
τὸ μὲν αἰσθάνεσθαί φησι, τὸ δ' ἐπίστασθαι μόνον· ὅταν δ'
ἄνευ τῶν ἔργων σχῇ τὴν ἐπιστήμην καὶ τὴν αἴσθησιν, οὕτω
20 μέμνηται [τὰς τοῦ τριγώνου ὅτι δύο ὀρθαῖς ἴσαι], τὸ μὲν ὅτι
ἔμαθεν ἢ ἐθεώρησεν, τὸ δὲ ὅτι ἤκουσεν ἢ εἶδεν ἤ τι τοιοῦτον·
ἀεὶ γὰρ ὅταν ἐνεργῇ κατὰ τὸ μνημονεύειν, οὕτως ἐν τῇ
ψυχῇ λέγει, ὅτι πρότερον τοῦτο ἤκουσεν ἢ ᾔσθετο ἢ ἐνόησεν.
ἔστι μὲν οὖν ἡ μνήμη οὔτε αἴσθησις οὔτε ὑπόληψις, ἀλλὰ τούτων
25 τινὸς ἕξις ἢ πάθος, ὅταν γένηται χρόνος. τοῦ δὲ νῦν ἐν
τῷ νῦν οὐκ ἔστι μνήμη, καθάπερ εἴρηται [καὶ πρότερον], ἀλλὰ
τοῦ μὲν παρόντος αἴσθησις, τοῦ δὲ μέλλοντος ἐλπίς, τοῦ δὲ
γενομένου μνήμη· διὸ μετὰ χρόνου πᾶσα μνήμη. ὥσθ' ὅσα
χρόνου αἰσθάνεται, ταῦτα μόνα τῶν ζῴων μνημονεύει, καὶ
30 τούτῳ ᾧ αἰσθάνεται. ἐπεὶ δὲ περὶ φαντασίας εἴρηται πρότερον
ἐν τοῖς περὶ ψυχῆς, καὶ νοεῖν οὐκ ἔστιν ἄνευ φαντάσματος—συμβαίνει
4We have, in the next place, to treat of Memory and Remembering, considering its nature, its cause, and 5the part of the soul to which this experience, as well as that of Recollecting, belongs. For the persons who possess a retentive memory are not identical with those who excel in power of recollection; indeed, as a rule, slow people have a good memory, whereas those who are quick-witted and clever are better at recollecting.
We must first form a true conception of these objects of memory, a point on which mistakes are often made. 10Now to remember the future is not possible, but this is an object of opinion or expectation (and indeed there might be actually a science of expectation, like that of divination, in which some believe); nor is there memory of the present, but only sense-perception. For by the latter we know not the future, nor the past, but the present only. 15But memory relates to the past. No one would say that he remembers the present, when it is present, e.g. a given white object at the moment when he sees it; nor would one say that he remembers an object of scientific contemplation at the moment when he is actually contemplating it, and has it full before his mind;-of the former he would say only that he perceives it, of the latter only that he knows it. But when one has scientific knowledge, or perception, apart from the actualizations of the faculty concerned, 20he thus 'remembers' (that the angles of a triangle are together equal to two right angles); as to the former, that he learned it, or thought it out for himself, as to the latter, that he heard, or saw, it, or had some such sensible experience of it. For whenever one exercises the faculty of remembering, he must say within himself, 'I formerly heard (or otherwise perceived) this,' or 'I formerly had this thought'.
Memory is, therefore, neither Perception nor Conception, but a state or affection of one of these, 25conditioned by lapse of time. As already observed, there is no such thing as memory of the present while present, for the present is object only of perception, and the future, of expectation, but the object of memory is the past. All memory, therefore, implies a time elapsed; consequently only those animals which perceive time remember, and 30the organ whereby they perceive time is also that whereby they remember.
The subject of 'presentation' has been already considered in our work On the Soul. Without a presentation intellectual activity is impossible. For there is in such activity an incidental affection identical with one also incidental in geometrical demonstrations. For in the latter case, though we do not for the purpose of the proof make any use of the fact that the quantity in the triangle (for example, which we have drawn) is determinate, we nevertheless draw it determinate in quantity. So likewise when one exerts the intellect (e.g.
We must first form a true conception of these objects of memory, a point on which mistakes are often made. 10Now to remember the future is not possible, but this is an object of opinion or expectation (and indeed there might be actually a science of expectation, like that of divination, in which some believe); nor is there memory of the present, but only sense-perception. For by the latter we know not the future, nor the past, but the present only. 15But memory relates to the past. No one would say that he remembers the present, when it is present, e.g. a given white object at the moment when he sees it; nor would one say that he remembers an object of scientific contemplation at the moment when he is actually contemplating it, and has it full before his mind;-of the former he would say only that he perceives it, of the latter only that he knows it. But when one has scientific knowledge, or perception, apart from the actualizations of the faculty concerned, 20he thus 'remembers' (that the angles of a triangle are together equal to two right angles); as to the former, that he learned it, or thought it out for himself, as to the latter, that he heard, or saw, it, or had some such sensible experience of it. For whenever one exercises the faculty of remembering, he must say within himself, 'I formerly heard (or otherwise perceived) this,' or 'I formerly had this thought'.
Memory is, therefore, neither Perception nor Conception, but a state or affection of one of these, 25conditioned by lapse of time. As already observed, there is no such thing as memory of the present while present, for the present is object only of perception, and the future, of expectation, but the object of memory is the past. All memory, therefore, implies a time elapsed; consequently only those animals which perceive time remember, and 30the organ whereby they perceive time is also that whereby they remember.
The subject of 'presentation' has been already considered in our work On the Soul. Without a presentation intellectual activity is impossible. For there is in such activity an incidental affection identical with one also incidental in geometrical demonstrations. For in the latter case, though we do not for the purpose of the proof make any use of the fact that the quantity in the triangle (for example, which we have drawn) is determinate, we nevertheless draw it determinate in quantity. So likewise when one exerts the intellect (e.g.
450a
1 γὰρ τὸ αὐτὸ πάθος ἐν τῷ νοεῖν ὅπερ καὶ ἐν
τῷ διαγράφειν· ἐκεῖ τε γὰρ οὐθὲν προσχρώμενοι τῷ τὸ ποσὸν
ὡρισμένον εἶναι τοῦ τριγώνου, ὅμως γράφομεν ὡρισμένον
κατὰ τὸ ποσόν, καὶ ὁ νοῶν ὡσαύτως, κἂν μὴ ποσὸν νοῇ,
5 τίθεται πρὸ ὀμμάτων ποσόν, νοεῖ δ' οὐχ ᾗ ποσόν· ἂν δ' ἡ
φύσις ᾖ τῶν ποσῶν, ἀορίστων δέ, τίθεται μὲν ποσὸν ὡρισμένον,
νοεῖ δ' ᾗ ποσὸν μόνον—διὰ τίνα μὲν οὖν αἰτίαν οὐκ ἐνδέχεται
νοεῖν οὐδὲν ἄνευ συνεχοῦς, οὐδ' ἄνευ χρόνου τὰ μὴ
ἐν χρόνῳ ὄντα, ἄλλος λόγος· μέγεθος δ' ἀναγκαῖον γνωρίζειν
10 καὶ κίνησιν ᾧ καὶ χρόνον· [καὶ τὸ φάντασμα τῆς κοινῆς
αἰσθήσεως πάθος ἐστίν] ὥστε φανερὸν ὅτι τῷ πρώτῳ
αἰσθητικῷ τούτων ἡ γνῶσίς ἐστιν· ἡ δὲ μνήμη, καὶ ἡ τῶν νοητῶν,
οὐκ ἄνευ φαντάσματός ἐστιν, <καὶ τὸ φάντασμα τῆς
συμβεβηκὸς ἂν εἴη, καθ' αὑτὸ δὲ τοῦ πρώτου αἰσθητικοῦ.
15 διὸ καὶ ἑτέροις τισὶν ὑπάρχει τῶν ζῴων, καὶ οὐ μόνον ἀνθρώποις
καὶ τοῖς ἔχουσι δόξαν ἢ φρόνησιν. εἰ δὲ τῶν νοητικῶν
τι μορίων ἦν, οὐκ ἂν ὑπῆρχε πολλοῖς τῶν ἄλλων
ζῴων, ἴσως δ' οὐδενὶ τῶν ἀνοήτων, ἐπεὶ οὐδὲ νῦν πᾶσι διὰ τὸ
μὴ πάντα χρόνου αἴσθησιν ἔχειν· ἀεὶ γὰρ ὅταν ἐνεργῇ τῇ
20 μνήμῃ, καθάπερ καὶ πρότερον εἴπομεν, ὅτι εἶδε τοῦτο ἢ
ἤκουσεν ἢ ἔμαθε, προσαισθάνεται ὅτι πρότερον· τὸ δὲ πρότερον
καὶ ὕστερον ἐν χρόνῳ ἐστίν. τίνος μὲν οὖν τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς
ἐστι μνήμη, φανερόν, ὅτι οὗπερ καὶ ἡ φαντασία· καί
ἐστι μνημονευτὰ καθ' αὑτὰ μὲν ὧν ἐστι φαντασία, κατὰ
25 συμβεβηκὸς δὲ ὅσα μὴ ἄνευ φαντασίας. ἀπορήσειε δ' ἄν
τις πῶς ποτε τοῦ μὲν πάθους παρόντος τοῦ δὲ πράγματος
ἀπόντος μνημονεύεται τὸ μὴ παρόν. δῆλον γὰρ ὅτι δεῖ νοῆσαι
τοιοῦτον τὸ γιγνόμενον διὰ τῆς αἰσθήσεως ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ
καὶ τῷ μορίῳ τοῦ σώματος τῷ ἔχοντι αὐτήν—οἷον ζωγράφημά
30 τι [τὸ πάθος] οὗ φαμεν τὴν ἕξιν μνήμην εἶναι· ἡ γὰρ
γιγνομένη κίνησις ἐνσημαίνεται οἷον τύπον τινὰ τοῦ αἰσθήματος,
καθάπερ οἱ σφραγιζόμενοι τοῖς δακτυλίοις. διὸ καὶ τοῖς
1on the subject of first principles), although the object may not be quantitative, 5one envisages it as quantitative, though he thinks it in abstraction from quantity; while, on the other hand, if the object of the intellect is essentially of the class of things that are quantitative, but indeterminate, one envisages it as if it had determinate quantity, though subsequently, in thinking it, he abstracts from its determinateness. Why we cannot exercise the intellect on any object absolutely apart from the continuous, or apply it even to non-temporal things unless in connexion with time, is another question. Now, one must cognize magnitude 10and motion by means of the same faculty by which one cognizes time (i.e. by that which is also the faculty of memory), and the presentation (involved in such cognition) is an affection of the sensus communis; whence this follows, viz. that the cognition of these objects (magnitude, motion time) is effected by the (said sensus communis, i.e. the) primary faculty of perception. Accordingly, memory (not merely of sensible, but) even of intellectual objects involves a presentation: hence we may conclude that it belongs to the faculty of intelligence only incidentally, while directly and essentially it belongs to the primary faculty of sense-perception.
15Hence not only human beings and the beings which possess opinion or intelligence, but also certain other animals, possess memory. If memory were a function of (pure) intellect, it would not have been as it is an attribute of many of the lower animals, but probably, in that case, no mortal beings would have had memory; since, even as the case stands, it is not an attribute of them all, just because all have not the faculty of perceiving time. 20Whenever one actually remembers having seen or heard, or learned, something, he includes in this act (as we have already observed) the consciousness of 'formerly'; and the distinction of 'former' and 'latter' is a distinction in time.
Accordingly if asked, of which among the parts of the soul memory is a function, we reply: manifestly of that part to which 'presentation' appertains; and all objects capable of being presented (viz. aistheta) are immediately and properly objects of memory, while those (viz. noeta) which necessarily involve (but only involve) presentation are objects of memory incidentally.
25One might ask how it is possible that though the affection (the presentation) alone is present, and the (related) fact absent, the latter-that which is not present-is remembered. (The question arises), because it is clear that we must conceive that which is generated through sense-perception in the sentient soul, and in the part of the body which is its seat-30viz. that affection the state whereof we call memory-to be some such thing as a picture. The process of movement (sensory stimulation) involved the act of perception stamps in, as it were, a sort of impression of the percept, just as persons do who make an impression with a seal. This explains why, in those who are strongly moved owing to passion, or time of life, no mnemonic impression is formed; just as no impression would be formed if the movement of the seal were to impinge on running water; while there are others in whom, owing to the receiving surface being frayed, as happens to (the stucco on) old (chamber) walls, or owing to the hardness of the receiving surface, the requisite impression is not implanted at all.
15Hence not only human beings and the beings which possess opinion or intelligence, but also certain other animals, possess memory. If memory were a function of (pure) intellect, it would not have been as it is an attribute of many of the lower animals, but probably, in that case, no mortal beings would have had memory; since, even as the case stands, it is not an attribute of them all, just because all have not the faculty of perceiving time. 20Whenever one actually remembers having seen or heard, or learned, something, he includes in this act (as we have already observed) the consciousness of 'formerly'; and the distinction of 'former' and 'latter' is a distinction in time.
Accordingly if asked, of which among the parts of the soul memory is a function, we reply: manifestly of that part to which 'presentation' appertains; and all objects capable of being presented (viz. aistheta) are immediately and properly objects of memory, while those (viz. noeta) which necessarily involve (but only involve) presentation are objects of memory incidentally.
25One might ask how it is possible that though the affection (the presentation) alone is present, and the (related) fact absent, the latter-that which is not present-is remembered. (The question arises), because it is clear that we must conceive that which is generated through sense-perception in the sentient soul, and in the part of the body which is its seat-30viz. that affection the state whereof we call memory-to be some such thing as a picture. The process of movement (sensory stimulation) involved the act of perception stamps in, as it were, a sort of impression of the percept, just as persons do who make an impression with a seal. This explains why, in those who are strongly moved owing to passion, or time of life, no mnemonic impression is formed; just as no impression would be formed if the movement of the seal were to impinge on running water; while there are others in whom, owing to the receiving surface being frayed, as happens to (the stucco on) old (chamber) walls, or owing to the hardness of the receiving surface, the requisite impression is not implanted at all.
450b
1 μὲν ἐν κινήσει πολλῇ διὰ πάθος ἢ δι' ἡλικίαν οὖσιν οὐ γίγνεται
μνήμη, καθάπερ ἂν εἰς ὕδωρ ῥέον ἐμπιπτούσης τῆς κινήσεως
καὶ τῆς σφραγῖδος· τοῖς δὲ διὰ τὸ ψήχεσθαι, καθάπερ
τὰ παλαιὰ τῶν οἰκοδομημάτων, καὶ διὰ σκληρότητα
5 τοῦ δεχομένου τὸ πάθος οὐκ ἐγγίγνεται ὁ τύπος. διόπερ
οἵ τε σφόδρα νέοι καὶ οἱ γέροντες ἀμνήμονές εἰσιν· ῥέουσι
γὰρ οἱ μὲν διὰ τὴν αὔξησιν, οἱ δὲ διὰ τὴν φθίσιν. ὁμοίως
δὲ καὶ οἱ λίαν ταχεῖς καὶ οἱ λίαν βραδεῖς οὐδέτεροι φαίνονται
μνήμονες· οἱ μὲν γάρ εἰσιν ὑγρότεροι τοῦ δέοντος, οἱ δὲ
10 σκληρότεροι· τοῖς μὲν οὖν οὐ μένει τὸ φάντασμα ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ,
τῶν δ' οὐχ ἅπτεται. ἀλλ' εἰ δὴ τοιοῦτόν ἐστι τὸ συμβαῖνον
περὶ τὴν μνήμην, πότερον τοῦτο μνημονεύει τὸ πάθος,
ἢ ἐκεῖνο ἀφ' οὗ ἐγένετο; εἰ μὲν γὰρ τοῦτο, τῶν ἀπόντων οὐδὲν ἂν
μνημονεύοιμεν· εἰ δ' ἐκεῖνο, πῶς αἰσθανόμενοι τοῦτο μνημονεύομεν
15 οὗ μὴ αἰσθανόμεθα, τὸ ἀπόν; εἴ τ' ἐστὶν ὅμοιον ὥσπερ
τύπος ἢ γραφὴ ἐν ἡμῖν, ἡ τούτου αἴσθησις διὰ τί ἂν
εἴη μνήμη ἑτέρου, ἀλλ' οὐκ αὐτοῦ τούτου; ὁ γὰρ ἐνεργῶν τῇ
μνήμῃ θεωρεῖ τὸ πάθος τοῦτο καὶ αἰσθάνεται τούτου. πῶς οὖν
τὸ μὴ παρὸν μνημονεύσει; εἴη γὰρ ἂν καὶ ὁρᾶν τὸ μὴ παρὸν
20 καὶ ἀκούειν. ἢ ἔστιν ὡς ἐνδέχεται καὶ συμβαίνειν τοῦτο; οἷον
γὰρ τὸ ἐν πίνακι γεγραμμένον ζῷον καὶ ζῷόν ἐστι καὶ εἰκών,
καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ ἓν τοῦτ' ἐστὶν ἄμφω, τὸ μέντοι εἶναι
οὐ ταὐτὸν ἀμφοῖν, καὶ ἔστι θεωρεῖν καὶ ὡς ζῷον καὶ ὡς εἰκόνα,
οὕτω καὶ τὸ ἐν ἡμῖν φάντασμα δεῖ ὑπολαβεῖν καὶ
25 αὐτό τι καθ' αὑτὸ εἶναι καὶ ἄλλου [φάντασμα]. ᾗ
μὲν οὖν καθ' αὑτό, θεώρημα ἢ φάντασμά ἐστιν, ᾗ δ' ἄλλου,
οἷον εἰκὼν καὶ μνημόνευμα. ὥστε καὶ ὅταν ἐνεργῇ ἡ κίνησις
αὐτοῦ, ἂν μὲν ᾗ καθ' αὑτό ἐστι, ταύτῃ αἰσθάνηται ἡ ψυχὴ
αὐτοῦ, οἷον νόημά τι ἢ φάντασμα φαίνεται ἐπελθεῖν· ἂν δ'
30 ᾗ ἄλλου καὶ ὥσπερ ἐν τῇ γραφῇ ὡς εἰκόνα θεωρεῖ καί, μὴ
ἑωρακὼς τὸν Κορίσκον, ὡς Κορίσκου, ἐνταῦθά τε ἄλλο τὸ
πάθος τῆς θεωρίας ταύτης καὶ ὅταν ὡς ζῷον γεγραμμένον
1Hence both very young and very old persons are defective in memory; they are in a state of flux, the former because 5of their growth, the latter, owing to their decay. In like manner, also, both those who are too quick and those who are too slow have bad memories. 10The former are too soft, the latter too hard (in the texture of their receiving organs), so that in the case of the former the presented image (though imprinted) does not remain in the soul, while on the latter it is not imprinted at all.
But then, if this truly describes what happens in the genesis of memory, (the question stated above arises:) when one remembers, is it this impressed affection that he remembers, or is it the objective thing from which this was derived? If the former, it would follow that we remember nothing which is absent; if the latter, how is it possible that, though perceiving directly only the impression, 15we remember that absent thing which we do not perceive? Granted that there is in us something like an impression or picture, why should the perception of the mere impression be memory of something else, instead of being related to this impression alone? For when one actually remembers, this impression is what he contemplates, and this is what he perceives. How then does he remember what is not present? 20One might as well suppose it possible also to see or hear that which is not present. In reply, we suggest that this very thing is quite conceivable, nay, actually occurs in experience. A picture painted on a panel is at once a picture and a likeness: that is, while one and the same, it is both of these, although the 'being' of both is not the same, and one may contemplate it either as a picture, or as a likeness. Just in the same way we have to conceive that the mnemonic presentation within us is 25something which by itself is merely an object of contemplation, while, in-relation to something else, it is also a presentation of that other thing. In so far as it is regarded in itself, it is only an object of contemplation, or a presentation; but when considered as relative to something else, e.g. as its likeness, it is also a mnemonic token. Hence, whenever the residual sensory process implied by it is actualized in consciousness, if the soul perceives this in so far as it is something absolute, it appears to occur as a mere thought or presentation; but if the soul perceives it qua related to something else, then,-30just as when one contemplates the painting in the picture as being a likeness, and without having (at the moment) seen the actual Koriskos, contemplates it as a likeness of Koriskos, and in that case the experience involved in this contemplation of it (as relative) is different from what one has when he contemplates it simply as a painted figure-(so in the case of memory we have the analogous difference for), of the objects in the soul, the one (the unrelated object) presents itself simply as a thought, but the other (the related object) just because, as in the painting, it is a likeness, presents itself as a mnemonic token.
But then, if this truly describes what happens in the genesis of memory, (the question stated above arises:) when one remembers, is it this impressed affection that he remembers, or is it the objective thing from which this was derived? If the former, it would follow that we remember nothing which is absent; if the latter, how is it possible that, though perceiving directly only the impression, 15we remember that absent thing which we do not perceive? Granted that there is in us something like an impression or picture, why should the perception of the mere impression be memory of something else, instead of being related to this impression alone? For when one actually remembers, this impression is what he contemplates, and this is what he perceives. How then does he remember what is not present? 20One might as well suppose it possible also to see or hear that which is not present. In reply, we suggest that this very thing is quite conceivable, nay, actually occurs in experience. A picture painted on a panel is at once a picture and a likeness: that is, while one and the same, it is both of these, although the 'being' of both is not the same, and one may contemplate it either as a picture, or as a likeness. Just in the same way we have to conceive that the mnemonic presentation within us is 25something which by itself is merely an object of contemplation, while, in-relation to something else, it is also a presentation of that other thing. In so far as it is regarded in itself, it is only an object of contemplation, or a presentation; but when considered as relative to something else, e.g. as its likeness, it is also a mnemonic token. Hence, whenever the residual sensory process implied by it is actualized in consciousness, if the soul perceives this in so far as it is something absolute, it appears to occur as a mere thought or presentation; but if the soul perceives it qua related to something else, then,-30just as when one contemplates the painting in the picture as being a likeness, and without having (at the moment) seen the actual Koriskos, contemplates it as a likeness of Koriskos, and in that case the experience involved in this contemplation of it (as relative) is different from what one has when he contemplates it simply as a painted figure-(so in the case of memory we have the analogous difference for), of the objects in the soul, the one (the unrelated object) presents itself simply as a thought, but the other (the related object) just because, as in the painting, it is a likeness, presents itself as a mnemonic token.
451a
1 θεωρῇ, ἔν τε τῇ ψυχῇ τὸ μὲν γίγνεται ὥσπερ νόημα μόνον,
τὸ δ' ὡς ἐκεῖ ὅτι εἰκών, μνημόνευμα. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐνίοτ'
οὐκ ἴσμεν, ἐγγινομένων ἡμῖν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ τοιούτων κινήσεων
ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰσθέσθαι πρότερον, εἰ κατὰ τὸ ᾐσθῆσθαι συμβαίνει,
5 καὶ εἰ ἔστι μνήμη ἢ οὔ, διστάζομεν· ὁτὲ δὲ συμβαίνει
ἐννοῆσαι καὶ ἀναμνησθῆναι ὅτι ἠκούσαμέν τι πρότερον ἢ
εἴδομεν. τοῦτο δὲ συμβαίνει, ὅταν θεωρῶν ὡς αὐτὸ μεταβάλλῃ
καὶ θεωρῇ ὡς ἄλλου. γίγνεται δὲ καὶ τοὐναντίον, οἷον
συνέβη Ἀντιφέροντι τῷ Ὠρείτῃ καὶ ἄλλοις ἐξισταμένοις·
10 τὰ γὰρ φαντάσματα ἔλεγον ὡς γενόμενα καὶ ὡς μνημονεύοντες.
τοῦτο δὲ γίγνεται ὅταν τις τὴν μὴ εἰκόνα ὡς εἰκόνα
θεωρῇ. αἱ δὲ μελέται τὴν μνήμην σῴζουσι τῷ ἐπαναμιμνήσκειν·
τοῦτο δ' ἐστὶν οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ τὸ θεωρεῖν πολλάκις
ὡς εἰκόνα καὶ μὴ ὡς καθ' αὑτό. τί μὲν οὖν ἐστι μνήμη
15 καὶ τὸ μνημονεύειν, εἴρηται, ὅτι φαντάσματος, ὡς εἰκόνος
οὗ φάντασμα, ἕξις, καὶ τίνος μορίου τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν, ὅτι τοῦ
πρώτου αἰσθητικοῦ καὶ ᾧ χρόνου αἰσθανόμεθα.
1We can now understand why it is that sometimes, when we have such processes, based on some former act of perception, occurring in the soul, we do not know whether this really implies our having had perceptions corresponding to them, and we doubt whether the case is or is not one of memory. 5But occasionally it happens that (while thus doubting) we get a sudden idea and recollect that we heard or saw something formerly. This (occurrence of the 'sudden idea') happens whenever, from contemplating a mental object as absolute, one changes his point of view, and regards it as relative to something else.
The opposite (sc. to the case of those who at first do not recognize their phantasms as mnemonic) also occurs, as happened in the cases of Antipheron of Oreus and others suffering from mental derangement; 10for they were accustomed to speak of their mere phantasms as facts of their past experience, and as if remembering them. This takes place whenever one contemplates what is not a likeness as if it were a likeness.
Mnemonic exercises aim at preserving one's memory of something by repeatedly reminding him of it; which implies nothing else (on the learner's part) than the frequent contemplation of something (viz. the 'mnemonic', whatever it may be) as a likeness, and not as out of relation.
As regards the question, therefore, 15what memory or remembering is, it has now been shown that it is the state of a presentation, related as a likeness to that of which it is a presentation; and as to the question of which of the faculties within us memory is a function, (it has been shown) that it is a function of the primary faculty of sense-perception, i.e. of that faculty whereby we perceive time.
The opposite (sc. to the case of those who at first do not recognize their phantasms as mnemonic) also occurs, as happened in the cases of Antipheron of Oreus and others suffering from mental derangement; 10for they were accustomed to speak of their mere phantasms as facts of their past experience, and as if remembering them. This takes place whenever one contemplates what is not a likeness as if it were a likeness.
Mnemonic exercises aim at preserving one's memory of something by repeatedly reminding him of it; which implies nothing else (on the learner's part) than the frequent contemplation of something (viz. the 'mnemonic', whatever it may be) as a likeness, and not as out of relation.
As regards the question, therefore, 15what memory or remembering is, it has now been shown that it is the state of a presentation, related as a likeness to that of which it is a presentation; and as to the question of which of the faculties within us memory is a function, (it has been shown) that it is a function of the primary faculty of sense-perception, i.e. of that faculty whereby we perceive time.
Chapter 2 (451a18–453b11)
Περὶ δὲ τοῦ ἀναμιμνήσκεσθαι λοιπὸν εἰπεῖν. πρῶτον μὲν
οὖν ὅσα ἐν τοῖς ἐπιχειρηματικοῖς λόγοις ἐστὶν ἀληθῆ, δεῖ τιθέναι
20 ὡς ὑπάρχοντα. οὔτε γὰρ μνήμης ἐστὶν ἀνάληψις ἡ
ἀνάμνησις οὔτε λῆψις· ὅταν γὰρ τὸ πρῶτον μάθῃ ἢ πάθῃ,
οὔτ' ἀναλαμβάνει μνήμην οὐδεμίαν (οὐδεμία γὰρ προγέγονεν)
οὔτ' ἐξ ἀρχῆς λαμβάνει· ὅταν γὰρ ἐγγένηται ἡ ἕξις
ἢ τὸ πάθος, τότε μνήμη ἐστίν, ὥστε μετὰ τοῦ πάθους ἐγγινομένου
25 οὐκ ἐγγίνεται. ἔτι δ' ὅτε τὸ πρῶτον ἐγγέγονε τῷ
ἀτόμῳ καὶ ἐσχάτῳ, τὸ μὲν πάθος ἐνυπάρχει ἤδη τῷ παθόντι
καὶ ἡ ἐπιστήμη, εἰ δεῖ καλεῖν ἐπιστήμην τὴν ἕξιν ἢ τὸ
πάθος (οὐθὲν δὲ κωλύει κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς καὶ μνημονεύειν
ἔνια ὧν ἐπιστάμεθα)· τὸ δὲ μνημονεύειν καθ' αὑτὸ οὐχ ὑπάρχει
30 πρὶν χρονισθῆναι· μνημονεύει γὰρ νῦν ὃ εἶδεν ἢ ἔπαθε
πρότερον, οὐχ ὃ νῦν ἔπαθε, νῦν μνημονεύει. ἔτι δὲ φανερὸν
18Next comes the subject of Recollection, in dealing with which we must assume as fundamental the truths elicited above in our introductory discussions. 20For recollection is not the 'recovery' or 'acquisition' of memory; since at the instant when one at first learns (a fact of science) or experiences (a particular fact of sense), he does not thereby 'recover' a memory, inasmuch as none has preceded, nor does he acquire one ab initio. It is only at the instant when the aforesaid state or affection (of the aisthesis or upolepsis) is implanted in the soul that memory exists, and therefore memory is not itself implanted concurrently with the continuous implantation of the (original) sensory experience.
25Further: at the very individual and concluding instant when first (the sensory experience or scientific knowledge) has been completely implanted, there is then already established in the person affected the (sensory) affection, or the scientific knowledge (if one ought to apply the term 'scientific knowledge' to the (mnemonic) state or affection; and indeed one may well remember, in the 'incidental' sense, some of the things (i.e. ta katholou) which are properly objects of scientific knowledge); but to remember, strictly and properly speaking, is an activity which will not be immanent until the original experience has undergone lapse of time. 30For one remembers now what one saw or otherwise experienced formerly; the moment of the original experience and the moment of the memory of it are never identical.
25Further: at the very individual and concluding instant when first (the sensory experience or scientific knowledge) has been completely implanted, there is then already established in the person affected the (sensory) affection, or the scientific knowledge (if one ought to apply the term 'scientific knowledge' to the (mnemonic) state or affection; and indeed one may well remember, in the 'incidental' sense, some of the things (i.e. ta katholou) which are properly objects of scientific knowledge); but to remember, strictly and properly speaking, is an activity which will not be immanent until the original experience has undergone lapse of time. 30For one remembers now what one saw or otherwise experienced formerly; the moment of the original experience and the moment of the memory of it are never identical.
451b
1 ὅτι μνημονεύειν ἔστι μὴ νῦν ἀναμνησθέντα, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἀρχῆς
αἰσθόμενον ἢ παθόντα· ἀλλ' ὅταν ἀναλαμβάνῃ ἣν πρότερον
εἶχεν ἐπιστήμην ἢ αἴσθησιν ἢ οὗ ποτε τὴν ἕξιν ἐλέγομεν
μνήμην, τοῦτ' ἐστὶ καὶ τότε τὸ ἀναμιμνήσκεσθαι τῶν εἰρημένων
5 τι, τῷ δὲ μνημονεύειν συμβαίνει καὶ μνήμην ἀκολουθεῖν.
οὐδὲ δὴ ταῦτα ἁπλῶς, ἐὰν ἔμπροσθεν ὑπάρξαντα πάλιν
ἐγγένηται, ἀλλ' ἔστιν ὡς, ἔστι δ' ὡς οὔ. δὶς γὰρ μαθεῖν
καὶ εὑρεῖν ἐνδέχεται τὸν αὐτὸν τὸ αὐτό· δεῖ οὖν διαφέρειν
τὸ ἀναμιμνήσκεσθαι τούτων, καὶ ἐνούσης πλείονος ἀρχῆς ἢ ἐξ
10 ἧς μανθάνουσιν ἀναμιμνήσκεσθαι. συμβαίνουσι δ' αἱ ἀναμνήσεις
ἐπειδὴ πέφυκεν ἡ κίνησις ἥδε γενέσθαι μετὰ τήνδε· εἰ
μὲν ἐξ ἀνάγκης, δῆλον ὡς ὅταν ἐκείνην κινηθῇ, τήνδε κινηθήσεται·
εἰ δὲ μὴ ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἀλλ' ἔθει, ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ
κινηθήσεται. συμβαίνει δ' ἐνίας ἅπαξ ἐθισθῆναι μᾶλλον ἢ
15 ἑτέρας πολλάκις κινουμένους· διὸ ἔνια ἅπαξ ἰδόντες μᾶλλον
μνημονεύομεν ἢ ἕτερα πολλάκις. ὅταν οὖν ἀναμιμνησκώμεθα,
κινούμεθα τῶν προτέρων τινὰ κινήσεων, ἕως ἂν κινηθῶμεν
μεθ' ἣν ἐκείνη εἴωθεν. διὸ καὶ τὸ ἐφεξῆς θηρεύομεν νοήσαντες
ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν ἢ ἄλλου τινός, καὶ ἀφ' ὁμοίου ἢ ἐναντίου ἢ
20 τοῦ σύνεγγυς. διὰ τοῦτο γίγνεται ἡ ἀνάμνησις· αἱ γὰρ κινήσεις
τούτων τῶν μὲν αἱ αὐταί, τῶν δ' ἅμα, τῶν δὲ μέρος
ἔχουσιν, ὥστε τὸ λοιπὸν μικρὸν ὃ ἐκινήθη μετ' ἐκεῖνο. ζητοῦσι
μὲν οὖν οὕτω, καὶ μὴ ζητοῦντες δ' οὕτως ἀναμιμνήσκονται, ὅταν
μεθ' ἑτέραν κίνησιν ἐκείνη γένηται· ὡς δὲ τὰ πολλὰ ἑτέρων
25 γενομένων κινήσεων οἵων εἴπομεν ἐγένετο ἐκείνη. οὐδὲν δὲ δεῖ
σκοπεῖν τὰ πόρρω, πῶς μεμνήμεθα, ἀλλὰ τὰ σύνεγγυς·
δῆλον γὰρ ὅτι ὁ αὐτός ἐστι τρόπος. [λέγω δὲ τὸ ἐφεξῆς οὐ
προζητήσας οὐδ' ἀναμνησθείς.] τῷ γὰρ ἔθει ἀκολουθοῦσιν αἱ
κινήσεις ἀλλήλαις, ἥδε μετὰ τήνδε, καὶ ὅταν τοίνυν ἀναμιμνήσκεσθαι
30 βούληται, τοῦτο ποιήσει· ζητήσει λαβεῖν ἀρχὴν
κινήσεως, μεθ' ἣν ἐκείνη ἔσται. διὸ τάχιστα καὶ κάλλιστα γίνονται
1Again, (even when time has elapsed, and one can be said really to have acquired memory, this is not necessarily recollection, for firstly) it is obviously possible, without any present act of recollection, to remember as a continued consequence of the original perception or other experience; whereas when (after an interval of obliviscence) one recovers some scientific knowledge which he had before, or some perception, or some other experience, the state of which we above declared to be memory, it is then, and then only, that this recovery may amount to a recollection of any of the things aforesaid. But, (though as observed above, remembering does not necessarily imply recollecting), 5recollecting always implies remembering, and actualized memory follows (upon the successful act of recollecting).
But secondly, even the assertion that recollection is the reinstatement in consciousness of something which was there before but had disappeared requires qualification. This assertion may be true, but it may also be false; for the same person may twice learn (from some teacher), or twice discover (i.e. excogitate), the same fact. Accordingly, the act of recollecting ought (in its definition) to be distinguished from these acts; i.e. recollecting must imply in those who recollect the presence of some spring over and above that from which they originally learn.
10Acts of recollection, as they occur in experience, are due to the fact that one movement has by nature another that succeeds it in regular order.
If this order be necessary, whenever a subject experiences the former of two movements thus connected, it will (invariably) experience the latter; if, however, the order be not necessary, but customary, only in the majority of cases will the subject experience the latter of the two movements. But it is a fact that there are some movements, by a single experience of which persons take the impress of custom more deeply than they do by experiencing others many times; 15hence upon seeing some things but once we remember them better than others which we may have been frequently.
Whenever therefore, we are recollecting, we are experiencing certain of the antecedent movements until finally we experience the one after which customarily comes that which we seek. This explains why we hunt up the series (of kineseis) having started in thought either from a present intuition or some other, and from something either similar, or contrary, to what we seek, or else from that which is contiguous with it. 20Such is the empirical ground of the process of recollection; for the mnemonic movements involved in these starting-points are in some cases identical, in others, again, simultaneous, with those of the idea we seek, while in others they comprise a portion of them, so that the remnant which one experienced after that portion (and which still requires to be excited in memory) is comparatively small.
Thus, then, it is that persons seek to recollect, and thus, too, it is that they recollect even without the effort of seeking to do so, viz. when the movement implied in recollection has supervened on some other which is its condition. For, as a rule, it is when antecedent movements of the classes here described have first been excited, that the particular movement implied in recollection follows. 25We need not examine a series of which the beginning and end lie far apart, in order to see how (by recollection) we remember; one in which they lie near one another will serve equally well. 30For it is clear that the method is in each case the same, that is, one hunts up the objective series, without any previous search or previous recollection.
But secondly, even the assertion that recollection is the reinstatement in consciousness of something which was there before but had disappeared requires qualification. This assertion may be true, but it may also be false; for the same person may twice learn (from some teacher), or twice discover (i.e. excogitate), the same fact. Accordingly, the act of recollecting ought (in its definition) to be distinguished from these acts; i.e. recollecting must imply in those who recollect the presence of some spring over and above that from which they originally learn.
10Acts of recollection, as they occur in experience, are due to the fact that one movement has by nature another that succeeds it in regular order.
If this order be necessary, whenever a subject experiences the former of two movements thus connected, it will (invariably) experience the latter; if, however, the order be not necessary, but customary, only in the majority of cases will the subject experience the latter of the two movements. But it is a fact that there are some movements, by a single experience of which persons take the impress of custom more deeply than they do by experiencing others many times; 15hence upon seeing some things but once we remember them better than others which we may have been frequently.
Whenever therefore, we are recollecting, we are experiencing certain of the antecedent movements until finally we experience the one after which customarily comes that which we seek. This explains why we hunt up the series (of kineseis) having started in thought either from a present intuition or some other, and from something either similar, or contrary, to what we seek, or else from that which is contiguous with it. 20Such is the empirical ground of the process of recollection; for the mnemonic movements involved in these starting-points are in some cases identical, in others, again, simultaneous, with those of the idea we seek, while in others they comprise a portion of them, so that the remnant which one experienced after that portion (and which still requires to be excited in memory) is comparatively small.
Thus, then, it is that persons seek to recollect, and thus, too, it is that they recollect even without the effort of seeking to do so, viz. when the movement implied in recollection has supervened on some other which is its condition. For, as a rule, it is when antecedent movements of the classes here described have first been excited, that the particular movement implied in recollection follows. 25We need not examine a series of which the beginning and end lie far apart, in order to see how (by recollection) we remember; one in which they lie near one another will serve equally well. 30For it is clear that the method is in each case the same, that is, one hunts up the objective series, without any previous search or previous recollection.
452a
1 ἀπ' ἀρχῆς αἱ ἀναμνήσεις· ὡς γὰρ ἔχουσι τὰ πράγματα
πρὸς ἄλληλα τῷ ἐφεξῆς, οὕτω καὶ αἱ κινήσεις. καὶ ἔστιν
εὐμνημόνευτα ὅσα τάξιν τινὰ ἔχει, ὥσπερ τὰ μαθήματα·
τὰ δὲ φαύλως καὶ χαλεπῶς. καὶ τούτῳ διαφέρει τὸ ἀναμιμνήσκεσθαι
5 τοῦ πάλιν μανθάνειν, ὅτι δυνήσεταί πως δι'
αὑτοῦ κινηθῆναι ἐπὶ τὸ μετὰ τὴν ἀρχήν. ὅταν δὲ μή, ἀλλὰ
δι' ἄλλου, οὐκέτι μέμνηται. πολλάκις δ' ἤδη μὲν ἀδυνατεῖ
ἀναμνησθῆναι, ζητῶν δὲ δύναται καὶ εὑρίσκει. τοῦτο δὲ γίγνεται
κινοῦντι πολλά, ἕως ἂν τοιαύτην κινήσῃ κίνησιν ᾗ ἀκολουθήσει
10 τὸ πρᾶγμα. τὸ γὰρ μεμνῆσθαί ἐστι τὸ ἐνεῖναι δύναμιν
τὴν κινοῦσαν· τοῦτο δέ, ὥστ' ἐξ αὑτοῦ καὶ ὧν ἔχει κινήσεων
κινηθῆναι, ὥσπερ εἴρηται. δεῖ δὲ λαβέσθαι ἀρχῆς· διὸ
ἀπὸ τόπων δοκοῦσιν ἀναμιμνήσκεσθαι ἐνίοτε. τὸ δ' αἴτιον ὅτι
ταχὺ ἀπ' ἄλλου ἐπ' ἄλλο ἔρχονται, οἷον ἀπὸ γάλακτος
15 ἐπὶ λευκόν, ἀπὸ λευκοῦ δ' ἐπ' ἀέρα, καὶ ἀπὸ τούτου ἐφ'
ὑγρόν, ἀφ' οὗ ἐμνήσθη μετοπώρου, ταύτην ἐπιζητῶν τὴν ὥραν.
ἔοικε δὲ καθόλου ἀρχῇ καὶ τὸ μέσον πάντων· εἰ γὰρ μὴ
πρότερον, ὅταν ἐπὶ τοῦτο ἔλθῃ μνησθήσεται, ἢ οὐκέτ' οὐδὲ
ἄλλοθεν, οἷον εἴ τις νοήσειεν ἐφ' ὧν Α Β Γ Δ Ε Ζ Η Θ <Ι>· εἰ
20 γὰρ μὴ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ι μέμνηται, ἐπὶ τοῦ Ε μνησθήσεται· ἐντεῦθεν
γὰρ ἐπ' ἄμφω κινηθῆναι ἐνδέχεται, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ Δ καὶ ἐπὶ
τὸ Ζ. εἰ δὲ μὴ τούτων τι ἐζήτει, ἐπὶ τὸ Γ ἐλθὼν μνησθήσεται,
εἰ τὸ Α ἢ τὸ Β ἐπιζητεῖ, εἰ δὲ μή, ἐπὶ τὸ Η· καὶ
οὕτως ἀεί. τοῦ δ' ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐνίοτε μὲν μνησθῆναι, ἐνίοτε δὲ
25 μή, αἴτιον ὅτι ἐπὶ πλείω ἐνδέχεται κινηθῆναι ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς
ἀρχῆς, οἷον ἀπὸ τοῦ Γ ἐπὶ τὸ Β ἢ τὸ Δ. ἐὰν οὖν
διὰ πολλοῦ κινηθῇ, ἐπὶ τὸ συνηθέστερον κινεῖται· ὥσπερ γὰρ
φύσις ἤδη τὸ ἔθος. διὸ ἃ πολλάκις ἐννοοῦμεν, ταχὺ ἀναμιμνησκόμεθα·
ὥσπερ γὰρ φύσει τόδε μετὰ τόδε ἐστίν, οὕτω
30 καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ· τὸ δὲ πολλάκις φύσιν ποιεῖ. ἐπεὶ δ' ὥσπερ
1For (there is, besides the natural order, viz. the order of the pralmata, or events of the primary experience, also a customary order, and) by the effect of custom the mnemonic movements tend to succeed one another in a certain order. Accordingly, therefore, when one wishes to recollect, this is what he will do: he will try to obtain a beginning of movement whose sequel shall be the movement which he desires to reawaken. This explains why attempts at recollection succeed soonest and best when they start from a beginning (of some objective series). For, in order of succession, the mnemonic movements are to one another as the objective facts (from which they are derived). Accordingly, things arranged in a fixed order, like the successive demonstrations in geometry, are easy to remember (or recollect) while badly arranged subjects are remembered with difficulty.
5Recollecting differs also in this respect from relearning, that one who recollects will be able, somehow, to move, solely by his own effort, to the term next after the starting-point. When one cannot do this of himself, but only by external assistance, he no longer remembers (i.e. he has totally forgotten, and therefore of course cannot recollect). It often happens that, though a person cannot recollect at the moment, yet by seeking he can do so, and discovers what he seeks. This he succeeds in doing by setting up many movements, until finally he excites one of a kind which will have for its sequel the fact he wishes to recollect. 10For remembering (which is the condicio sine qua non of recollecting) is the existence, potentially, in the mind of a movement capable of stimulating it to the desired movement, and this, as has been said, in such a way that the person should be moved (prompted to recollection) from within himself, i.e. in consequence of movements wholly contained within himself.
But one must get hold of a starting-point. This explains why it is that persons are supposed to recollect sometimes by starting from mnemonic loci. The cause is that they pass swiftly in thought from one point to another, e.g. 15from milk to white, from white to mist, and thence to moist, from which one remembers Autumn (the 'season of mists'), if this be the season he is trying to recollect.
It seems true in general that the middle point also among all things is a good mnemonic starting-point from which to reach any of them. For if one does not recollect before, he will do so when he has come to this, or, if not, nothing can help him; as, e.g. if one were to have in mind the numerical series denoted by the symbols A, B, G, D, E, Z, I, H, O. For, 20if he does not remember what he wants at E, then at E he remembers O; because from E movement in either direction is possible, to D or to Z. But, if it is not for one of these that he is searching, he will remember (what he is searching for) when he has come to G if he is searching for H or I. But if (it is) not (for H or I that he is searching, but for one of the terms that remain), he will remember by going to A, and so in all cases (in which one starts from a middle point). 25The cause of one's sometimes recollecting and sometimes not, though starting from the same point, is, that from the same starting-point a movement can be made in several directions, as, for instance, from G to I or to D.
5Recollecting differs also in this respect from relearning, that one who recollects will be able, somehow, to move, solely by his own effort, to the term next after the starting-point. When one cannot do this of himself, but only by external assistance, he no longer remembers (i.e. he has totally forgotten, and therefore of course cannot recollect). It often happens that, though a person cannot recollect at the moment, yet by seeking he can do so, and discovers what he seeks. This he succeeds in doing by setting up many movements, until finally he excites one of a kind which will have for its sequel the fact he wishes to recollect. 10For remembering (which is the condicio sine qua non of recollecting) is the existence, potentially, in the mind of a movement capable of stimulating it to the desired movement, and this, as has been said, in such a way that the person should be moved (prompted to recollection) from within himself, i.e. in consequence of movements wholly contained within himself.
But one must get hold of a starting-point. This explains why it is that persons are supposed to recollect sometimes by starting from mnemonic loci. The cause is that they pass swiftly in thought from one point to another, e.g. 15from milk to white, from white to mist, and thence to moist, from which one remembers Autumn (the 'season of mists'), if this be the season he is trying to recollect.
It seems true in general that the middle point also among all things is a good mnemonic starting-point from which to reach any of them. For if one does not recollect before, he will do so when he has come to this, or, if not, nothing can help him; as, e.g. if one were to have in mind the numerical series denoted by the symbols A, B, G, D, E, Z, I, H, O. For, 20if he does not remember what he wants at E, then at E he remembers O; because from E movement in either direction is possible, to D or to Z. But, if it is not for one of these that he is searching, he will remember (what he is searching for) when he has come to G if he is searching for H or I. But if (it is) not (for H or I that he is searching, but for one of the terms that remain), he will remember by going to A, and so in all cases (in which one starts from a middle point). 25The cause of one's sometimes recollecting and sometimes not, though starting from the same point, is, that from the same starting-point a movement can be made in several directions, as, for instance, from G to I or to D.
452b
1 ἐν τοῖς φύσει γίγνεται καὶ παρὰ φύσιν καὶ ἀπὸ τύχης,
ἔτι μᾶλλον ἐν τοῖς δι' ἔθος, οἷς ἡ φύσις γε μὴ ὁμοίως ὑπάρχει,
ὥστε κινηθῆναι ἐνίοτε κἀκεῖ καὶ ἄλλως, ἄλλως τε
καὶ ὅταν ἀφέλκῃ <τι> ἐκεῖθεν αὐτόσε πῃ, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὅταν
5 δέῃ ὄνομα μνημονεῦσαι, παρόμοιον <εἰ> ἴσμεν, εἰς ἐκεῖνο σολοικίζομεν.
τὸ μὲν οὖν ἀναμιμνήσκεσθαι τοῦτον συμβαίνει τὸν
τρόπον. τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, γνωρίζειν δεῖ τὸν χρόνον, ἢ μέτρῳ
ἢ ἀορίστως. ἔστω δέ τι ᾧ κρίνει τὸν πλείω καὶ ἐλάττω· εὔλογον
δ' ὥσπερ τὰ μεγέθη· νοεῖ γὰρ τὰ μεγάλα καὶ
10 πόρρω οὐ τῷ ἀποτείνειν ἐκεῖ τὴν διάνοιαν ὥσπερ τὴν ὄψιν
φασί τινες (καὶ γὰρ μὴ ὄντων ὁμοίως νοήσει), ἀλλὰ τῇ
ἀνάλογον κινήσει· ἔστι γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ τὰ ὅμοια σχήματα καὶ
κινήσεις. τίνι οὖν διοίσει, ὅταν τὰ μείζω νοῇ, ὅτι ἐκεῖνα νοεῖ
ἢ τὰ ἐλάττω; πάντα γὰρ τὰ ἐντὸς ἐλάττω, καὶ ἀνὰ
15 λόγον [καὶ τὰ ἐκτός]. ἔστι δ' ἴσως ὥσπερ καὶ τοῖς εἴδεσιν
ἀνάλογον λαβεῖν ἄλλο ἐν αὑτῷ, οὕτως καὶ τοῖς ἀποστήμασιν.
ὥσπερ οὖν εἰ τὴν Α Β Β Ε κινεῖται, ποιεῖ τὴν Γ Δ·
ἀνάλογον γὰρ ἡ Α Γ καὶ ἡ Γ Δ. τί οὖν μᾶλλον τὴν Γ Δ ἢ
τὴν Ζ Η ποιεῖ; ἢ ὡς ἡ Α Γ πρὸς τὴν Α Β ἔχει, οὕτως ἡ
20 Θ πρὸς τὴν Ι ἔχει; ταύτας οὖν ἅμα κινεῖται. ἂν δὲ τὴν
Ζ Η βούληται νοῆσαι, τὴν μὲν Β Ε ὁμοίως νοεῖ, ἀντὶ δὲ τῶν
Θ Ι τὰς Κ Λ νοεῖ· αὗται γὰρ ἔχουσιν ὡς Ζ Α πρὸς Β Α.
ὅταν οὖν ἅμα ἥ τε τοῦ πράγματος γίγνηται κίνησις καὶ ἡ τοῦ
χρόνου, τότε τῇ μνήμῃ ἐνεργεῖ. ἂν δ' οἴηται μὴ ποιῶν, οἴεται
25 μνημονεύειν· οὐθὲν γὰρ κωλύει διαψευσθῆναί τινα καὶ
δοκεῖν μνημονεύειν μὴ μνημονεύοντα. ἐνεργοῦντα δὲ τῇ μνήμῃ
μὴ οἴεσθαι ἀλλὰ λανθάνειν μεμνημένον οὐκ ἔστιν· τοῦτο γὰρ
ἦν αὐτὸ τὸ μεμνῆσθαι. ἀλλ' ἐὰν ἡ τοῦ πράγματος γένηται
χωρὶς τῆς τοῦ χρόνου ἢ αὕτη ἐκείνης, οὐ μέμνηται. ἡ δὲ τοῦ
30 χρόνου διττή ἐστιν· ὁτὲ μὲν γὰρ μέτρῳ οὐ μέμνηται αὐτόν,
1If, then, the mind has not (when starting from E) moved in an old path (i.e. one in which it moved first having the objective experience, and that, therefore, in which un-'ethized' phusis would have it again move), it tends to move to the more customary; for (the mind having, by chance or otherwise, missed moving in the 'old' way) Custom now assumes the role of Nature. Hence the rapidity with which we recollect what we frequently think about. For as regular sequence of events is in accordance with nature, so, too, regular sequence is observed in the actualization of kinesis (in consciousness), and here frequency tends to produce (the regularity of) nature. And since in the realm of nature occurrences take place which are even contrary to nature, or fortuitous, the same happens a fortiori in the sphere swayed by custom, since in this sphere natural law is not similarly established. Hence it is that (from the same starting-point) the mind receives an impulse to move sometimes in the required direction, and at other times otherwise, (doing the latter) particularly when something else somehow deflects the mind from the right direction and attracts it to itself. This last consideration explains too how it happens that, 5when we want to remember a name, we remember one somewhat like it, indeed, but blunder in reference to (i.e. in pronouncing) the one we intended.
Thus, then, recollection takes place.
But the point of capital importance is that (for the purpose of recollection) one should cognize, determinately or indeterminately, the time-relation (of that which he wishes to recollect). There is,-let it be taken as a fact,-something by which one distinguishes a greater and a smaller time; and it is reasonable to think that one does this in a way analogous to that in which one discerns (spacial) magnitudes. 10For it is not by the mind's reaching out towards them, as some say a visual ray from the eye does (in seeing), that one thinks of large things at a distance in space (for even if they are not there, one may similarly think them); but one does so by a proportionate mental movement. For there are in the mind the like figures and movements (i.e. 'like' to those of objects and events). Therefore, when one thinks the greater objects, in what will his thinking those differ from his thinking the smaller? (In nothing,) because all the internal though smaller are as it were proportional to the external. 15Now, as we may assume within a person something proportional to the forms (of distant magnitudes), so, too, we may doubtless assume also something else proportional to their distances. As, therefore, if one has (psychically) the movement in AB, Be, he constructs in thought (i.e. knows objectively) GD, since AG and Gd bear equal ratios respectively (to AB and BE), (so he who recollects also proceeds). Why then does he construct GD rather than Zh? Is it not because as AG is to AB, so is O to I? These movements therefore (sc. in AB, BE, and in O:I) 20he has simultaneously. But if he wishes to construct to thought ZH, he has in mind BE in like manner as before (when constructing GD), but now, instead of (the movements of the ratio) O:I, he has in mind (those of the ratio K:L; for K:L::ZA:BA. (See diagram.)
When, therefore, the 'movement' corresponding to the object and that corresponding to its time concur, then one actually remembers. 25If one supposes (himself to move in these different but concurrent ways) without really doing so, he supposes himself to remember.
Thus, then, recollection takes place.
But the point of capital importance is that (for the purpose of recollection) one should cognize, determinately or indeterminately, the time-relation (of that which he wishes to recollect). There is,-let it be taken as a fact,-something by which one distinguishes a greater and a smaller time; and it is reasonable to think that one does this in a way analogous to that in which one discerns (spacial) magnitudes. 10For it is not by the mind's reaching out towards them, as some say a visual ray from the eye does (in seeing), that one thinks of large things at a distance in space (for even if they are not there, one may similarly think them); but one does so by a proportionate mental movement. For there are in the mind the like figures and movements (i.e. 'like' to those of objects and events). Therefore, when one thinks the greater objects, in what will his thinking those differ from his thinking the smaller? (In nothing,) because all the internal though smaller are as it were proportional to the external. 15Now, as we may assume within a person something proportional to the forms (of distant magnitudes), so, too, we may doubtless assume also something else proportional to their distances. As, therefore, if one has (psychically) the movement in AB, Be, he constructs in thought (i.e. knows objectively) GD, since AG and Gd bear equal ratios respectively (to AB and BE), (so he who recollects also proceeds). Why then does he construct GD rather than Zh? Is it not because as AG is to AB, so is O to I? These movements therefore (sc. in AB, BE, and in O:I) 20he has simultaneously. But if he wishes to construct to thought ZH, he has in mind BE in like manner as before (when constructing GD), but now, instead of (the movements of the ratio) O:I, he has in mind (those of the ratio K:L; for K:L::ZA:BA. (See diagram.)
When, therefore, the 'movement' corresponding to the object and that corresponding to its time concur, then one actually remembers. 25If one supposes (himself to move in these different but concurrent ways) without really doing so, he supposes himself to remember.
453a
1 οἷον ὅτι τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ὁδήποτε ἐποίησεν, ὁτὲ δὲ καὶ μέτρῳ·
ἀλλὰ μέμνηται καὶ ἐὰν μὴ μέτρῳ. εἰώθασι δὲ λέγειν
ὅτι μέμνηνται μέν, πότε μέντοι οὐκ ἴσασιν, ὅταν μὴ
γνωρίζωσι τοῦ πότε τὸ ποσὸν μέτρῳ. ὅτι μὲν οὖν οὐχ οἱ αὐτοὶ
5 μνημονικοὶ καὶ ἀναμνηστικοί, ἐν τοῖς πρότερον εἴρηται.
διαφέρει δὲ τοῦ μνημονεύειν τὸ ἀναμιμνήσκεσθαι οὐ μόνον
κατὰ τὸν χρόνον, ἀλλ' ὅτι τοῦ μὲν μνημονεύειν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων
ζῴων μετέχει πολλά, τοῦ δ' ἀναμιμνήσκεσθαι οὐδὲν ὡς
εἰπεῖν τῶν γνωριζομένων ζῴων, πλὴν ἄνθρωπος. αἴτιον δ' ὅτι
10 τὸ ἀναμιμνήσκεσθαί ἐστιν οἷον συλλογισμός τις· ὅτι γὰρ
πρότερον εἶδεν ἢ ἤκουσεν ἤ τι τοιοῦτον ἔπαθε, συλλογίζεται ὁ
ἀναμιμνησκόμενος, καὶ ἔστιν οἷον ζήτησίς τις. τοῦτο δ' οἷς καὶ
τὸ βουλευτικὸν ὑπάρχει, φύσει μόνοις συμβέβηκεν· καὶ γὰρ
τὸ βουλεύεσθαι συλλογισμός τίς ἐστιν. ὅτι δ' ἐστὶ σωματικόν τι
15 τὸ πάθος, καὶ ἡ ἀνάμνησις ζήτησις ἐν τοιούτῳ φαντάσματος,
σημεῖον τὸ παρενοχλεῖν ἐνίους ἐπειδὰν μὴ δύνωνται
ἀναμνησθῆναι καὶ πάνυ ἐπέχοντες τὴν διάνοιαν, καὶ οὐκέτ'
ἐπιχειροῦντας ἀναμιμνήσκεσθαι οὐδὲν ἧττον, καὶ μάλιστα
τοὺς μελαγχολικούς· τούτους γὰρ φαντάσματα κινεῖ μάλιστα.
20 αἴτιον δὲ τοῦ μὴ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς εἶναι [τὸ ἀναμιμνήσκεσθαι], ὅτι
καθάπερ τοῖς βάλλουσιν οὐκέτι ἐπ' αὐτοῖς τὸ στῆσαι, οὕτως καὶ
ὁ ἀναμιμνησκόμενος καὶ θηρεύων σωματικόν τι κινεῖ, ἐν ᾧ
τὸ πάθος. μάλιστα δ' ἐνοχλοῦνται οἷς ἂν ὑγρότης τύχῃ ὑπάρχουσα
περὶ τὸν αἰσθητικὸν τόπον· οὐ γὰρ ῥᾳδίως παύεται
25 κινηθεῖσα, ἕως ἂν ἐπανέλθῃ τὸ ζητούμενον καὶ εὐθυπορήσῃ ἡ
κίνησις. διὸ καὶ ὀργαὶ καὶ φόβοι, ὅταν τι κινήσωσιν, ἀντικινούντων
πάλιν τούτων οὐ καθίστανται, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἀντικινοῦσιν.
καὶ ἔοικε τὸ πάθος τοῖς ὀνόμασι καὶ μέλεσι καὶ
λόγοις, ὅταν διὰ στόματος γένηταί τι αὐτῶν σφόδρα· παυσαμένοις
30 γὰρ καὶ οὐ βουλομένοις ἐπέρχεται πάλιν ᾄδειν ἢ
λέγειν. εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ οἱ τὰ ἄνω μείζω ἔχοντες καὶ οἱ νανώδεις
1For one may be mistaken, and think that he remembers when he really does not. But it is not possible, conversely, that when one actually remembers he should not suppose himself to remember, but should remember unconsciously. For remembering, as we have conceived it, essentially implies consciousness of itself. If, however, the movement corresponding to the objective fact takes place without that corresponding to the time, or, if the latter takes place without the former, one does not remember.
The movement answering to the time is of two kinds. Sometimes in remembering a fact one has no determinate time-notion of it, no such notion as that e.g. he did something or other on the day before yesterday; while in other cases he has a determinate notion-of the time. Still, even though one does not remember with actual determination of the time, he genuinely remembers, none the less. Persons are wont to say that they remember (something), but yet do not know when (it occurred, as happens) whenever they do not know determinately the exact length of time implied in the 'when'.
5It has been already stated that those who have a good memory are not identical with those who are quick at recollecting. But the act of recollecting differs from that of remembering, not only chronologically, but also in this, that many also of the other animals (as well as man) have memory, but, of all that we are acquainted with, none, we venture to say, except man, shares in the faculty of recollection. The cause of this is that 10recollection is, as it were a mode of inference. For he who endeavours to recollect infers that he formerly saw, or heard, or had some such experience, and the process (by which he succeeds in recollecting) is, as it were, a sort of investigation. But to investigate in this way belongs naturally to those animals alone which are also endowed with the faculty of deliberation; (which proves what was said above), for deliberation is a form of inference.
That the affection is corporeal, i.e. 15that recollection is a searching for an 'image' in a corporeal substrate, is proved by the fact that in some persons, when, despite the most strenuous application of thought, they have been unable to recollect, it (viz. the anamnesis = the effort at recollection) excites a feeling of discomfort, which, even though they abandon the effort at recollection, persists in them none the less; and especially in persons of melancholic temperament. For these are most powerfully moved by presentations. 20The reason why the effort of recollection is not under the control of their will is that, as those who throw a stone cannot stop it at their will when thrown, so he who tries to recollect and 'hunts' (after an idea) sets up a process in a material part, (that) in which resides the affection. Those who have moisture around that part which is the centre of sense-perception suffer most discomfort of this kind. For 25when once the moisture has been set in motion it is not easily brought to rest, until the idea which was sought for has again presented itself, and thus the movement has found a straight course. 30For a similar reason bursts of anger or fits of terror, when once they have excited such motions, are not at once allayed, even though the angry or terrified persons (by efforts of will) set up counter motions, but the passions continue to move them on, in the same direction as at first, in opposition to such counter motions.
The movement answering to the time is of two kinds. Sometimes in remembering a fact one has no determinate time-notion of it, no such notion as that e.g. he did something or other on the day before yesterday; while in other cases he has a determinate notion-of the time. Still, even though one does not remember with actual determination of the time, he genuinely remembers, none the less. Persons are wont to say that they remember (something), but yet do not know when (it occurred, as happens) whenever they do not know determinately the exact length of time implied in the 'when'.
5It has been already stated that those who have a good memory are not identical with those who are quick at recollecting. But the act of recollecting differs from that of remembering, not only chronologically, but also in this, that many also of the other animals (as well as man) have memory, but, of all that we are acquainted with, none, we venture to say, except man, shares in the faculty of recollection. The cause of this is that 10recollection is, as it were a mode of inference. For he who endeavours to recollect infers that he formerly saw, or heard, or had some such experience, and the process (by which he succeeds in recollecting) is, as it were, a sort of investigation. But to investigate in this way belongs naturally to those animals alone which are also endowed with the faculty of deliberation; (which proves what was said above), for deliberation is a form of inference.
That the affection is corporeal, i.e. 15that recollection is a searching for an 'image' in a corporeal substrate, is proved by the fact that in some persons, when, despite the most strenuous application of thought, they have been unable to recollect, it (viz. the anamnesis = the effort at recollection) excites a feeling of discomfort, which, even though they abandon the effort at recollection, persists in them none the less; and especially in persons of melancholic temperament. For these are most powerfully moved by presentations. 20The reason why the effort of recollection is not under the control of their will is that, as those who throw a stone cannot stop it at their will when thrown, so he who tries to recollect and 'hunts' (after an idea) sets up a process in a material part, (that) in which resides the affection. Those who have moisture around that part which is the centre of sense-perception suffer most discomfort of this kind. For 25when once the moisture has been set in motion it is not easily brought to rest, until the idea which was sought for has again presented itself, and thus the movement has found a straight course. 30For a similar reason bursts of anger or fits of terror, when once they have excited such motions, are not at once allayed, even though the angry or terrified persons (by efforts of will) set up counter motions, but the passions continue to move them on, in the same direction as at first, in opposition to such counter motions.
453b
1 ἀμνημονέστεροι τῶν ἐναντίων διὰ τὸ πολὺ βάρος ἔχειν
ἐπὶ τῷ αἰσθητικῷ, καὶ μήτ' ἐξ ἀρχῆς τὰς κινήσεις δύνασθαι
ἐμμένειν ἀλλὰ διαλύεσθαι μήτ' ἐν τῷ ἀναμιμνήσκεσθαι
ῥᾳδίως εὐθυπορεῖν. οἱ δὲ πάμπαν νέοι καὶ λίαν γέροντες
5 ἀμνήμονες διὰ τὴν κίνησιν· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐν φθίσει, οἱ δ'
ἐν αὐξήσει πολλῇ εἰσίν· ἔτι δὲ τά γε παιδία καὶ νανώδη
ἐστὶ μέχρι πόρρω τῆς ἡλικίας.
περὶ μὲν οὖν μνήμης καὶ
τοῦ μνημονεύειν, τίς ἡ φύσις αὐτῶν καὶ τίνι τῶν τῆς
10 ψυχῆς μνημονεύει τὰ ζῷα, καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἀναμιμνήσκεσθαι,
τί ἐστι καὶ πῶς γίγνεται καὶ διὰ τίνας αἰτίας, εἴρηται.
1The affection resembles also that in the case of words, tunes, or sayings, whenever one of them has become inveterate on the lips. People give them up and resolve to avoid them; yet again they find themselves humming the forbidden air, or using the prohibited word. Those whose upper parts are abnormally large, as. is the case with dwarfs, have abnormally weak memory, as compared with their opposites, because of the great weight which they have resting upon the organ of perception, and because their mnemonic movements are, from the very first, not able to keep true to a course, but are dispersed, and because, in the effort at recollection, these movements do not easily find a direct onward path. Infants and very old persons 5have bad memories, owing to the amount of movement going on within them; for the latter are in process of rapid decay, the former in process of vigorous growth; and we may add that children, until considerably advanced in years, are dwarf-like in their bodily structure. Such then is our theory as regards memory and remembering their nature, and 10the particular organ of the soul by which animals remember; also as regards recollection, its formal definition, and the manner and causes-of its performance.
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