Fran¨ois Latraverse at UQAM (University of Quebec at Montreal), who is in charge of the preparation of the volume of the new edition of Peirce's work (Writings of CSP, vol. 7) which will present Peirce's contribution to the Century Dictionary, sent me the following information about the ENTELECHY entry several days ago, which I somehow failed to post immediately. (Fran¨ois is, I believe, preparing at our request a basis for a link to a list of Peirce's entries but that is not ready yet..). The first text below has not been previously posted here.
-----------------from Fran¨ois Latraverse---------- As for 'entelechy', there are two texts: (1) the one published in W5 (MS 1167 R), of which the untagged version is the following: (Gr. entelecheia, word invented by Aristotle, from en telei echon, having attained the end.) Literally, attainment, realization; opposed to power, potentiality, and nearly the same as energy or act (actuality). The idea of entelechy is connected with that of form, the idea of power with that of matter. Iron is potentially in its ore, which to be made iron must be worked. When this is done, the iron exists in entelechy. The passage from power to entelechy takes place by means of change (kinesis). This is the imperfect energy, the perfected energy is the entelechy. First entelechy is being in working order, second entelechy is being in action. The soul is said to be a first entelechy, that is, a thing precisely like a man in every respect, except that it would not feel, would be a body without a soul; but a soul once infused is not lost because whenever the man is asleep. This is the Aristotelian sense, but Cudworth and others have used entelechy and first entelechy somewhat differently. Cudworth calls his plastic nature or vital principle the first entelechy, and Leibniz terms a monad an entelechy. and (2), from the 1889 edition of the CD (untagged) : Realization: opposed to power or potentiality, and nearly the same as energy or act (actuality). The only difference is that entelechy implies a more perfect realization. The idea of entelechy is connected with that of form, the idea of power with that of matter. Thus, iron is potentially in its ore, which to be made iron must be worked; when this is done, the iron exists in entelechy. The development from being in posse or in germ to entelechy takes place, according to Aristotle, by means of a change, the imperfect action or energy of which the perfected result is the entelechy. Entelechy is, however, either first or second. First entelechy is being in working order; second entelechy is being in action. The soul is said to be the first entelechy of the body, which seems to imply that it grows out of the body as its germ; but the idea more insisted upon is that man without the soul would be but a body, while the soul, once developed, is not lost when the man sleeps. Cudworth terms his plastic nature (which see, under nature) a first entelechy, and Leibnitz calls a monad an entelechy. ----------------- To express this aspect of the mental functions, Aristotle makes use of the word entelechy. The word is one which explains itself. Frequently, it is true Aristotle fails to draw any strict line of demarcation between entelechy and energy; but in theory, at least, the two are definitely separated from each other, and \textgreek{} represents merely a stage on the path toward \textgreek{}. Entelechy in short is the realization which contains the end of a process: the complete expression of some function-the perfection of some phenolncnon, the last stage in that process from potentiality to reality which we have already noticed. Soul then is not only the realization of the body; it is its perfect realization or full development. --E. Wallace, Aristotle's Psychology, p. xlii. --------------- ---------------END LATRAVERSE------- Joe Ransdell -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.14.25/246 - Release Date: 1/30/2006 --- Message from peirce-l forum to subscriber archive@mail-archive.com