Aristotle, Science and the Plenitude of Being 245 APEIRON a journal for ancient philosophy and science 003-6390/2007/4003 245-266 $22.00 © Academic Printing and Publishing Aristotle, Science and the Plenitude of Being Paul Studtmann I Lovejoy, Hintikka and the Plenitude of Being More than any other scholars Arthur Lovejoy and Jaako Hintikka have discussed whether Aristotle accepted a doctrine of the plenitude of be- ing. In his classic work, ‘The Great Chain of Being’, Lovejoy articulates the doctrine as follows: no genuine potentiality of being can remain unfulfilled, that the extent and abundance of the creation must be as great as the possibility of existence and commensurate with the productive capacity of a “per- fect” and inexhaustible Source, and that the world is better, the more things it contains. 1 As this passage indicates, Lovejoy links a philosopher’s acceptance of plenitude with his belief in the existence of a fundamental source of the world, which, because of its overflowing nature, guarantees that every potentiality of being is fulfilled. As a result, Lovejoy does not attribute plenitude to Aristotle. Because Aristotle’s unmoved mover is eternally contemplating itself, it is entirely self-contained — unlike Plato’s One, it does not overflow itself into other realms of being. 1 Arthur Lovejoy, The Great Chain of Being: A Study in the History of an Idea, (Cam- bridge, MA: Harvard University Press 1936), 52 Brought to you by | University of Pittsburgh Authenticated | 132.174.255.116 Download Date | 9/27/13 7:43 PM