THE PROBLEM OF TRANSLATING OF THE WORLD PHYSIS IN THE FIRST BOOK OF ARISTOTLES POLITICS

It is well known that many philosophical concepts which have emerged o ver the history of philosophy cannot be simply defined. So the words u sed to express these concepts, may be given various meanings and seman tic shades. It is often impossible to eliminate these shades and to de fine only one meaning for each word neither would it be necessarily de sirable even if it were possible. Many philosophers, from classical ti mes up to now, have chosen to take advantage of the possibilities whic h the multiple meanings of a word offer. The first philosopher to take this actually into account was certainly Aristotle, for whom experime nting with the meanings and concatenations of words used to formulate and resolve a philosophical problem was an inseparable part of his phi losophical method. The multiple meanings of many important expressions and the conscious way in which Aristotle used them can cause many pro blems in the translation and interpretation of his writings. The artic le analyses various difficulties relating to the meaning of the word p hi upsilon sigma iota sigma in Aristotle's philosophy. These can best be seen in the first book of his Politics, where they are very evident . The article consists of three parts. The first one gives a brief ove rview of the changing meaning of the word phi upsilon sigma iota sigma in Aristotle's times. The second part analyses two texts which offer a basic guide to the meaning of the word phi upsilon sigma iota sigma in his philosophy, i.e. Chapter 1 of the second book of Physics and Ch apter 4 of the fifth book of Metaphysics. The analysis demonstrates th at Aristotle used the word phi upsilon sigma iota sigma in a very comp lex sense, which includes the older meanings of this expression (phi u psilon sigma iota sigma as form, as the inner source of the activity o f every being, and as both coming into being and development). At the same time, there is no sign in either of the texts considered that the word phi upsilon sigma iota sigma is taken to encompass the most impo rtant of its earlier meanings, i.e. phi upsilon sigma iota sigma as na ture as a whole or as the principle of overall activity of the perceiv able world. This meaning can however be assumed in other places where Aristotle has used it (see notes 49-53). On the basis of these finding s, the third part of the article analyses the difficulties relating to the translation of phi upsilon sigma iota sigma in the first book of Aristotle's Politics. Some of these difficulties are very evident in i ts translation into Czech, which. differs from many other modern langu ages in having one expression for nature as a generic character and an other for nature as a whole or the principle of overall activity. In m any places of this text, the translation of the word phi upsilon sigma iota sigma must therefore rely on a detailed selection of meanings wh ich this expression can have. There are several proofs of the correctn ess of various newer interpretations, which see the incorporation of a ll individual natures into the concept of phi upsilon sigma iota sigma as nature as a whole as an inseparable part of Aristotle's philosophy . If we stick to the oldest meaning of the word phi upsilon sigma iota sigma, which relates to the form of a growing plant, it can be said t hat for Aristotle, phi upsilon sigma iota sigma in the sense of nature as a whole was similar to a spreading stem from which various other n atures are burgeoning. In some places of the first book of Politics, h owever, phi upsilon sigma iota sigma does not represent either nature as a whole or the generic character, but is linked to particular featu res which are characteristic of either an individual or a part of the given species. In these cases, one of the older meanings of phi upsilo n sigma iota sigma, as nature or character in the widest sense of word , comes to the fore. The greatest problems relating to the word phi up silon sigma iota sigma in the text considered emerge in translating th e dative form, phi upsilon sigma epsilon iota, and the expression, kap pa alpha tau alpha phi upsilon sigma iota nu. In the case of the dativ e, it is possible that this form expresses nature both as origin (that something is,,from nature'') and as a manner of being (that something is ''natural''). The expression kappa alpha tau alpha phi upsilon sig ma iota nu (''in accordance with nature'', ''according to nature'') wa s often used by Aristotle as an abbreviated formulation which would be difficult to understand if translated literally. It is therefore usua lly necessary to explain the meaning of this expression by adding othe r words as no single way of translating it is possible.