On Longevity and Shortness of Life
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~3,160 words · 15 passages
Cite this work
- APAAristotle. (n.d.). On Longevity and Shortness of Life. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/aristotle/on-longevity-and-shortness-of-life
- MLAAristotle. On Longevity and Shortness of Life. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/aristotle/on-longevity-and-shortness-of-life.
- ChicagoAristotle. On Longevity and Shortness of Life. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/aristotle/on-longevity-and-shortness-of-life.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
Why some living things last a long time and others a short one.
Context and history
One of the first attempts at a general law of lifespan, relating it to moisture, size and environment. It matters as a framing of the problem: why species age at such different rates is still a live question in biology. Part of the Parva naturalia, the eight short works that continue the De anima by applying its theory to particular phenomena of the living body. They are transmitted as a group and read best together.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
But we must discover the reason why trees are of an enduring constitution, for it is peculiar to them and is not found in any animals except the insects. Plants continually renew themselves and hence last for a long time. New shoots continually come and the others grow old, and with the roots the same thing happens. But both processes do not occur together. Rather it happens that at one time the trunk and the branches alone die and new ones grow up beside them, and it is only when this has taken place that the fresh roots spring from the surviving part. Thus it continues, one part dying and the other growing, and hence also it lives a long time. There is a similarity, as has been already said, between plants and insects, for they live, though divided, and two or more may be derived from a single one. Insects, however, though managing to live, are not able to do so long, for they do not possess organs; nor can the principle resident in each of the separated parts create organs. In the case of a plant, however, it can do so; every part of a plant contains potentially both root and stem. Hence it is from this source that issues that continued growth when one part is renewed and the other grows old; it is practically a case of longevity. The taking of slips furnishes a similar instance, for we might say that, in a way, when we take a slip the same thing happens; the shoot cut off is part of the plant. Thus in taking slips this perpetuation of life occurs though their connexion with the plant is severed, but in the former case it is the continuity that is operative. The reason is that the life principle potentially belonging to them is present in every part.