On Power and Movement, Potentiality and Actuality

Ivan Chvatík

The article starts from the Heidegger’s commentary to the first three chapters of book IX of Aristotle’s Metaphysics where Aristotle examines the concepts of dynamis and energeia, and it shows how they emerge from the analysis of movement. The study considers the later chapters of Met. IX in an attempt to explain how Aristotle passes from these movement-focused (kata kinésin), meanings which have to do with „capability“ and „realisation“, to the broader (epi pleon) use of dynamis and energeia in the sense of „potentiality“ and „actuality“. Towards the end, the article touches on the possible importance of distinguishing these two meaning-pairs for Aristotle’s analysis of movement in the Physics.