University of Tabriz Journal of Philosophical Investigations 2251-7960 20 55 2026 06 22 The Meanings of Dunamis in Aristotle’s Philosophy The Meanings of Dunamis in Aristotle’s Philosophy 577 596 20167 10.22034/jpiut.2025.68267.4153 FA Rogayeh SohrabNavi Ph D Candidate of Philosophy,, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran. Hassan Fathi Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran. Majid Sadr Majles Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran. Masoud Omid Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran. Journal Article 2025 07 22 The word "dynamis" in ancient Greek philosophy began with physical power and political authority, evolved in Plato's thought into the capacity to affect or be affected, and became a central concept in Aristotle's system. This research examines its diverse applications in Aristotle's physics, psychology, ethics, and logic to demonstrate its significance and address the fundamental question: despite evident differences in instances (natural potentiality of bodies, psychic faculties, and logical possibility), what accounts for the unity of these applications—and is this unity gradational (mushakkik) or univocal? The answer is that the basis of unity lies not in a third objective entity, but in the primary meaning of "principle of change"—a single conceptual core present in all applications, yet realized at different existential levels in each domain. In physics, potentiality is the principle of motion and rest; in psychology, the perceptual and motive faculties are principles of voluntary and cognitive actions; and in logic, possibility is the principle of the truth-relation in propositions. This single "principlehood," despite conceptual unity, manifests with varying existential intensity and gradation; hence, the commonality of meanings is gradational, not univocal, and the diversity of applications expresses different modalities of a single reality in facing various actualities. This analysis enables precise differentiation between natural potentiality, psychic faculties, and logical possibility, and prevents common interpretive confusions. The word "dynamis" in ancient Greek philosophy began with physical power and political authority, evolved in Plato's thought into the capacity to affect or be affected, and became a central concept in Aristotle's system. This research examines its diverse applications in Aristotle's physics, psychology, ethics, and logic to demonstrate its significance and address the fundamental question: despite evident differences in instances (natural potentiality of bodies, psychic faculties, and logical possibility), what accounts for the unity of these applications—and is this unity gradational (mushakkik) or univocal? The answer is that the basis of unity lies not in a third objective entity, but in the primary meaning of "principle of change"—a single conceptual core present in all applications, yet realized at different existential levels in each domain. In physics, potentiality is the principle of motion and rest; in psychology, the perceptual and motive faculties are principles of voluntary and cognitive actions; and in logic, possibility is the principle of the truth-relation in propositions. This single "principlehood," despite conceptual unity, manifests with varying existential intensity and gradation; hence, the commonality of meanings is gradational, not univocal, and the diversity of applications expresses different modalities of a single reality in facing various actualities. This analysis enables precise differentiation between natural potentiality, psychic faculties, and logical possibility, and prevents common interpretive confusions. https://philosophy.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_20167_d937e497a8ab61a7f6b4c4f27f918e29.pdf