Potency

The capacity or possibility of becoming something (Aristotelian: dynamis). The "being-in-itself" (Ch. 1.7). The Logic develops how potency (e.g., the concept) becomes actuality (act) (Ch. 7.4, 19.2). In a narrower sense, also the ratio of powers in the doctrine of quantity (Ch. 2.6): the last of the three forms of ratio and the turning point toward measure. The intensification lies in this: the mediating third term drops away. In the direct ratio (y = kx), the exponent is added from outside; in the inverse ratio (pV = const), the connection lies in a constant product; in the ratio of powers, the magnitude is determined by its own repetition --- raising to a power means applying the operation to its own result. This is why quantity here is no longer indifferent to what it determines: the square of a length is an area, its cube a volume. Quantity has brought forth a quality --- and with this the doctrine of quantity comes to an end.