Potency

The capacity or possibility of becoming something (Aristotelian: *dynamis*). The "being-in-itself" [*An-sich-Sein*] (Chap. 1.7). The Logic develops how potency (e.g., the concept) becomes actuality (act) (Chap. 7.4, 19.2). In the narrower sense, this term also denotes the **ratio of powers** [*Potenzenverhältnis*] in the doctrine of quantity (Chap. 2.6): the last of the three forms of ratio and the turning point toward measure. The heightening here lies in the fact that the mediating third term falls away. In the direct ratio (y = kx), the exponent is added from outside; in the inverse ratio (pV = const), the binding lies in a constant product; in the ratio of powers, the magnitude determines itself through its own repetition --- to raise to a power means applying the operation to its own result. This is why quantity is no longer indifferent here 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.