Single Idea 16623

[catalogued under 9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / a. Substance]

Full Idea

The underlying nature is an object of knowledge, by an analogy. For as bronze is to a statue, wood to a bed, or matter and the formless before receiving form to any thing which has form, so is the underlying nature of substance, the 'this' or existent.

Gist of Idea

We only infer underlying natures by analogy, observing bronze of a statue, or wood of a bed

Source

Aristotle (Physics [c.337 BCE], 191a08)

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'The Basic Works of Aristotle', ed/tr. McKeon,Richard [Modern Library Classics 2001], p.232


A Reaction

Scholastics were perfectly aware of this cautious approach. It is only the critics who jeer at Aristotelians for claiming to know all about the essences of things. Essence is like the Unmoved Mover, inferred but unknown.