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Full Idea
Aristotle's characterization of matter as potentiality and of form as actuality means that the form or essence determines what the matter is. So matter does not have any independent contribution to make to the definition and essence of the substance.
Gist of Idea
Matter is secondary, because it is potential, determined by the actuality of form
Source
report of Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], matter) by Charlotte Witt - Substance and Essence in Aristotle 6.2
Book Ref
Witt,Charlotte: 'Substance and Essence in Aristotle' [Cornell 1994], p.193
A Reaction
We might say that of the wood which constitutes a lectern, but in the case of a magnet it seems that we are directly encountering the powers of the matter. ...though you might say that iron is the matter and magnetisation the form?
| 12134 | Matter is the substratum, which supports both coming-to-be and alteration [Aristotle] |
| 12301 | Every distinct thing has matter, as long as it isn't an essence or a Form [Aristotle] |
| 16092 | In Aristotle, bronze only becomes 'matter' when it is potentially a statue [Aristotle, by Gill,ML] |
| 12300 | Aristotle's conception of matter applies to non-physical objects as well as physical objects [Aristotle, by Fine,K] |
| 12077 | Aristotle's matter is something that could be the inner origin of a natural being's behaviour [Aristotle, by Witt] |
| 12103 | Matter is secondary, because it is potential, determined by the actuality of form [Aristotle, by Witt] |
| 11255 | In feature-generation the matter (such as bronze) endures, but in generation it doesn't [Aristotle, by Politis] |
| 11204 | The ultimate material of things has the unity of total formlessness [Avicenna] |
| 15309 | The assumption that shape and solidity are fundamental implies dubious 'substance' in bodies [Harré/Madden] |
| 12057 | Matter underlies things, composes things, and brings them to be [Wiggins] |
| 17531 | I assume matter is particulate, made up of 'simples' [Inwagen] |
| 16083 | Aristotelian matter seriously threatens the intrinsic unity and substantiality of its object [Gill,ML] |
| 13333 | The matter is a relatively unstructured version of the object, like a set without membership structure [Fine,K] |