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Full Idea
The matter is that of which points and lines are limits, and it is something that can never exist without quality and without form.
Gist of Idea
Matter is the limit of points and lines, and must always have quality and form
Source
Aristotle (Coming-to-be and Passing-away (Gen/Corr) [c.335 BCE], 320b16)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'The Basic Works of Aristotle', ed/tr. McKeon,Richard [Modern Library Classics 2001], p.487
A Reaction
There seems to be a contradiction here somewhere. Matter has to be substantial enough to have a form, and yet seems to be the collective 'limit' of the points and lines. I wonder what 'limit' is translating? Sounds a bit too modern.
| 22727 | Mind creates the world from a mixture of pure substances [Anaxagoras, by ] |
| 13216 | Matter is the limit of points and lines, and must always have quality and form [Aristotle] |
| 17994 | The primary matter is the substratum for the contraries like hot and cold [Aristotle] |
| 16590 | Matter is neither a particular thing nor a member of a determinate category [Aristotle] |
| 10955 | Matter is perceptible (like bronze) or intelligible (like mathematical objects) [Aristotle] |
| 601 | Substance must exist, because something must endure during change between opposites [Aristotle] |
| 12299 | Aristotle had a hierarchical conception of matter [Aristotle, by Fine,K] |
| 12001 | Aristotle says matter is a lesser substance, rather than wholly denying that it is a substance [Aristotle, by Kung] |
| 16762 | Matter desires form, as female desires male, and ugliness desires beauty [Aristotle] |
| 12058 | Aristotle's matter can become any other kind of matter [Aristotle, by Wiggins] |
| 16624 | Stripped and passive matter is just a human invention [Bacon] |
| 14265 | The components of abstract definitions could play the same role as matter for physical objects [Fine,K] |