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Single Idea 15953
[filed under theme 9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 2. Hylomorphism / a. Hylomorphism
]
Full Idea
If it be demanded why rhubarb purges choler, snow dazzles the eyes rather than grass etc., that these effects are performed by substantial forms of the respective bodies is at best but to tell me what is the agent, not how the effect is wrought.
Gist of Idea
To cite a substantial form tells us what produced the effect, but not how it did it
Source
Robert Boyle (The Origin of Forms and Qualities [1666], p.47?), quoted by Peter Alexander - Ideas, Qualities and Corpuscles 01.2
Book Ref
Alexander,Peter: 'Ideas, Qualities and Corpuscles' [CUP 1985], p.43
A Reaction
This is the problem of the 'virtus dormitiva' of opium (which at least tells you it was the opium what done it). I take Aristotle to have aspired to a lot more than this. He wanted a full definition, which would contain lots of information about the form.
The
30 ideas
with the same theme
[general ideas about form specifying matter]:
24040
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Scientists explain anger by the matter, dialecticians by the form and the account
[Aristotle]
|
24055
|
Matter is potential, form is actual
[Aristotle]
|
12345
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In 'Metaphysics' Z substantial primacy (as form) is explanatory rather than ontological
[Aristotle, by Wedin]
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11285
|
The form of a thing is its essence and its primary being
[Aristotle]
|
16147
|
In 'Metaphysics' substantial forms take over from objects as primary
[Aristotle, by Frede,M]
|
12071
|
Essences are not properties (since those can't cause individual substances)
[Aristotle, by Witt]
|
12084
|
Essential form is neither accidental nor necessary to matter, so it appears not to be a property
[Aristotle, by Witt]
|
11251
|
Plato says changing things have no essence; Aristotle disagrees
[Aristotle, by Politis]
|
16119
|
Aristotle's cosmos is ordered by form, and disordered by matter
[Aristotle, by Gill,ML]
|
16148
|
Aristotle moved from realism to nominalism about substances
[Aristotle, by Frede,M]
|
16112
|
A substance is a proper subject because the matter is a property of the form, not vice versa
[Aristotle, by Gill,ML]
|
12002
|
Aristotle doesn't think essential properties are those which must belong to a thing
[Aristotle, by Kung]
|
16164
|
Forms of sensible substances include unrealised possibilities, so are not fully actual
[Aristotle, by Frede,M]
|
17043
|
Form, not matter, is a thing's nature, because it is actual, rather than potential
[Aristotle]
|
13276
|
The unmoved mover and the soul show Aristotelian form as the ultimate mereological atom
[Aristotle, by Koslicki]
|
16756
|
Substantial forms must exist, to explain the stability of metals like silver and tin
[Albertus Magnus]
|
16757
|
Hot water naturally cools down, which is due to the substantial form of the water
[William of Ockham]
|
17007
|
Forms must rule over faculties and accidents, and are the source of action and unity
[Suárez]
|
16585
|
Prime matter is free of all forms, but has the potential for all forms
[Eustachius]
|
16620
|
A chair is wood, and its shape is the form; it isn't 'compounded' of the matter and form
[Hobbes]
|
16034
|
Form is not a separate substance, but just the manner, modification or 'stamp' of matter
[Boyle]
|
15953
|
To cite a substantial form tells us what produced the effect, but not how it did it
[Boyle]
|
11181
|
Aristotelian essentialism involves a 'natural' or 'causal' interpretation of modal operators
[Marcus (Barcan)]
|
11184
|
Aristotelian essentialism is about shared properties, individuating essentialism about distinctive properties
[Marcus (Barcan)]
|
15959
|
If the substantial form of brass implies its stability, how can it melt and remain brass?
[Alexander,P]
|
12140
|
Modern emphasis is on properties had essentially; traditional emphasis is on sort-defining properties
[Brody]
|
12346
|
Form explains why some matter is of a certain kind, and that is explanatory bedrock
[Wedin]
|
24066
|
The form explains kind, structure, unity and activity
[Koslicki]
|
10938
|
The extremes of essentialism are that all properties are essential, or only very trivial ones
[Rami]
|
16602
|
Corpuscularianism rejected not only form, but also the dependence of matter on form
[Pasnau]
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