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Full Idea
By matter I mean that which in itself is neither a particular thing nor a certain quantity nor assigned to any other of the categories by which being is determined.
Gist of Idea
Matter is neither a particular thing nor a member of a determinate category
Source
Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1029a20)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'The Basic Works of Aristotle', ed/tr. McKeon,Richard [Modern Library Classics 2001], p.785
A Reaction
This seems to be the classic definition of matter in Aristotle. He doesn't say here that matter has an inferior mode of existence, but elsewhere he says that it is potential rather than actual, which seems to confiscate its passport.
| 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] |