more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
Form is the state and condition of a thing, a result of the connection among its material principles; it is a constituting principle, not an operative one.
Gist of Idea
Form is the principle that connects a thing's constitution (rather than being operative)
Source
Nicholas Hill (Philosophia Epicurea [1610], n 35)
Book Ref
Pasnau,Robert: 'Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671' [OUP 2011], p.182
A Reaction
Pasnau presents this as a denial of form, but it looks to me like someone fishing for what form could be in a more scientific context. Aristotle would have approved of 'principles'. Hill seems to defend the categorical against the dispositional.
| 16095 | Some forms, such as the Prime Mover, are held by Aristotle to exist without matter [Aristotle, by Gill,ML] |
| 15853 | A true substance is constituted by some nature, which is a principle [Aristotle] |
| 16640 | Form is the principle that connects a thing's constitution (rather than being operative) [Hill,N] |
| 16761 | Forms are of no value in physics, but are indispensable in metaphysics [Leibniz] |
| 17544 | Basic particles have a mathematical form, which is more important than their substance [Heisenberg] |
| 15956 | The peripatetics treated forms and real qualities as independent of matter, and non-material [Alexander,P] |
| 15128 | We can treat the structure/form of the world differently from the nodes/matter of the world [Hawthorne] |
| 16612 | Hylomorphism may not be a rival to science, but an abstract account of unity and endurance [Pasnau] |