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Full Idea
Matter is made to have a greater or lesser quantity not through its receiving any absolute accident, but through condensation and rarefaction alone. Parts come more or less close together, which can happen with local motion.
Gist of Idea
Matter gets its quantity from condensation and rarefaction, which is just local motion
Source
William of Ockham (Summula philosophiae naturalis [1320], I.13), quoted by Robert Pasnau - Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671 15.1
Book Ref
Pasnau,Robert: 'Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671' [OUP 2011], p.303
A Reaction
This is Ockham at his most modern, rejecting the odd idea of Quantity in favour of a modern corpuscular view of the mere motions of matter.
16673 | Quantity just adds union and location to the extension of parts [Olivi] |
16672 | Quantity is the quantified parts of a thing, plus location and coordination [Olivi] |
16599 | Ockham says matter must be extended, so we don't need Quantity [William of Ockham, by Pasnau] |
16681 | Matter gets its quantity from condensation and rarefaction, which is just local motion [William of Ockham] |
16678 | Without magnitude a thing would retain its parts, but they would have no location [Buridan] |
16743 | We can get at the essential nature of 'quantity' by knowing bulk and extension [Suárez] |
16597 | Quantity is the capacity to be divided [Digby] |
16674 | The quantity is just the matter, in that it has extended parts and is diffuse [Charleton] |
16671 | Scholastic Quantity either gives a body parts, or spreads them out in a unified way [Pasnau] |