more from this thinker     |     more from this text

Single Idea 16759

[filed under theme 9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 2. Hylomorphism / c. Form as causal ]

Full Idea

The whole scholastic conception of substantial form came to have more and more in common with an Aristotelian efficient cause.

Gist of Idea

Scholastics began to see substantial form more as Aristotle's 'efficient' cause

Source

Robert Pasnau (Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671 [2011], 24.2)

Book Ref

Pasnau,Robert: 'Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671' [OUP 2011], p.563

A Reaction

Aristotle, of course, identified the form with the 'formal cause [aitia]', which is the shape of the statue, rather than the efficient cause, which is the sculptor.

The 8 ideas with the same theme [form as the source of an object's causal powers]:

16970 A thing's form and purpose are often the same, and form can be the initiator of change too [Aristotle]
16033 There are only individual bodies containing law-based powers, and the Forms are these laws [Bacon]
16625 In hylomorphism all the explanation of actions is in the form, and the matter doesn't do anything [Bacon]
12715 Leibniz strengthened hylomorphism by connecting it to force in physics [Leibniz, by Garber]
14496 Structure or form are right at the centre of modern rigorous modes of enquiry [Koslicki]
16613 Hylomorphism declined because scholastics made it into a testable physical theory [Pasnau]
16747 Scholastics made forms substantial, in a way unintended by Aristotle [Pasnau]
16759 Scholastics began to see substantial form more as Aristotle's 'efficient' cause [Pasnau]