more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
Aristotle implies that matter is parasitic on the being of what it potentially is. …Hence if something is treated as bronze it is regarded as a composite and not as matter; only if it is treated as potentially a statue is it regarded as matter.
Gist of Idea
In Aristotle, bronze only becomes 'matter' when it is potentially a statue
Source
report of Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], matter) by Mary Louise Gill - Aristotle on Substance Ch.1
Book Ref
Gill,Mary Louise: 'Aristotle on Substance: Paradox of Unity' [Princeton 1989], p.23
A Reaction
Note the distinction we should make of bronze as indeterminate 'stuff', and a lump of specific bronze, which might be a precondition for casting a statue. On Gill's reading, Greek 'matter' is much more specific than the modern word.
| 12134 | Matter is the substratum, which supports both coming-to-be and alteration [Aristotle] |
| 12301 | Every distinct thing has matter, as long as it isn't an essence or a Form [Aristotle] |
| 16092 | In Aristotle, bronze only becomes 'matter' when it is potentially a statue [Aristotle, by Gill,ML] |
| 12300 | Aristotle's conception of matter applies to non-physical objects as well as physical objects [Aristotle, by Fine,K] |
| 12077 | Aristotle's matter is something that could be the inner origin of a natural being's behaviour [Aristotle, by Witt] |
| 12103 | Matter is secondary, because it is potential, determined by the actuality of form [Aristotle, by Witt] |
| 11255 | In feature-generation the matter (such as bronze) endures, but in generation it doesn't [Aristotle, by Politis] |
| 11204 | The ultimate material of things has the unity of total formlessness [Avicenna] |
| 15309 | The assumption that shape and solidity are fundamental implies dubious 'substance' in bodies [Harré/Madden] |
| 12057 | Matter underlies things, composes things, and brings them to be [Wiggins] |
| 17531 | I assume matter is particulate, made up of 'simples' [Inwagen] |
| 16083 | Aristotelian matter seriously threatens the intrinsic unity and substantiality of its object [Gill,ML] |
| 13333 | The matter is a relatively unstructured version of the object, like a set without membership structure [Fine,K] |