Full Idea
In the view of Suárez, substances are radically incomplete entities that cannot exist at all until determined in various ways by things of another kind, modes. …Modes are regarded as completers for their subjects.
Gist of Idea
Substances are incomplete unless they have modes
Source
report of Francisco Suárez (Disputationes metaphysicae [1597]) by Robert Pasnau - Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671 13.3
Book Reference
Pasnau,Robert: 'Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671' [OUP 2011], p.257
A Reaction
This is correct. In order to be a piece of clay it needs a shape, a mass, a colour etc. Treating clay as an object independently from its shape is a misunderstanding.
Related Ideas
Idea 16665 There are entities, and then positive 'modes', modifying aspects outside the thing's essence [Suárez]
Idea 16666 A mode determines the state and character of a quantity, without adding to it [Suárez]