Aristotle's Hylomorphism and the Nature of Change

Matter and Form: The Hylomorphic Structure

Matter is what a thing is made of, i.e., what might take on a certain structure. Shape equals Structure.

Subject: We have water in the apple, sugar, vitamins, and colorants. The shape is something that makes me understand what the substance is, but its shape may vary because it can be red, can lose water to become acidic, and so on.

We speak of the same material but different shapes, as it is called an apple. The figure is as it appears: for example, Clay can be an ashtray, a vase, and so forth.

(For Aristotle, the soul is what shapes the body, your disposition, etc. It has to do with the matter, as in all human beings; the figure is what differentiates one human being, but one can be a normal person like a clay figurine in human form.)

What determines the structure and matter is the form; do not be confused with the figure. Matter and form do not exist separately.

The Problem of Change: Act and Potency

It is indisputable that there is change. Aristotle distinguished two ways of being: being in act and being in power.

• In act: What a thing is at a particular time.
• In power: The ability or potentiality that a thing has to be something that it is not yet. (A seed is a being in act, and would be a plant in power.)

This clearly states the connection between matter-form and potency-act.

Substantial and Accidental Change

Substantial Change: What remains instead is the matter, and what changes is the substantial form (e.g., trunk to ash).

Accidental Change: Occurs in some of the accidents; it does not essentially change or affect the substance (e.g., leaf color).

The Four Causes of Change

A cause for Aristotle is a necessary factor for a change; i.e., everything that happens has a cause. There are four reasons:

• Material Cause: That of which the thing is made.
• Formal Cause: The structure by which it is organized, which makes it what it is.
• Efficient Cause: The active ingredient of change or movement.
• Final Cause: The purpose for which it is made.

(If there is matter, there is form. If there is someone who brings about change, there is purpose.)

Aristotelian Theory of Knowledge

The first step in a cognitive process that will culminate in knowledge gives us perception and experience (sense knowledge). Common sense discovers experience.

You can learn particular substances, but it is the universal essence of being human that gives structure to essences.