Aristotle's Philosophy: Knowledge, Change, and Hylomorphism

Before delving into the differences, it's crucial to understand the lineage: Aristotle was a student of Plato, who, in turn, was a student of Socrates.

Socrates and Plato shared a belief in the possibility of acquiring objective, necessary, and universal knowledge. However, their focus was exclusively on knowledge that is unchanging and eternal, thus disregarding what we perceive through the senses.

Plato Versus Aristotle: Divergent Metaphysics

Plato's Dual Worlds: Ideas and Senses

• World of Ideas: Imperceptible by the senses, perfect, and eternal.
• Sensible World: An imperfect copy of the ideal World of Ideas, perceived through the senses.

Aristotle's Agreement and Critique of Plato

Aristotle concurred with Plato on the existence of objective, necessary, and universal knowledge, independent of the changing and sensory world.

The fundamental difference lies in Aristotle's realist perspective. He rejected Plato's notion of two separate worlds, criticizing the "idealist" Plato for what he saw as an unnecessary duplication of entities.

Aristotle Versus the Presocratics: Understanding Change

Aristotle's Theory of Change: Form, Matter, and Privation

Aristotle's theory of change sought to explain transformation without resorting to abstract metaphysical theories detached from reality. He analyzed change itself to identify its constituent elements.

Observing any change reveals two key moments: an initial state where a substrate lacks a particular form, and a final state where the same substrate possesses that form. Initially, we have a substrate with privation (the absence of the form), and finally, the same substrate with the acquired form.

Correcting Presocratic Views on Change

Aristotle concluded that the Presocratics' analysis of change was flawed. They believed that development was merely a passage from "being" to "not-being" and vice versa. However, Aristotle's analysis revealed a more nuanced process: an initial state of privation attached to a substrate, which then acquires a new form.

Thus, change is understood as the transition from possessing one form to acquiring another. This process is driven by two fundamental principles:

• Material Principle (Matter): The substrate, the "what-it-is-made-of."
• Formal Principle (Form): The natural principle that defines "what it is."

This understanding of reality, where an individual entity is intrinsically constituted by both matter and form, with neither existing without the other, is what Aristotle termed and is now known as Hylomorphism.