Hylomorphism
About This Book
This Element offers a concise introduction to Aristotle's hylomorphic theory, in which every substance is understood through the pairing of its matter with its form. The author carries this framework into present-day debates at the boundary between physics and biology. He opens by explaining why the approach has regained attention and proposes a way of sorting the many competing versions that now exist. At the centre of the discussion is the claim that a composite entity can only have causal powers of its own, powers that change how events in nature unfold, if it possesses a substantial form. That form reshapes the matter it contains, so that the capacities of its physical parts are rooted in the whole they make up. The author then turns to biology, suggesting that a modern hylomorphism could account for the purposive organisation, understood without reference to conscious intention, that helps define what a biological system is. On this view, living organisms are genuinely distinct from mere heaps of matter. The title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
ISBN: 9781009012843
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