Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Aristotelianism and Hylomorphism

Aristotelianism might be Hylomorphic insofar as it proposes that an actual entity is constituted by both Form and Matter.  However, it does not itself well exemplify the concept.  For, if it were Hylomorphic, it would evince equal attention to detail and coherence.  But, while his production of differentiations is meticulous, the general organization of them is only occasionally comprehensively coherent.  For example, though On the Soul, the Nichomachean Ethics, and the Politics are inter-connected, the latter is Holist while the Prior Analytics is Atomist, as has been previously discussed.  Also, while he recognizes an extended hierarchy of Universals, e. g. Species and Genus, he does not relate them to the status of a Nation as a Whole, and, in the other direction, the subdivision of Matter does not extend beyond the immediately perceivable, even as he characterizes Matter as composite.  So, Aristotelianism is structurally more Hylo- than Morphic, regardless of its contents.

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