Thursday, October 19, 2017

Hylomorphism and Justice

While Hylomorphism is usually presented as a Theoretical principle, corresponding to it is the Moral principle: The Highest Good of any entity is a balance between its Form and its Matter.  In an Artistic entity, that condition can be called Harmony, in a Biological entity, Health, and in a Political context, Justice.  Thus, an example of a Just society is one in which each citizen is Healthy, since its Matter is not suppressed by its Form. Accordingly, Plato's concept of a Just Polis has a shortcoming.  For, that concept entails two concepts of a Just Citizen of a Polis, and they do not coincide.  One is that of a part of the Matter of the Form of the Polis, i. e. of fulfilling a natural role in the division of labor of the Polis.  The other is that of a similar though "writ small" Form of the internal Matter of the Citizen, i. e. a Soul governed by Reason.  But, the two coincide only in the case of the Philosopher-King--any other role is natural for only an irrational Citizen, i. e. a Citizen who is Just according to one concept, and Unjust according to the other.  Moral Hylomorphism exposes the source of the discrepancy--Plato does not consider that a Form can also be part of the Matter of another Form, in the absence of which he can relate the two Forms only by analogy, e. g. his Writ Small-Writ Large relation.

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