![]() Essence is not just anything said in its own right. Let us next study essence: what a thing is said to be in its own right.įirst, we need to rule some things out. Yet substance is supposed to be separable (identifiable, distinct) and a "this."Īlso, if form is prior to matter in a compound, we can rule out the compound (as candidate for subject) just as much as the matter.Ĭh. But this means matter has nothing definite or specifiable about it. ![]() unacceptable? Matter is the underlying thing everything else, such as quantity, quality, etc., is predicated of it. However: this is an inadequate answer to the question, what is substance? The subject may be the matter, the form, or the compound (bronze, shape of a horse, a bronze statue of a horse). What is subject? It seems most of all to be substance: other things are said of it, and it is not said of other things. There are four main candidates for substance: essence, universal, genus, and subject. We can ask many questions here: which things are substances? Are there non-perceptible substances?Ĭh. The most evident examples of substances are bodies, perhaps the simple bodies, and/or the limits/surfaces of bodies. Substance is primary: in nature, in account (definition), and in knowledge.Ĭh. ![]() Aristotle's Metaphysics Z and H Aristotle's Metaphysicsīooks VII and VII (Z and H): Highlights Philosophy 201, Fall 1996ħ43-2993, readings are in Ancient Greek Philosophy, ed. ![]()
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