Unity of Form and Matter: Aristotle’s Metaphysics in a Hylomorphic Nutshell
In an earlier post, I discussed how Plato’s Allegory of the Cave can shed light on his metaphysics. For Plato, something’s essence is composed of form and matter. Plato has difficulty explaining how form and matter relate to each other since each inhabits a distinct, separate dimension of reality. Aristotle’s naturalistic metaphysics may be able to evade this problem faced by his teacher.
Aristotle was Plato’s student and attended Plato’s academy well into adulthood. After Plato died, Aristotle became the tutor of Alexander the Great. Aristotle had wide-ranging interests including biology, physics, and zoology. At that time, philosophy included natural science. There wasn’t the distinction between metaphysics and science we see today. Aristotle was just as much a scientist as he was a philosopher.
Aristotle came to reject Plato’s metaphysics. This is perhaps partly due to his fascination with nature, but also because of some problems he saw in Plato’s philosophy.
Being a naturalist, Aristotle thought that ultimate reality was grounded in nature, rather than a transcendent realm constituted by the Forms as Plato thought. According to Plato, ultimate reality is the world of being, which lies beyond our experience and can only be known through reason. The world we…
