PHIL 110 · Metaphysics — Substance, Form, and Matter

Led by Aristotle

The third module of the Cambridge Part IA Metaphysics paper, led by Aristotle. What is it to be a substance? Aristotle analyses every concrete thing into matter and form, identifies the form with essence — the "what-it-was-to-be" — and uses potentiality and actuality to solve the problem of change that Parmenides made unanswerable. The module weighs whether form, matter, or the composite is primary substance, and resolves the tension between the Categories and the Metaphysics.

1. Module 3 ○ Open

   Substance: Form, Matter, and Essence

   Led by Aristotle

   The question

   What is it to be a substance — and what, exactly, happens when a thing comes to be or changes? Aristotle argues that every concrete thing is a unity of matter and form, that its form is its essence (the "what-it-was-to-be"), and that change is the actualisation of a potentiality — a thing becoming actually what it already was potentially. With this he answers the puzzle Parmenides made unanswerable, explains how things can change while still being themselves, and presses toward a verdict on what, in a thing, is substance most of all: its matter, its form, or the composite of both.

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