Abstract
The issue of prime matter divides Aristotle’s modern commentators on two questions: a) whether Aristotle was truly committed to it b) whether the notion is even coherent. Those who declare prime matter incoherent do so on the ground that what is deprived of characteristics or properties is simply nothing. Those who try to salvage the notion claim that it must have some characteristics focus on extension. As it stands, the debate turns on the possibility or impossibility of reifying prime matter. If we can, then it can be a coherent ontological category; if we cannot, then it is incoherent. This paper proposes a different path: indeed, prōtē hulē cannot be reified, but this does not make it incoherent. This, however, invites us to pursue ontology beyond substantialism and essentialism and takes us to the limits of Aristotelianism.
References
Alexander of Aphrodisias, 1992, Quaestiones 1.1–2.15, transl. R. W. Sharples, London.
Beere, J., 2006, “Potentiality and the Matter of Composite Substances,” Phronesis 51 [4], pp. 303–329.
Bianchi, E., 2014, The Feminine Symptom, Aleatory Matter in the Aristotelian Cosmos, New York.
Bianchi, E., 2018, “Beyond Acting and Being Acted Upon: A Response to Christopher Long and Cinzia Arruzza,” Philosophy Today 62 [3], pp. 1025–1036.
Brown, N., 2017, “Aristotle and Heidegger: Potentiality in Excess of Actuality,” Idealistic Studies 46 [2], pp. 199–214.
Byrne, C., 2001, “Matter and Aristotle’s Material Cause,” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 31 [1], pp. 85–112
Charles, D., 2004, “Simple Genesis and Prime Matter,” in: Haas, Mansfeld 2004, pp. 151–170.
Charlton, W., 1983, “Prime Matter: A Rejoinder,” Phronesis 28 [2], pp. 197–211.
Chen, Ch.-H., 1957, “Aristotle’s Concept of Primary Substance in Books Z and H of the Metaphysics,” Phronesis 2 [1], pp. 46–59.
Cohen, S., 1984, “Aristotle’s Doctrine of Material Substrate,” Philosophical Review 93, pp. 171–194.
Crowley, T., 2008, “Aristotle’s So-Called Elements,” Phronesis 53 [3], pp. 223–242.
Deslauriers, M., 1998, “Sex and Essence in Aristotle’s Metaphysics and Biology,” in: Freeland 1998, pp. 138–167.
Dimas, P., Falcon, A., Kelsey S. (eds.), 2022, Aristotle: On Generation and Corruption II Cambridge.
Falcon, A., 2022, “On Generation and Corruption II: an Introduction,” in: Dimas, Falcon, Kelsey 2022, pp. 3–21.
Fieremans, E., 2007, “Aristotle’s Prime Matter,” The Modern Schoolman 85 [1], pp. 21–49.
Freeland, C. (ed.), 1998, Feminist Interpretations of Aristotle, University Park.
Gill, M. L., 1989, Aristotle on Substance. The Paradox of Unity, Princeton.
Graham, D., 1987a, “The Paradox of Prime Matter,” Journal of the History of Philosophy 25 [4], pp. 475–490.
Graham, D., 1987b, Aristotle’s Two Systems, Oxford.
Green, J., 2014, “The Underlying Argument of Aristotle’s Metaphysics Z3,” Phronesis 59, pp. 321–342.
Haas, F. de, Mansfeld, J. (eds.), 2004, Aristotle on Generation and Corruption. Book I, Oxford.
Heidegger, M., 1995, Aristotle’s Metaphysics Θ 1–3, transl. W. Brogan, P. Warnek, Indianapolis.
Jaeger W. (ed.), 1957, Aristotelis Metaphysica, Oxford.
Koslicki, K., 1997, “Four-Eights Hephaistos: Artifacts and Living Things in Aristotle,” History of Philosophy Quarterly 14 [1], pp. 77–98.
Krizan, M., 2016, “Prime Matter Without Extension,” Journal of the History of Philosophy 54 [4], pp. 523–546.
Lavaud, L., 2008, “Matière et privation chez Alexandre d’Aphrodise et Plotin,” Les Etudes Philosophiques 86, pp. 399–414.
Leblond, J-M., 2012, Logique et méthode chez Aristote, Paris.
Lee Jr., R. A., 2016, The Thought of Matter, Materialism, Conceptuality, and the Transcendence of the Immanence, London.
Lewis, F. , 2013, How Aristotle gets by in Metaphysics Zeta, Oxford.
Lewis, F., 2008, “What’s the Matter with Prime Matter?,” Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 34, pp. 123–146.
Liddell, H. G., Scott, R., Jones, H. S. (eds.), Greek-English Lexicon, https://outils.biblissima.fr/fr/eulexis-web/
Massie, P., 2016, “Diodorus Cronus and the Logic of Time,” Review of Metaphysics 70 [2], pp. 279–309.
Morel, P.-M., 2016, “Matière et philosophie première. A propos du livre H de la Métaphysique d’Aristote,” Philonsorbonne 10, pp. 153–168.
Rashed, M., 2005, De la génération et la corruption, Paris.
Ross W. D. (ed.), 1951, Aristotelis De anima, Oxford.
Ross W. D. (ed.), 1971, Aristotelis Physica, Oxford.
Sentesy, M., 2020, Aristotle’s Ontology of Change, Evanston.
Sokolowski, R. , 1970, “Matter, Elements, and Substance in Aristotle,” Journal of the History of Philosophy 8, pp. 263–288.
Trott, A., 2019, Aristotle on the Matter of Form, A Feminist Metaphysics of Generation, Edinburgh.
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Pascal Massie
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Peitho provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.