Aristotle's "Hylo-Morphism". I. A Metaphysics of "Two-in- One" Substance (Hyle) & Form (Morph) are united 1. Matter, or substance, is passive -- and is.

Aristotle's "Hylo-Morphism"

I. A Metaphysics of "Two-in-One"

• Substance (Hyle) & Form (Morph) are united

• 1. Matter, or substance, is passive -- and is "shaped" by Form

• 2. Form is active and is the actual determinant of a thing

- it defines the nature of a thing- it determines its FUNCTION

EX. -- the IKEA chair

If you purchase a chair from the world-famous IKEA store, prior to taking it home to assemble, is it actually a chair?

It is really only a potential chair, isn’t it?

(considering how everything from that store is pre-packaged for assembly)

It is only an real chair after it is actualized in the process of assembling it according to its design!

An Epistemology of Change

To know a thing one needs to know

– not only WHAT it is (its Form & Matter)– but also its goal and HOW it gets

there (it’s ‘Telos’)

Thus any thing can have Four Causes

•Final

•Efficient Cause

•Material Cause

•Formal Cause

Example of the Oak Tree

• Formal Cause:– the pattern ingrained in Nature for

the acorn to grow into an oak (and not a pine or an apple tree!)• this pattern actualizes (and limits) the

substance

Example of the Acorn/Oak tree

• Material Cause: the "acorn stuff" (!)

– the physical components of the initial seed

Example of the Acorn/Oak tree

• Efficient Cause: what we usually call Cause &

Effect– the progressive environmental and

nutritive factors that promote daily-change in the object• from acorn, to seedling, to sapling, etc.

Example of the Acorn/Oak tree

• Final Cause: the "telos" or goal of a

thing

the mature 40-ft. Oak tree

Only physical maturation? Only reproductive actuality?What about the other functions of the

mature tree?What about the ecological chain?

The ultimate “ends” of the object or intricately inter-related to the “ends” of others, and that’s all part of ‘the grand design…

thus "Final" and "Formal" are connected, for and individual object, and for reality as a whole!

Does EVERYTHING have this structure?

Yes! Trees, (organic things) Statues, (inorganic things) Corporations & Colleges…

(complex things!)How about….

- The UNIVERSE...?

Does EVERYTHING have this structure?

• Yes: Like Trees, Statues, Corporations & Colleges, according to Aristotle the UNIVERSE as a whole is certainly no exception

Does EVERYTHING have this structure?

• Yes: Like Trees, Statues, Corporations & Colleges, according to Aristotle the UNIVERSE as a whole is certainly no exception

• The “Prime Mover”

This is the name Aristotle gave for the Formal Cause

of everything

Does EVERYTHING have this structure?

• Yes: Like Trees, Statues, Corporations & Colleges, according to Aristotle the UNIVERSE as a whole is certainly no exception

• The “Prime Mover”• Prime Matter

This is the name Aristotle gave for the Material Cause

of everything

Does EVERYTHING have this structure?

• Yes: Like Trees, Statues, Corporations & Colleges, according to Aristotle the UNIVERSE as a whole is certainly no exception

• The “Prime Mover”• Prime Matter• Evolution

This is OUR name for what Aristotle would refer to as

Efficient Causality

Does EVERYTHING have this structure?

• Yes: Like Trees, Statues, Corporations & Colleges, according to Aristotle the UNIVERSE as a whole is certainly no exception

• The “Prime Mover”• Prime Matter• Evolution• “The End”

Aristotle presumed that as with

everything else, reality has an

ultimate goal --

According to Aquinas...

• Aquinas was one of the first to translate the lost works of Aristotle…

• This provided Aquinas a rational explanation for what he already believed by Faith.

• Faith and Reason coincide, not conflict!

According to Aquinas... The “hidden structure” of things is now

revealed

Prime Mover =

Prime Matter =

Evolution =

“The End” =

The Eternal Law

The Natural Law

The Human (Civil) Law

The Divine Law

According to Aquinas... The “hidden structure” of things is now

revealed

The Eternal Law

The Natural Law

The Human (Civil) Law

The Divine Law

This is God’s Unalterable Rule over the Universe

According to Aquinas... The “hidden structure” of things is now

revealed

The Eternal Law

The Natural Law

The Human (Civil) Law

The Divine Law

This is the design of what is Good imprinted in

Material itself

According to Aquinas... The “hidden structure” of things is now

revealed

The Eternal Law

The Natural Law

The Human (Civil) Law

The Divine Law

If Civil Law is based on what is Natural, it is then

Just law(Re: Martin luther

King)

According to Aquinas... The “hidden structure” of things is now

revealed

The Eternal Law

The Natural Law

The Human (Civil) Law

The Divine Law

If Civil Law is Just then we will be

acting according to God’s Ultimate End

So, the order is divinely ordained:

• Yet, as long as even an atheist accepts the “natural order of things” then

• Natural Law Ethics should be employed to create Human Laws

The “Good” intrinsic to Nature includes...

• Life

–and Procreation

•Knowledge

–and Sociability

Principles derived from these include...

• Non-Maleficence– (above all “do no harm”)

• Beneficence

• Totality of the Body

• Double Effect