Aristotle's "Hylo- Morphism"
Mar 30, 2015
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