The determinable principle of an entity; that which is determined by form. In the case of the human person: the body. Matter (hyle) is not simply “stuff” in the everyday sense, but the ontological principle of determinability — that which requires determination by form in order to be actual.
In the understanding of the human person, the body is not a mere physical body, but matter informed throughout by the spiritual soul. Matter is therefore not something external to the person, but a constitutive principle of its being. The body-soul unity of the human being means that form and matter constitute a single substance.
Ontological classification:
- superordinate concept: Form and Matter
- subordinate concepts: Body
Ontological relations:
- disjoint with: Form
Chapter assignment: Chapter 4: Personhood (German)
Sources: Generated by querying the Personhood ontology. Bexten 2017, pp. 159–163 (form and matter).
Further sources:
- Aristotle: Metaphysics, Books VII (Ζ) and VIII (Η) (on matter as the principle of determinability).
- Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologiae, I, q. 75—76 (on matter in the context of the body-soul unity).
See also: Form, Form and Matter, Body, Soul, Body-Soul Unity, Substance, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas