Antonia Fitzpatrick
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- November 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198790853
- eISBN:
- 9780191833304
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198790853.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
This chapter discusses, principally, Aristotle’s biological works on animals, De anima and the Metaphysics. Its intent is to lay out the texts with which Aquinas would substantiate his view that ...
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This chapter discusses, principally, Aristotle’s biological works on animals, De anima and the Metaphysics. Its intent is to lay out the texts with which Aquinas would substantiate his view that individuality has its origins in matter, and not the soul. Aristotle’s thought on heredity and the embryo and his (problematic) account of the relationship between universals (or common natures) and individuals are discussed. The distinctive sophistication of the human body vis-à-vis other animals is another theme. Two related Aristotelian principles emerge as crucial: that matter and form should bear a proportion to one another, such that each form has its differentiated ‘proper matter’, and that matter’s ability to receive form depends upon its having developed the appropriate qualities (i.e. in its capacity as the ‘material cause’). The chapter concludes by schematically illustrating how Aquinas adapted Aristotle’s thought on individuality for his own purposes.Less
This chapter discusses, principally, Aristotle’s biological works on animals, De anima and the Metaphysics. Its intent is to lay out the texts with which Aquinas would substantiate his view that individuality has its origins in matter, and not the soul. Aristotle’s thought on heredity and the embryo and his (problematic) account of the relationship between universals (or common natures) and individuals are discussed. The distinctive sophistication of the human body vis-à-vis other animals is another theme. Two related Aristotelian principles emerge as crucial: that matter and form should bear a proportion to one another, such that each form has its differentiated ‘proper matter’, and that matter’s ability to receive form depends upon its having developed the appropriate qualities (i.e. in its capacity as the ‘material cause’). The chapter concludes by schematically illustrating how Aquinas adapted Aristotle’s thought on individuality for his own purposes.
