Editing Hylomorphism (section)

== Aristotle's concept of matter ==
{{further|Aristotle's biology}}
The Ancient Greek language originally had no word for matter in general, as opposed to raw material suitable for some specific purpose or other, so Aristotle adapted the word for "wood" to this purpose.<ref>Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, James Morris Whiton, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nxoyBcpUuEsC&dq=liddell%20and%20scott%20hyle&pg=PA725 ''A lexicon abridged from Liddell & Scott's Greek-English lexicon''] (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1891), 725.</ref> The idea that everything physical is made of the same basic substance holds up well under modern [[science]], although it may be thought of more in terms of [[energy]]<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Embodiment in Cognition and Culture|last1=Krois|first1=John Michael|last2=Rosengren|first2=Mats|last3=Steidele|first3=Angela|last4=Westercamp|first4=Dirk|date=2007|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|isbn=978-9027252074|location=Amsterdam|pages=129}}</ref> or matter/energy.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|title=The Nature of Physical Existence|last=Leclerc|first=Ivor|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=0415295610|pages=117, 122}}</ref>

The [[Latin]] equivalent of the ''hyle'' concept – and later its medieval version – also emerged from Aristotle's notion. The Greek term's Latin equivalent was ''silva'', which literally meant woodland or forest.<ref name=":0" /> However, Latin thinkers opted for a word that had a technical sense (rather than literal meaning). This emphasized ''silva'' as that of which a thing is made, but one that remained a substratum with changed form.<ref name=":0" /> The word ''materia'' was chosen instead to indicate a meaning not in handicraft but in the passive role that mother (''mater'') plays in conception.<ref name=":1" />

[[Aristotle]]'s concept of ''hyle'' is the principle that correlates with shape and this can be demonstrated in the way the philosopher<ref>{{Cite book|title=Laruelle: A Stranger Thought|last=Smith|first=Anthony|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2017|isbn=978-0745671222|location=Cambridge, UK|pages=201}}</ref> described ''hyle,'' saying it is that which receives form or definiteness, that which is formed.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Philosophy of Nature|last=Leclerc|first=Ivor|publisher=The Catholic University of America Press|year=2018|isbn=978-0813230863|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=76}}</ref> It can also be the [[material cause]] underlying a change in [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] philosophy.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Goli|first=Farzad|title=Biosemiotic Medicine: Healing in the World of Meaning|publisher=Springer|year=2016|isbn=978-3319350912|location=Cham, Switzerland|pages=75}}</ref> Aristotle explained that "By ''hyle'' I mean that which in itself is neither a particular thing nor of a certain quantity nor assigned to any other of the categories by which being is determined."<ref name=":0" /> This means that hyle is brought into existence not due to its being its agent or its own actuality but only when form attaches to it.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Abū'l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī's Scientific Philosophy: The Kitāb al-Mu'tabar|last=Pavlov|first=Moshe|publisher=Routledge|year=2017|isbn=978-1138640450|location=Oxon|pages=149}}</ref> It has been described as a plenum or a field, a conceptualization that opposed [[Democritus]]' atomistic ontology.<ref name=":2" /> It is maintained that the Aristotelian concept should not be understood as a "stuff" since there is, for example, ''hyle'' that is intellectual as well as sensible ''hyle'' found in the body.<ref name=":0" />

For Aristotle, ''hyle'' is composed of [[classical element|four elements]] – fire, water, air, and earth – but these were not considered pure substances since matter and form exist in a combination of hot, moist, dry, and cold so that everything is united to form the elements.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Chemistry Demystified|last=Williams|first=Linda|publisher=McGraw Hill Professional|year=2003|isbn=978-0071433594|location=New York|pages=3}}</ref>

Aristotle defines matter as "that out of which" something is made.<ref>''Physics'' 194b23-24</ref> For example, letters are the matter of syllables.<ref>''Physics'' 195a16</ref> Thus, "matter" is a relative term:<ref>''Physics'' 194b9</ref> an object counts as matter relative to something else. For example, clay is matter relative to a brick because a brick is made of clay, whereas bricks are matter relative to a brick house. Change is analyzed as a material transformation: matter is what undergoes a change of form.<ref>Robinson 18-19</ref> For example, consider a lump of bronze that's shaped into a statue. Bronze is the matter, and this matter loses one form (''morphe'') (that of a lump) and gains a new form (that of a statue).<ref>''Physics'' 195a6-8</ref><ref>''Metaphysics'' 1045a26-29</ref> According to Aristotle's theory of [[perception]], we perceive an object by receiving its form (''eidos'') with our sense organs.<ref>''On the Soul'' 424a19</ref> Thus, forms include complex ''[[qualia]]'' such as colors, textures, and flavors, not just shapes.<ref>''On the Soul'' 418a11–12</ref>