
Contents
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7.1 Biting the Bullet 7.1 Biting the Bullet
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7.2 Pragmatic or Interest‐Relative Views 7.2 Pragmatic or Interest‐Relative Views
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7.3 Two Objects – Two Definitions 7.3 Two Objects – Two Definitions
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7.4 ‘Matter’ as an Ambiguous Term 7.4 ‘Matter’ as an Ambiguous Term
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7.5 Proximate and Remote Types of Matter 7.5 Proximate and Remote Types of Matter
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7.6 Reclaiming the Form's Priority over Matter: The Basics 7.6 Reclaiming the Form's Priority over Matter: The Basics
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7.7 Definitional Models of Priority 7.7 Definitional Models of Priority
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7.8 Determining the Prior and Posterior Relata: The Causal‐Explanatory Model Introduced 7.8 Determining the Prior and Posterior Relata: The Causal‐Explanatory Model Introduced
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7.9 Filling in the Gaps: Specifying the Posterior Relata as Explananda 7.9 Filling in the Gaps: Specifying the Posterior Relata as Explananda
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7.10 Conclusion: Dissecting the Definiens 7.10 Conclusion: Dissecting the Definiens
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7 7 Essentially Enmattered Form as Prior to Matter: A Modest Proposal
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Published:August 2011
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Abstract
Chapter 7 deals with the apparent conflict between the form’s essential enmatterment and its claim to essential and definitional priority over matter. The proposed solution is that, while form is not essentially independent of its own essential material parts, yet it could be prior to the material constituents of (particular or universal) compounds. Chapter 6 introduces what can be called Aristotle’s ‘causal‐explanatory’ model of essence. Aristotle lays out this model in Posterior Analytics B.8‐10, in his discussion of definitions of process‐kinds such as thunder or eclipse. In Metaphysics Z.17 and H.2‐4 Aristotle extends this causal‐explanatory model to cases of substance‐kinds. He holds that a substance‐kind is defined in terms of its type‐matter and the form which is its essence. His idea seems to be that the form or essence (e.g., being a rational soul) fixes the identity and is the cause of the type‐with‐type‐matter, the one which is identified with the substance‐kind defined (e.g., the human‐kind).
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