Matter and Form
In Aristotle's writings, matter (hyle) is a relative term, for example, clay might be the matter of some brick, which in turn, become the proximate matter of a house. Aristotle defines X's matter as "that out of which" X is made. For example, letters are the matter of syllables.
Change is analyzed as a material transformation: matter is what undergoes a change of form. For example, consider a lump of bronze that's shaped into a statue. Bronze is the matter and the forms (literally, shapes) are lump and statue.
According to Aristotle's theory of perception, we perceive an object by copying its form with our sense organs. Thus, forms include complex qualia like colors, textures and flavors, not just shapes.
Read more about this topic: Hylomorphism
Famous quotes containing the words matter and/or form:
“If the axe is not sharp, it doesn’t matter how hard the wood is.”
—Chinese proverb.
“Upon the whole, necessity is something, that exists in the mind, not in objects; nor is it possible for us ever to form the most distant idea of it, consider’d as a quality in bodies. Either we have no idea of necessity, or necessity is nothing but that determination of thought to pass from cause to effects and effects to causes, according to their experienc’d union.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)