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:
“Knowledge, like matter, [my father] would affirm, was divisible in infinitum;Mthat the grains and scruples were as much a part of it, as the gravitation of the whole world.—In a word, he would say, error was error,—no matter where it fell,—whether in a fraction,—or a pound,—’twas alike fatal to truth.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“The Republican form of government is the highest form of government; but because of this it requires the highest type of human nature—a type nowhere at present existing.”
—Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)