Form, Matter, Prime Matter, And Substance In Aristotle

Form, Matter, Prime Matter, and Substance in Aristotle A Tract Book Essay By © Copyright 2007 by Anthony J. Fejfar

In Aristotle’s Ethics, in the Appendix, Form, Matter, Substance, and Prime Matter are discussed. Substance is in Greek, Ousia, which is often referred to as the word associated with the Holy Spirit. In the Nicean Creed, we find that the Father and the Son share the same Ousia, or Substance, or Holy Spirit.

Unfortunately in the Catholic mass, this has

been changed to the Father and Son share the same Being, which argues for a different notion of unity in the Trinity. Being is the metaphysical quiddity associated with God the Father. The unitive principle in the Trinity has traditionally been thought to be the Holy Spirit. Logos is the metaphysical quiddity associated with Jesus the Son of God. In the appendix to Aristotle’s Ethics, it is pointed out that that which is essentially a person or thing is that person’s substance. As I have argued previously, the Holy Spirit is the substance or Soul or Oversoul of God which manifests as the individual soul of each person.

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Similarly, the Council of Nicea also discussed the doctrine of transubstantiation, that is, the transformation of the bread and wine of the Eucharist into the Body and Blood of Christ. Now, as far a material accident is concerned, the bread and wine maintain the apprearance of bread and wine and in fact are materially still bread and wine, however, what has also happened is that the bread and wine has been transformed into the Substance of Jesus Christ, that is, His Substantial Body and Blood, not his material body and blood. In fact it may very well be that the Glorified Body of Jesus Christ after the ressurection was and is his Substantial Body, not his material body. Substance can be physical but not material. Presumably, in the tomb, the material body of Jesus went Quantum, became Quantum Energy, and was transformed into His Substantial Body or Quantum Body. Finally, it is interesting that Aristotle rejected the existence of Prime Matter. I argue that Prime Matter is not Substance, but is another metaphysical quiddity altogether.

Interestingly, modern science seems to

have made the mistake of equating substance with matter. I argue that Prime Matter and Substance are close to being the same concept and that perhaps Prime Matter does exist. If Prime Matter does exist, perhaps it is a manifestation of the Quantum Field.

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