Summary of the main concepts of Aristotle’s thought, form and substance, and comparison with Plato’s thought
Substance is the reference point of the categories of being since all the other categories presuppose it. Substance is the necessary essence of a thing , that is, what makes a thing what it is and not something else. According to Aristotle , substance is formed by matter and form which, working together, constitute the synolon . Matter acts as the substrate of form, matter in itself has indeterminate potential, that is, the possibility of taking form, which can be realized only thanks to the form which can transform such potential into act. Therefore, form is configured as act while matter corresponds to power. Bronze is the power of the statue.
ARISTOTLE: ACT AND POWER
The act is also called entelechy which means realization of perfection. The act is superior to the power on the epistemological, chronological and ontological level. In fact, the knowledge of the power presupposes an implicit knowledge of the act of which it is power. The act is temporally before the power: it is true that the seed (power) is before the plant but the seed can only be derived from a plant already in act. The act is ontologically superior to the power, in that it constitutes the cause, the sense and the end of the power.
ARISTOTLE AND PLATO
For Plato , there is a relationship of transcendence between ideas (forms) and things. Aristotle does not accept this separation between ideas and things. We cannot say that forms are separate from things. If forms were separate, they could not act on things, so we must say that ideas refer to things. Therefore, form refers to matter.
TIME FOR ARISTOTLE
For Aristotle there are also eternal substances, such as time . Before time there should be a “before” and after time an “after”. But before and after are time so before and after time there would be time which is therefore eternal. Since time is a function of movement, movement will also be eternal. If we intend movement as eternal we must suppose that there is an eternal and immobile principle that is the origin of movement. This must be an immobile mover (stone and stick). It must also be pure act (that is without matter) because if it were power it could move but it could also not move.
IMMOVABLE ENGINE
Aristotle identifies this unmoved motor with God who moves as the final cause, as the object of love. God presents himself as perfection, as an excellent intelligence that thinks of what is most excellent, that is, of himself, therefore God is thought of thought. There is no reciprocal relationship between God and the world, God is impassive, it is the world that moves towards him because it is attracted (to understand this attraction we must refer to the concept of prime matter).
