Type of Media 1
Author 1
Date 7
Type of Media
Author
The Presidential Address: Analyses of Matter, Ancient and Modern, 1985
By: Sorabji, Richard
Title The Presidential Address: Analyses of Matter, Ancient and Modern
Type Article
Language English
Date 1985
Journal Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, New Series
Volume 86
Pages 1-22
Categories no categories
Author(s) Sorabji, Richard
Editor(s)
Translator(s)
I want to draw attention to two recurrent themes in the analysis of matter or body. The first theme is the idea that body is extension endowed with properties. To explain this, I shall go back as far as a famous text in Aristotle's Metaphysics, Book 7, Chapter 3. Aristotle is here discussing matter in a rather special sense. He does not mean by 'matter' what we might mean, namely, body. He means rather the subject of the properties in a body. The table in front of me may be made of wood. From one point of view, the wood might be thought of as a subject which carries the properties of the table—its rectilinearity, its hardness, its brownness. But according to one persuasive interpretation, Aristotle is looking for the most fundamental subject of properties in a body. He calls it the first subject (hupokeimenon proton, 1029a1-2). The wood of the table is made up of the four elements—earth, air, fire, and water—and these might be thought of as a more fundamental subject carrying the properties of the wood. But the most fundamental subject would be one which carried the properties of the four elements: hot, cold, fluid, and dry. This first subject is referred to by commentators as first or prime matter. [introduction p. 1]

{"_index":"sire","_id":"490","_score":null,"_source":{"id":490,"authors_free":[{"id":671,"entry_id":490,"agent_type":null,"is_normalised":null,"person_id":133,"institution_id":null,"role":{"id":1,"role_name":"author"},"free_name":"Sorabji, Richard","free_first_name":"Richard","free_last_name":"Sorabji","norm_person":{"id":133,"first_name":"Richard","last_name":"Sorabji","full_name":"Sorabji, Richard","short_ident":"","is_classical_name":null,"dnb_url":"http:\/\/d-nb.info\/gnd\/130064165","viaf_url":"","db_url":"","from_claudius":null}}],"entry_title":"The Presidential Address: Analyses of Matter, Ancient and Modern","main_title":{"title":"The Presidential Address: Analyses of Matter, Ancient and Modern"},"abstract":"I want to draw attention to two recurrent themes in the analysis of matter or body. The first theme is the idea that body is extension endowed with properties. To explain this, I shall go back as far as a famous text in Aristotle's Metaphysics, Book 7, Chapter 3.\r\n\r\nAristotle is here discussing matter in a rather special sense. He does not mean by 'matter' what we might mean, namely, body. He means rather the subject of the properties in a body. The table in front of me may be made of wood. From one point of view, the wood might be thought of as a subject which carries the properties of the table\u2014its rectilinearity, its hardness, its brownness.\r\n\r\nBut according to one persuasive interpretation, Aristotle is looking for the most fundamental subject of properties in a body. He calls it the first subject (hupokeimenon proton, 1029a1-2). The wood of the table is made up of the four elements\u2014earth, air, fire, and water\u2014and these might be thought of as a more fundamental subject carrying the properties of the wood.\r\n\r\nBut the most fundamental subject would be one which carried the properties of the four elements: hot, cold, fluid, and dry. This first subject is referred to by commentators as first or prime matter. [introduction p. 1]","btype":3,"date":"1985","language":"English","online_url":"","online_resources":"https:\/\/uni-koeln.sciebo.de\/s\/Dk2wV9MF91LwVgZ","doi_url":null,"categories":[],"authors":[{"id":133,"full_name":"Sorabji, Richard","role":{"id":1,"role_name":"author"}}],"book":null,"booksection":null,"article":{"id":490,"journal_id":null,"journal_name":"Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, New Series","volume":"86","issue":"","pages":"1-22"}},"sort":[1985]}

  • PAGE 1 OF 1
The Presidential Address: Analyses of Matter, Ancient and Modern, 1985
By: Sorabji, Richard
Title The Presidential Address: Analyses of Matter, Ancient and Modern
Type Article
Language English
Date 1985
Journal Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, New Series
Volume 86
Pages 1-22
Categories no categories
Author(s) Sorabji, Richard
Editor(s)
Translator(s) 
I want to draw attention to two recurrent themes in the analysis of matter or body. The first theme is the idea that body is extension endowed with properties. To explain this, I shall go back as far as a famous text in Aristotle's Metaphysics, Book 7, Chapter 3.

Aristotle is here discussing matter in a rather special sense. He does not mean by 'matter' what we might mean, namely, body. He means rather the subject of the properties in a body. The table in front of me may be made of wood. From one point of view, the wood might be thought of as a subject which carries the properties of the table—its rectilinearity, its hardness, its brownness.

But according to one persuasive interpretation, Aristotle is looking for the most fundamental subject of properties in a body. He calls it the first subject (hupokeimenon proton, 1029a1-2). The wood of the table is made up of the four elements—earth, air, fire, and water—and these might be thought of as a more fundamental subject carrying the properties of the wood.

But the most fundamental subject would be one which carried the properties of the four elements: hot, cold, fluid, and dry. This first subject is referred to by commentators as first or prime matter. [introduction p. 1]

{"_index":"sire","_id":"490","_score":null,"_source":{"id":490,"authors_free":[{"id":671,"entry_id":490,"agent_type":null,"is_normalised":null,"person_id":133,"institution_id":null,"role":{"id":1,"role_name":"author"},"free_name":"Sorabji, Richard","free_first_name":"Richard","free_last_name":"Sorabji","norm_person":{"id":133,"first_name":"Richard","last_name":"Sorabji","full_name":"Sorabji, Richard","short_ident":"","is_classical_name":null,"dnb_url":"http:\/\/d-nb.info\/gnd\/130064165","viaf_url":"","db_url":"","from_claudius":null}}],"entry_title":"The Presidential Address: Analyses of Matter, Ancient and Modern","main_title":{"title":"The Presidential Address: Analyses of Matter, Ancient and Modern"},"abstract":"I want to draw attention to two recurrent themes in the analysis of matter or body. The first theme is the idea that body is extension endowed with properties. To explain this, I shall go back as far as a famous text in Aristotle's Metaphysics, Book 7, Chapter 3.\r\n\r\nAristotle is here discussing matter in a rather special sense. He does not mean by 'matter' what we might mean, namely, body. He means rather the subject of the properties in a body. The table in front of me may be made of wood. From one point of view, the wood might be thought of as a subject which carries the properties of the table\u2014its rectilinearity, its hardness, its brownness.\r\n\r\nBut according to one persuasive interpretation, Aristotle is looking for the most fundamental subject of properties in a body. He calls it the first subject (hupokeimenon proton, 1029a1-2). The wood of the table is made up of the four elements\u2014earth, air, fire, and water\u2014and these might be thought of as a more fundamental subject carrying the properties of the wood.\r\n\r\nBut the most fundamental subject would be one which carried the properties of the four elements: hot, cold, fluid, and dry. This first subject is referred to by commentators as first or prime matter. [introduction p. 1]","btype":3,"date":"1985","language":"English","online_url":"","online_resources":"https:\/\/uni-koeln.sciebo.de\/s\/Dk2wV9MF91LwVgZ","doi_url":null,"categories":[],"authors":[{"id":133,"full_name":"Sorabji, Richard","role":{"id":1,"role_name":"author"}}],"book":null,"booksection":null,"article":{"id":490,"journal_id":null,"journal_name":"Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, New Series","volume":"86","issue":"","pages":"1-22"}},"sort":["The Presidential Address: Analyses of Matter, Ancient and Modern"]}

  • PAGE 1 OF 1