Metaphysics, vii

Two other important facets of Aristode s treatment of the soul confirm its status as a form-m. In the passage from Metaphysics VII, where he distinguishes between two types of subject, Aristode says that matter, in contrast to the composite, stands in relation to a form that is an actuality. 

Sokolowski bases his interpretation of prime matter on two passages. In Metaphysics VII 3, Aristotle performs a thought experiment in which he mentally strips away all qualitative and quantitative determinations of an object. What remains, he claims, is matter that is capable of receiving attributes accidentally but possesses none of the attributes in itself. Aristode says ... 

Witt, C. 1989. Substance and Essence in Aristotle An Interpretation of Metaphysics VII-IX. Ithaca NY Cornell University Press. 

Thesis I finds support in Aristotle s division of substance in book XU of die Metaphysics. Thesis II comes direedy from Aristode s discussion of the category of quantity in the Metaphysics. Thesis III comes direedy from Aristode s discussion of change in the Physics. Thesis IV comes from Aristode s claim that form is a principle of motion. Thesis V comes from Aristode s views that composite substances have forms and that bodies in the category of substance are composites. Thesis VI is, of all the theses, the most controversial In fact, I shall reject it in chapter 4. Nonetheless, as shall become apparent there, the connection between prime matter and extension is sufficiendy intimate that the above solution to the body problem can easily be altered in order to accommodate what is the correct understanding of prime matter. Finally, thesis VII emerges from an examination of Aristode s understanding of the qua locution. 

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