The History of Hylomorphism

From Aristotle to Descartes

Author: David Charles

Hylomorphism, the understanding of objects in terms of their matter and their form, was introduced by Aristotle and has been a major influence on Western philosophy to this day. Sixteen specially written essays explore hylomorphism in the thought of Hellenistic, Roman, Arabic, medieval, and early modern philosophers.

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Although Aristotle was not the first to understand objects in terms of their matter and their form, the account he developed has exercised a major influence on Western philosophy to this day. The History of Hylomorphism: From Aristotle to Descartes collects sixteen essays by experts that consider aspects of the first two thousand years of the history of hylomorphism, starting with Aristotle's immediate successors and ending with Descartes. It includesdiscussions of Hellenistic, Roman, Arabic, medieval, and early modern philosophers, examining the ways in which Aristotle's central ideas and concepts were progressively modified by these thinkers. Hylomorphism, aswe understand it today, owes much to the way in which it was interpreted, and re-interpreted, during this period. Through a study of their work we can see how questions in contemporary metaphysics and philosophy of mind, such as Descartes's mind-body problem, came to be formulated.

About the Author

David Charles was initially a Lecturer and Research Lecturer in Christ Church, Oxford (1972-8) and was from 1978 a Fellow and Tutor at Oriel College, Oxford, until 2008 when he became a Research Professor. Since 2014, he has been a Professor of Philosophy at Yale University. In addition, he has held visiting professorships at Brown, Rutgers and UCLA, Tokyo Metropolitan, Taiwan National and Venice Universities. He was a co-founder with Vasilis Karasmanis of theEuropean Society for Greek Philosophy and is an Honorary Fellow of the Technical University of Athens.