A determinação da substancialidade e o aspecto gradativo dos entes naturais em Aristóteles

Rodrigo Romão de Carvalho

doi:10.32334/oqnfp.2025n56a1011

PDF (Português (Brasil))

Published: Jun 30, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32334/oqnfp.2025n56a1011

Keywords:

Substance, matter, form, composed of matter and form, natural beings

Rodrigo Romão de Carvalho

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)

Abstract

In Metaphysics Z3, Aristotle declares that a substance is identified as such, mainly, by having the characteristics of being something separate (χωριστὸν) and of being a certain this (τόδε τι). And at the beginning of Z2, the philosopher states that substances seem to belong in a more manifest way among bodies, which would be commonly expressed through beings that appear in nature. In this paper, I intend to establish an analysis in which the notions of χωριστὸν and τόδε τι, as intrinsically articulated criteria for determining the substantial character of natural beings, could be understood, respectively, under certain senses of independence and unity, closely related to the concept of immanent form (τὸ εἶδος τὸ ἐνόν), in the investigative scope of Metaphysics ZH. Based on this analysis, I will then try to draw a general panorama in which, according to the treatises on natural philosophy, the possible presence of the substantial element in the various types of natural compositions could be examined in the light of a certain gradual aspect of unity and internal cohesion, associated with these compositional types.

Issue

Vol. 33 No. 56 (2025): Plato's Laws

Section

Other Themes

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Author Biography

Rodrigo Romão de Carvalho, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)

He holds a bachelor's degree (2006), master's degree (2011), and doctorate (2017) in Philosophy from the Faculty of Philosophy, Languages, and Literature, and Human Sciences at the University of São Paulo (USP). He also holds a postdoctoral degree (2022) in Philosophy from the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). He has experience in the field of Philosophy, with an emphasis on Philosophy and History of Science, Ancient Philosophy, Philosophy of Biology, Natural Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, and Ontology. In 2024, he served as a substitute professor at the Institute of Biosciences at the Botucatu Campus of Unesp, in the Department of Humanities and Nutrition and Food Sciences.

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