Material Objects in Confucian and Aristotelian Metaphysics: The Inevitability of Hylomorphism

Description

Hylomorphism is a metaphysical theory that explains the unity of material objects through a special immaterial part, a ‘form’. While contemporary accounts of hylomorphism appeal to structure, and advocate that material substances can have other substances as parts, James Dominic Rooney highlights the flaws in this Neo-Aristotelian way of thinking. Instead, he draws on medieval European and Chinese traditions to put forward that the classical approach to the unity of material objects in terms of ‘form’ remains theoretically superior. Rooney shows how Thomas Aquinas’ account of form gives a more coherent version of hylomorphism, eliminating the need for substance parts. He also studies the Song dynasty Confucian thinker Zhu Xi’s hylomorphic intuition that whatever accounts for the composition of some parts into a material whole is a metaphysical part of that object. By appealing to the same non-Aristotelian considerations as Zhu Xi, Rooney explains why all those who believe in the unity of material objects will appeal to a form, enabling hylomorphism to remain a plausible framework. In doing so, this book shines new light on a classic philosophical problem in contemporary metaphysics and demonstrates the far-reaching points of theoretical contact between Western and Confucian thought. Cover Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Structural Hylomorphism Kit Fine Kathrin Koslicki William Jaworski 2 Structural Deterioration The Substance-Part Principle in Detail A Grounding Problem for SPP Structures as Property-Powers Structures as Proper Parts/Relations Conclusion: Rejecting SPP 3 ­From Structure to Substantial Forms Part I: Substantial Forms in Aquinas A Primary Approach to “Prime Matter” Actual Substances Substantial Forms as Essentially Actuality Matter, Material Parts, and Property Bearers Form Is an Actuality of Matter Part II: A Controversial Thomistic Thesis Being a Part of a Thomistic Substance The Puzzle of Parts Conclusion: Forms as Metaphysical Parts 4 ­Zhu Xi’s Metaphysics of Material Objects The Metaphysical Landscape Painted by Zhu Xi The “Priority” of Li to Qi Li: Part/Universal, One/Many? Radical Monism Qi Alone as “Difference Maker” in a Relational Ontology Li as Unitary Universal or Collection of Universals Li as a Metaphysical Part “Participation” Metaphysics and Hylomorphism Conclusion: Confucian Hylomorphic Metaphysics 5 Forms Matter Kit Fine’s Theory of Things and Their Parts Why Forms Matter Making Restrictions on Composition Meaningful Identity, in Two Flavors Identity as Composition, a Transitive Relation Identity as Contingently Transitive: Huayan Buddhism and Zhu Xi All Coherent Restricted Theories of Composition are Hylomorphic Conclusion:The Significance of Hylomorphism Notes Bibliography Index