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Published April 2013 | public
Journal Article

The History of "Hylomorphism"

Abstract

The origin of the term "hylomorphism" is shrouded in mystery in spite of its being used to distinguish Aristotle and the Peripatetics from competing traditions in science and philosophy. This paper details the history of "hylomorphism" from its nineteenth-century German origins in the correspondence between Friedrich Schleiermacher and Friedrich Jacobi to its first appearance in English in 1860, to its eventual use to refer to the Peripatetic commitment to matter-form thinking. Utilizing this history, the paper specifies the obstacles the term has created for scholars and concludes with a suggestion to use "hylomorphisms" when exactness is required.

Additional Information

© 2013 Journal of the History of Ideas. I would like to thank Peter Adamson, Roger Ariew, Michael Edwards, Sinikki Elvington, Mordechai Feingold, Daniel Garber, Gary Hatfield, Kristine Haugen, Marita Huebner, Brad Inwood, Melissa Pastrana, Mac Pigman, Robert Richards, Marius Stan, and Joan Steigerwald. I am especially grateful to the Journal's two anonymous referees.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 24, 2023