Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association

Volume 77, 2003

Philosophy and Intercultural Understanding

Unity and Primary Substance for Aristotle

Primary substance for Aristotle is either the individual or form. These same two possibilities are the leading candidates for the source of unity in a substance. Thus, if we could determine what is responsible for the unity of a substance, we may well have located primary substance also. I consider the following possible sources of the unity of form and matter in a substance: 1) The unifier is a connector external to form and matter. (This connector may be itself a form, matter, or a relation that is neither formal nor material.) 2) There is no need for a unifier because form and matter are simply conceptual ways of understanding a single, already-unified, concrete being. 3) The unifier is an inherent aspect of form or matter. I proceed by a process of elimination and conclude that substantial form is both what unifies a substance and the better candidate for primary substance.