Truth = correspondence of mind to reality
A definition is words that express precisely what a thing is.
NATURE IS A CAUSE OF BEING MOVED AND OF BEING AT REST,
IN THAT TO WHICH IT BELONGS PRIMARILY
IN VIRTUE OF ITSELF AND NOT IN VIRTUE OF A CONCOMITANT ATTRIBUTE.
Aristotle’s definition of Nature in closing part Chapter 1 Book II of Physics
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THE FORM INDEED IS ‘NATURE’ RATHER THAN THE MATTER,
FOR A THING IS MORE PROPERLY SAID TO BE WHAT IT IS
WHEN IT HAS ATTAINED TO FULFILLMENT THAN WHEN IT EXISTS PONTENTIALLY.
Addendum to this book, Physics Chapter 3
Physics Greek means Nature
Physics= study of nature gives us knowledge of the being of things
Nature is those things that have matter. Nature is not the same thing as matter but is always found with matter. We would not say exactly that angels have a nature because they do not have matter. Nature of something what it is what makes it do what it does.
Form, Greek antecedent morphe’, shape
shape of the thing
instead of talking about form & matter talk about shape and lumber (stuff)
Matter is the ability to be this something.
Talk about form & matter in the first and most general sense, form of something we are just asking what does it look like? Or what kind of thing is it?
As we precede in our study of the thing in question, we may come to use form to mean the cause of the unity of that thing
Thingness, essence, being what it is, unity to be what it is and nothing else
Ex/ what makes a squirrel be a squirrel and not a robin? Well the form of squirrel, the what it is to be of squirrel
Wrt to matter, it’s the equivalent xulia, xyleia lumber or maybe even stuff. What is helpful about word as general as that is that reminds us when we are talking about the matter of something, we are talking about what upholds the thing in being but at the very same time is radically able to uphold something else in being.
Soul just is the form of the body. It’s that which answers the question what is the cause of life in a living thing? The soul.
So, the soul, the human soul more complicated than an animal soul, because human beings have intellect and will. But it is the very same feature of human life, more exalted soul, it is the human soul causes each one of us to live and be what we are which is to say human beings.
Tripart: Body, soul, spirit 1 Thess 5:23 St. Paul writes about the spirit in such a way that it seems to distinguish it from both the body and the soul: “May the God of peace himself make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Bios, spirit, body
Man as animal shares properties to animal as opposed to plants & inanimate
Radical difference between animal & man with word spirit
Individual highlights uniqueness, species highlights similarity
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