Element out of which a thing is made, determined by form.
This notion belongs primarily to philosophy, especially within the Aristotelian tradition.
Materia designates the physical or material substrate composing a being insofar as it is potentially something, whereas form is what defines and actualizes this matter.
Prime matter (materia prima) is matter deprived of all form — pure potentiality.
It cannot exist by itself and must be united with form (forma) in order to constitute a concrete entity.
More precisely
In the Aristotelian–Thomistic tradition, every composite being is constituted by two inseparable principles:
— matter (principium materiale),
— form (principium formale).
Matter is the principle of receptivity and indetermination.
It does not act by itself: it is that through which a thing can become what it will be.
Form, on the other hand, is what actualizes and determines — that through which a thing is what it is.
Prime matter (pure potentia) has no quality, quantity, or figure.
It is never encountered in experience because it is never found apart from form:
it is a metaphysical principle, posited to account for change (the passage from potency to act).
One distinguishes secondary matter, i.e., prime matter already determined by a substantial form and capable of receiving further accidental forms.
According to Thomas Aquinas, matter is the principle of individuation (this being rather than that), whereas form is the principle of intelligibility.
In Neoplatonism, especially in Plotinus, matter represents the lowest degree of emanation, defined as an extreme privation of being.
In a Christian perspective, matter is created by God; thus, it is good in itself, though marked by contingency.
It is a potential locus of revelation and transfiguration.
Ontologically, form has primacy over matter:
form is intelligible act, whereas matter is passive potency.
For further reading
- Aristotle, Physics, II–III — On matter as subject of change and principle of potentiality.
- Aristotle, Metaphysics, Z–Θ — Exposition of the matter–form distinction.
- Plotinus, Enneads, II.4–5; III.6; I.8 — On matter as privation of being and lowest level of emanation.
- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Ia, qq. 3–15; De ente et essentia — On hylomorphic composition, essence/existence, and individuation.
- Pseudo-Dionysius, Celestial Hierarchy, III–V — On the procession of degrees of being and formal mediation.
- Bruno Bérard, Metaphysics for Everyone (Paris, L’Harmattan, 2022); fr. Métaphysique pour tous; it. Sui sentieri della metafisica; es. ¿Qué es la metafísica?; de. Was ist Metaphysik? — On matter as potency, its relation to form, and ontological hierarchy.