Matter ( philosophy ) - wikipedia Matter ( philosophy ) This article is about matter in philosophy. For other uses, see Matter ( disambiguation ). This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( March 2009 ) Matter is the substrate from which physical existence is derived, remaining more or less constant amid changes. The word `` matter '' is derived from the Latin word māteria, meaning `` wood '' in the sense `` material '', as distinct from `` mind '' or `` form ''. Contents 1 Ancient Greek philosophy 2 Modern science 3 See also 4 Notes 5 Further reading 6 External links Ancient Greek philosophy In ancient Greek philosophy, arche ( ἀρχή ) is the beginning or the first principle of the world. Thales of Miletus claimed that the first principle of all things is water. His theory was supported by the observation of moisture throughout the world and coincided with his theory that the earth floated on water. Thales 's theory was refuted by his pupil and successor, Anaximander. Anaximander noted that water could not be the arche because it could not give rise to its opposite, fire. Anaximander claimed that none of the elements ( earth, fire, air, water ) could be arche for the same reason. Instead, he proposed the existence of the apeiron, an indefinite substance from which all things are born and to which all things will return. Anaximenes, Anaximander 's pupil, advanced yet another theory. He returns to the elemental theory, but this time posits air, rather than water, as the arche. Anaximenes suggests that all is made from air through either rarefication or condensation ( thinning or thickening ). Rarefied, air becomes fire ; condensed, it becomes first wind, then cloud, water, earth, and stone in order. Pythagoras of Samos, a mathematician, mystic, and scientist, taught that number, rather than matter, constitutes the true nature of things. He seems to have influenced Socrates ' ideal form. Heraclitus held that all is flux. In such a system there is no need for or possibility of matter. Leucippus held that there exist indivisible particles, atoms, underlying existence. Empedocles held that there are four elements, from which things are derived, Earth, Water, Fire and Air. Some added a fifth element, the Aether, from which the heavens were derived. Socrates accepted ( or at least did not reject ) that list, as seen from Plato 's Timaeus, which identified the five elements with the Platonic solids. Earth was associated with the cube, air with the octahedron, water with the icosahedron, fire with the tetrahedron, and the heavens with the dodecahedron. Aristotle, rejecting the atomic theory, instead analyzed the four terrestrial elements with the sense of touch : Air is primarily wet and secondarily hot. Fire is primarily hot and secondarily dry. Earth is primarily dry and secondarily cold. Water is primarily cold and secondarily wet. He developed Socrates ' ideal form into a theory which aimed to explain existence through the composition of matter and form. He conceived of matter as a passive possibility that something might be actualized by an active principle, a substantial form, giving it real existence. The theory of matter and form came to be known as Hylomorphism. Aristotle 's ideas had little impact on the ancient world. The rise of Stoicism represented the return to earlier ideas. Their categories were an attempt to explain all existence without reference to anything incorporeal. Philo held that matter is the basis of evil. Plotinus revived the ideas of Plato and Aristotle. Many Christians, such as Augustine of Hippo, accepted Plotinus as the greatest of the pagan philosophers. Parts of Plotinus ' Six Enneads were translated into Arabic as the Theology of Aristotle, leading to a blossoming of Aristotle 's philosophy in the Islamic world. This Islamic version of Aristotle eventually reached the University of Paris and the attention of Scholastic philosophy, and the work of Thomas Aquinas. Modern Science From a philosophical viewpoint, the term `` matter '' still is used to distinguish the material aspects of the universe from those of the spirit. The rise of modern chemistry and physics marked a return to the atomic theories of Leucippus. Quantum physics and Relativity however, complicate the picture through the identification of matter and energy, particle and wave. See also Hylomorphism Materialism Mereological essentialism Substantial form Notes Jump up ^ Oxford English Dictionary : `` matter '' Jump up ^ Henri Bergson ( 2004 ). `` Introduction ''. Matter and Memory ( Reprint of edition of 1904 ed. ). Courier Dover Publications. ISBN 0 - 486 - 43415 - X. Further reading Henry Laycock, Theories of matter ( essay ; PDF ) Gideon Manning ( ed. ), Matter and Form in Early Modern Science and Philosophy, Leiden, Brill, 2012. Ernan Mc Mullin ( ed. ), The Concept of Matter in Greek and Medieval Philosophy, Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press, 1965. Ernan Mc Mullin ( ed. ), The Concept of Matter in Modern Philosophy, Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press, 1978. External links The dictionary definition of matter at Wiktionary Bibliography on mixtures, stuff and mass terms maintained by Philipp Blum. Metaphysics Metaphysicians Parmenides Plato Aristotle Plotinus Duns Scotus Thomas Aquinas Francisco Suárez Nicolas Malebranche René Descartes John Locke David Hume Thomas Reid Immanuel Kant Isaac Newton Arthur Schopenhauer Baruch Spinoza Georg W.F. Hegel George Berkeley Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Henri Bergson Friedrich Nietzsche Charles Sanders Peirce Joseph Maréchal Ludwig Wittgenstein Martin Heidegger Alfred N. Whitehead Bertrand Russell Dorothy Emmet G.E. Moore Jean - Paul Sartre Gilbert Ryle Hilary Putnam P.F. Strawson R.G. Collingwood Adolph Stöhr Rudolf Carnap Saul Kripke Willard V.O. Quine G.E.M. Anscombe Donald Davidson Michael Dummett David Malet Armstrong David Lewis Alvin Plantinga Peter van Inwagen Derek Parfit more... Theories Abstract object theory Action theory Anti-realism Determinism Dualism Enactivism Essentialism Existentialism Free will Idealism Libertarianism Liberty Materialism Meaning of life Monism Naturalism Nihilism Phenomenalism Realism Physicalism Pirsig 's metaphysics of Quality Platonic idealism Relativism Scientific realism Solipsism Subjectivism Substance theory Type theory Concepts Abstract object Anima mundi Being Category of being Causality Choice Cogito ergo sum Concept Embodied cognition Entity Essence Existence Experience Hypostatic abstraction Idea Identity Identity and change Information Insight Intelligence Intention Linguistic modality Matter Meaning Memetics Mental representation Mind Motion Necessity Notion Object Pattern Perception Physical body Principle Property Qualia Quality Reality Soul Subject Substantial form Thought Time Truth Type -- token distinction Universal Unobservable Value more... Related topics Axiology Cosmology Epistemology Feminist metaphysics Interpretations of quantum mechanics Meta - Ontology Philosophy of mind Philosophy of psychology Philosophy of self Philosophy of space and time Teleology Theoretical physics Portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Matter_(philosophy)&oldid=742411123 '' Categories : Concepts in metaphysics Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from March 2009 All articles needing additional references Talk Contents About Wikipedia Azərbaycanca Беларуская ( тарашкевіца ) ‎ Čeština Deutsch Eesti Esperanto Français Հայերեն Italiano עברית ქართული Қазақша Kurdî Кыргызча Lietuvių Magyar ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Polski Português Русский Slovenčina Türkçe Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 3 October 2016, at 15 : 03. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. 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Question: held that all matter is made of four elements earth air fire and water
Answer: Empedocles