Aristotle describes three types of psyche or soul, that which gives life and self-movement to living substances, and in living things is the form of that living thing. Plants possess vegetative souls , allowing for nutrition and reproduction. Animals possess animal souls , which allow for nutrition, reproduction, and sensation. Humans possess rational souls , which allow for nutrition, reproduction, sensation, and reason. Leibniz, on the other hand, distinguished between three types of monad.
Rational monads possess self-consciousness, reason, speculative ability, etc.
The similarity between these two hierarchies of forms, if you will, is clear. Passivity Aristotle's concepts surrounding change involve what we have translated as potentiality . Specifically, potentiality is that which makes change possible in a substance. The matter comprising a substance, for example, is mutable. Therefore matter is a potentiality.