Assertion: matter's form | /r/HasAspect | essence
Facets:
value: in a sense
type: OTHER
value: by participation
type: CAUSE
Source sentences:
text: A serious objection to position (4) is that it apparently leads to a vicious infinite regress: if a compound’s essence or form is itself a compound of matter and form, and this second form has an essence or form which is also a hylomorphic compound, etc.
text: But whatever created form be supposed to subsist "per se," must have existence by participation; for "even life," or anything of that sort, "is a participator of existence," as Dionysius says (Div.
text: The form that is part of the compound’s form, however, itself has a further form or essence that is not matter-involving.
text: Pure forms: natural compounds (and their forms) have forms or essences that are not matter-involving.
text: This way out of the regress involves denying that forms have essences, i.e., it reverts to position (3).
text: For these textual reasons it would be preferable for a proponent of (3) to be able to say that forms do have essences or definitions in a sense, but they are identical with these (as snubness = concavity in a nose).
text: As in (2), compounds have forms or essences that involve matter; but forms themselves have no essences or forms.