John Duns Scotus on Parts, Wholes, and Hylomorphism <UN> Investigating Medieval Philosophy Managing Editor John Marenbon Editorial Board Margaret Cameron Simo Knuuttila Martin Lenz Christopher J. Martin VOLUME 7 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/imp <UN> John Duns Scotus on Parts, Wholes, and Hylomorphism By Thomas M. Ward LEIDEN | BOSTON <UN> Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ward, Thomas M.  John Duns Scotus on parts, wholes, and hylomorphism / by Thomas M. Ward.   pages cm. -- (Investigating medieval philosophy, ISSN 1879-9787 ; VOLUME 7)  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 978-90-04-27831-8 (hardback : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-90-04-27897-4 (e-book) 1. Duns Scotus, John, approximately 1266-1308. 2. Hylomorphism. I. Title.  B765.D64W37 2014  111’.1092--dc23               2014018273 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1879-9787 isbn 978-90-04-27831-8 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-27897-4 (e-book) Copyright 2014 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Global Oriental and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. <UN> For Katie ∵ <UN> It all seemed too good to be true. Hither and thither through the meadows he rambled busily, along the hedgerows, across the copses, finding every- where birds building, flowers budding, leaves thrusting—everything happy, and progressive, and occupied. ~Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows … <UN> Contents Acknowledgements ix Abbreviations x Introduction 1 1 The Purpose of Prime Matter 6 i Distinguishing Matter from Form 6 ii Motivating Matter: The Argument from Change 8 iii Why Must Matter Persist through Change? 12 iv Matter as Passive Power 18 v Obediential Potency and the Subject of Passive Power 23 2 The Ontology of Prime Matter 27 i Matter as Subjective Potency 27 ii A Shifting Opinion about Matter’s Separability from Form 30 iii Particular and Total Separability 34 3 How Matter and Form Compose a Substance—Part I 41 i Forms as Parts 43 ii Matter and Form as Essential Parts 47 iii Degrees of Unity 48 iv Existence is not Enough 51 v Making a Difference 52 4 How Matter and Form Compose a Substance—Part II 60 i Producing Substance from Matter and Form 60 ii Causal and Co-Causal Relations 62 iii Innovating Aristotle’s Principle about Relational Change 66 iv The Identification of Parthood Relations with Causal Relations 68 v The Causality of Matter and Form 70 vi Dispensing with Total Separability? 72 vii Conclusions: Composing, and Composing 73 5 Scotistic Pluralism about Substantial Form—Part I 76 i Unitarianism and Pluralism about Substantial Form 78 ii Scotus against Unitarianism 81 iii Scotus against Standard Pluralism 84 iv An Inconsistent Position about the Form of Corporeity? 90 <UN> viii 6 Scotistic Pluralism about Substantial Form—Part II 94 i The Special Potency Question 97 ii Essential Orders 98 iii Essentially Ordered Unity 103 iv The Role of Soul in Scotus and Two Unitarians 106 7 Contingent Supposits and Contingent Substances 110 i Three Modes of per se Being 112 ii Ockham on the Distinction between Substance and Supposit 115 iii What’s Special about Supposits? 118 iv Arbitrary Part-Substances? 121 8 The Mereological Status of the Elements in a Mixture 125 i Mixed Opinions about Mixtures 127 ii The Argument from Quantitative Forms 132 iii The Generation and Corruption Argument 137 iv The Violence Argument 139 v Generation from the Elements 140 vi Mixtures and Organic Parts 142 9 Why the World is not a Substance 145 i Motivating Monism 148 ii The Argument from the Distinguishing of Forms 151 iii The World/Organism Analogy 158 iv Properties of the Whole that are not Properties of the Parts 161 10 Scotistic Hylomorphism and the Problem of Homonymy 165 i Scotistic Hylomorphism Among Other Varieties 165 ii Ackrill’s Problem 169 iii Aquinas’s Response 171 iv The Standard Pluralistic Response 173 v Scotus’s Response 177 vi Scotus, Aquinas, and the Ultimate Subject of Substantial Change 178 vii Faulty Metaphysics or Faulty Chemistry? Scotistic Hylomorphism and the Four Elements 179 Bibliography 183 General Index 189 <UN>