Abstract

For Rodrigo de Arriaga (1592–1667), prime matter is unequivocally a substance. Further, there is no real difference between prime matter, on the one hand, and proximate matter, on the other, as is otherwise standard in the earlier Scholastic tradition. This puts the question of the relation between matter, on the one hand, and substantial form – that is also a substance –, on the other, into a new light. How are matter and form united to make composites, according to Arriaga? And how is matter structured in itself, considered apart from its union with form?