What is the nature of the material world? And how are its fundamental constituents to be described? These questions are of central concern to contemporary philosophers, and in their attempt to answer them, they have begun reconsidering traditional views about metaphysical structure, including the Aristotelian view that material objects are best described as 'hylomorphic compounds'--that is, objects composed of both matter ( hyle ) and form ( morphe ).
In this major new study, Jeffrey E. Brower presents and explains the hylomorphic conception of the material world developed by Thomas Aquinas, the most influential Aristotelian of the Middle Ages. According to Brower, the key to understanding Aquinas's conception lies in his distinctive account of intrinsic change. Beginning with a novel analysis of this account, Brower systematically introduces all the elements of Aquinas's hylomorphism, showing how they apply to material objects in general and human beings in particular. The resulting picture not only sheds new light on Aquinas's ontology as a whole, but provides a wholesale alternative to the standard contemporary accounts of material objects.

In addition to presenting and explaining Aquinas's views, Brower seeks wherever possible to bring them into dialogue with the best recent literature on related topics. Along the way, he highlights the contribution that Aquinas's views make to a host of contemporary metaphysical debates, including the nature of change, composition, material constitution, the ontology of stuff vs. things, the proper analysis of ordinary objects, the truthmakers for essential vs. accidental predication, and the metaphysics of property possession.

Review

"...a welcome addition to research on Aquinas's metaphysics and a fresh start for studies on his physics. This pondered and engaging monograph, whose reading is well recommended to both scholars and students, will certainly become a reference for future studies on Aquinas's ontology of the material world." -- Journal of the History of Philosophy

"...this is a careful, well-argued book. Whether or not one agrees with Brower's interpretations of Aquinas, anyone interested in Aquinas's ontology of the material world will need to take Brower's book into account. And for any medievalist interested in learning the contemporary metaphysical landscape, or any metaphysician interested in understanding medieval metaphysics, I can think of no better bridge to employ than this book." -- American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly

"I learned a huge amount from reading this book. I learned something about contemporary metaphysics, and I learned a lot more about some of the strategies available to interpreters wanting to present medieval metaphysics to a modern audience...the reader is clearly in presence of a powerful philosophical mind developing an account of material constitution that represents a genuine and novel contribution to contemporary debates...Aquinas has never before struck me as a really deep metaphysician, but the insights that Brower has derived from reflection on Aquinas are little short of remarkable." -- Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Book Description

Jeffrey E. Brower explores the hylomorphic conception of the material world developed by Thomas Aquinas

About the Author

Jeffrey E. Brower is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Purdue University. His areas of specialization are medieval philosophy, metaphysics, and philosophy of religion. He is co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Abelard (CUP, 2004), and has published numerous articles in journals and edited volumes such as Mind , The Philosophical Review , Oxford Studies in Metaphysics , Archiv fur Geschichte der Philosophie , Faith and Philosophy , The Cambridge Companion to Anselm , The Cambridge Companion to Abelard , The Oxford Handbook of Aquinas , and The Oxford Handbook to Philosophical Theology.