ABSTRACT

Aristotle’s hylomorphism has its home in a framework geared to answer questions about the character of familiar particulars. 1 The assumption underlying these questions is that familiar particulars have their character derivatively: They derive their character from other things, things that are or include objects that have their own distinctive forms of character non-derivatively. The philosophical project is to identify these underived sources of character and to delineate their relationship to the familiar particulars whose character they underwrite.