ABSTRACT
Aristotle is the inventor of the notion of matter and material cause. However, the passages in which Aristotle talks about absolute prôtê hulê (prime matter) are rare. The problem long posed by modern interpreters is the following: did Aristotle really believe in the existence of imperceptible matter, devoid of form and quality, as an autonomous level of reality, a self-subsisting principle, or did he view it as a logical object, a purely abstract concept? We propose here to analyze the dossier of the most relevant Aristotelian passages on the question of the prime matter and, after a status quaestionis of ancient and modern interpretations, we will advance an interpretative proposal along the traditional line that goes against the current trend.
