Hylomorphism, the understanding of objects in terms of their matter and their form, was introduced by Aristotle and has been a major influence on Western philosophy to this day. Sixteen specially written essays explore hylomorphism in the thought of Hellenistic, Roman, Arabic, medieval, and early modern philosophers.

Preface List of contributors David Charles: Introduction: The History of Hylomorphism: From Aristotle to Descartes 1: Alexander Bown: Epicurean Materialism 2: Brad Inwood: Stoics and Hylomorphism 3: Christof Rapp: The Octopoid Soul. Stoic Responses to Aristotle's Soul-Body Hylomorphism 4: Reier Helle: Alexander of Aphrodisias and the Stoics: Blending, Forms, and the Upwards Story 5: Patricia Marechal: Galen on the Form and Substance of the Soul 6: Victor Caston: Alexander of Aphrodisias' Emergentism: Hylomorphism Perfected 7: Frans A.J. de Haas: Alexander of Aphrodisias on the Ancient Debate on Hylomorphism, and the Development of Intellect 8: Riccardo Chiaradonna: Plotinus on Hylomorphic Forms 9: Pauliina Remes: Strengths of Embodiment in Neoplatonism 10: Richard Sorabji: Philoponus and Alexander in Historical Context on Relations between Matter and Form Inside and Outside Philosophy of Mind 11: Miira Tuominen: Hylomorphism in Neoplatonic Commentaries on Aristotle? Perception in Philoponus and Pseudo-Simplicius 12: Peter Adamson: Natural, Artificial, and Organic Forms in Avicenna 13: Stephen R. Ogden: Averroes, Intellect, and Liberal Hylomorphism 14: Christopher Shields: Hoc Aliquid: Aquinas's Soul is This Something 15: Dominik Perler: Suárez's Compositional Account of Substance 16: Lilli Alanen: Descartes's Mind-Body Holism and the Primacy of Experience

David Charles was initially a Lecturer and Research Lecturer in Christ Church, Oxford (1972-8) and was from 1978 a Fellow and Tutor at Oriel College, Oxford, until 2008 when he became a Research Professor. Since 2014, he has been a Professor of Philosophy at Yale University. In addition, he has held visiting professorships at Brown, Rutgers and UCLA, Tokyo Metropolitan, Taiwan National and Venice Universities. He was a co-founder with Vasilis Karasmanis of the European Society for Greek Philosophy and is an Honorary Fellow of the Technical University of Athens.

Provides a diachronic study of a central philosophical idea by sixteen experts specializing in different aspects of the history of philosophy from Aristotle to Descartes Showcases the results of collaborative study by scholars with different areas of expertise, who have worked together to compare and contrast the views of the authors they study Offers the basis for future diachronic collaborative work of this type beginning with Greek philosophy and extending forwards to early modern thinkers engaged with similar themes Contains an introduction which offers an overview of the developments in Aristotelian hylomorphism throughout its first two millennia