Volume 97, Issue 4, Fall 2023
Late Medieval Hylomorphism
Adam Wood
Pages 577-601
https://doi.org/10.5840/acpq2023974286
Faculties of the Soul and Descartes¡¯s Rejection of Substantial Forms
In a 1642 letter to Regius, Descartes elaborates several reasons for rejecting Aristotelian substantial forms including that (1) they are explanatorily impotent, (2) they are explanatorily unnecessary, and (3) they threaten the incorporeality and immortality of the human soul. Various ideas have already been proposed as to why Descartes thought Aristotelian substantial forms are susceptible to these criticisms. Here I suggest one further such idea, centered on the ways Descartes and medieval scholastics thought substantial forms¡ªand souls in particular¡ªare related to their powers.