Material Objects in Confucian and Aristotelian Metaphysics: The Inevitability of Hylomorphism

Hylomorphism is a metaphysical theory that explains the unity of material objects through a special immaterial part, a ‘form’. While contemporary accounts of hylomorphism appeal to structure, and advocate that material substances can have other substances as parts, James Dominic Rooney highlights the flaws in this Neo-Aristotelian way of thinking. Instead, he draws on medieval European and Chinese traditions to put forward that the classical approach to the unity of material objects in terms of ‘form’ remains theoretically superior. Rooney shows how Thomas Aquinas’ account of form gives a more coherent version of hylomorphism, eliminating the need for substance parts. He also studies the Song dynasty Confucian thinker Zhu Xi’s hylomorphic intuition that whatever accounts for the composition of some parts into a material whole is a metaphysical part of that object. By appealing to the same non-Aristotelian considerations as Zhu Xi, Rooney explains why all those who believe in the unity of material objects will appeal to a form, enabling hylomorphism to remain a plausible framework. In doing so, this book shines new light on a classic philosophical problem in contemporary metaphysics and demonstrates the far-reaching points of theoretical contact between Western and Confucian thought.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1. Structural Hylomorphism 2. Structural Deterioration 3. From Structure to Substantial Forms 4. Zhu Xi’s Metaphysics of Material Objects 5. Forms Matter Conclusion: The Significance of Hylomorphism Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
James Dominic Rooney, OP is a Dominican Friar and Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong.

Review :
Bold, inventive, and illuminating, and ought to immediately mark [Rooney] as a scholar of note in his fields ... Regardless of one’s specialty, the book presents a tremendous opportunity to think with and alongside an imaginative scholar who has a gift for thinking both deeply and broadly. Material Objects in Confucian and Aristotelian Metaphysics encompasses a fascinating, historically astute journey through the metaphysics of hylomorphism – the view that objects are compounds of form and matter. Rooney artfully weaves together medieval and contemporary Western approaches to the topic with their Confucian counterparts in a manner that illuminates both traditions. In an epoch tempted by metaphysical skepticism and philosophical tribalism, this book presents us with a nuanced but confident defense of the prerogatives of universal human reason. James Dominic Rooney investigates the notion of hylomorphic composition in the Thomistic and Aristotelian traditions. Material realities have natures, and ontological unity, as material parts, such that we can understand physical realities in universal terms, and make consistent scientific progress in understanding their causes. Not only does Rooney engage both Aristotelian and contemporary analytic literature on the subject, he also studies in depth the parallel traditions one finds in ancient Confucian thought. What emerges is a decisive argument in favor of all human beings as explanation seeking beings, able to access truths about the structure of material reality across time, place and culture. An important contribution to the revival of metaphysics in contemporary philosophy! In this book Rooney offers a robust defence of hylemorphic composition whilst at the same time showing that the metaphysical views of two thinkers as divergent in geography and culture as St Thomas Aquinas and Zhu Xi converge on this important issue. Rooney’s work advances both the historical and systematic scholarship in this area and is a welcome addition to the field. Father Rooney is one of very few contemporary scholars who are capable of bringing the metaphysics of Aristotle and Zhu Xi into a productive dialogue. This book makes a substantial contribution, not only to metaphysics, but also to our understandings of Aristotle, of Zhu Xi, and of comparative philosophy.