Myth of Peripatetic Hyle in the Transcendent Philosophy

The philosophical analysis of the changes in natural bodies led Peripatetic philosophers to the notion of hyle, which is a substance that essentially lacks actuality and remains fixed in the process of change. Peripatetic philosophers have employed this notion in many philosophical debates, including the famous division of existents into material and immaterial groups. Nevertheless, despite their emphasis upon this notion, Suhrawardī denied the existence of the Peripatetic hyle. Mullā Ṣadrā has not explicitly explained his views of hyle in any of his works; however, a careful study of his works and, particularly, philosophical principles indicates that the peripatetic hyle is not acceptable in the Transcendent Philosophy. In fact, some contemporary philosophers have even found the idea of the Peripatetic hyle to be self-contradictory within the framework of the Transcendent Philosophy. At the same time, the words hyle and matter are frequently used in Mullā Ṣadrā’s works because, apart from cases in which he explains the views of earlier philosophers, he also believes in a kind of hyle that should be called the “analytic hyle”. This kind of hyle is a secondary philosophical intelligible that is abstracted from the analysis of the trans-substantial motion. It bears a unity with from and can be used as a basis for the division of existence into fixed and fluid categories.