中世纪自然解释中的“实体形式”理论及其消亡

The Theory of“Substantial Form”in the Interpretation of Nature in the Middle Ages and Its Disappearance

十二世纪之后,拉丁西方逐渐将自然哲学建立在了亚里士多德体系之上,诸如大阿尔伯特、阿奎那、苏亚雷斯等经院哲学家纷纷在自然解释中采纳了亚里士多德主义的质形说,并将“形式”细化为“实体形式”与“偶性形式”。“实体形式”决定了一个存在者“是”什么,它被依照种属关系分配到每一个存在者之上,以此来解释自然物的各种特性。以笛卡尔为代表的近代思想家们系统地驳斥了这一理论。在他们看来,为了说明X之为X而特设一种非物质性的“X形式”并不构成任何解释。与近代的主体性形而上学相呼应,完全着眼于可被人类所清晰表象的广延性物质及其排列结构的机械论才是自然解释的最佳原则。

After 12th century,Latin West gradually established natural philosophy on the basis of the Aristotelian system.Scholastic philosophers such as Albertus Magnus,Aquinas,and Francis Suarez adopted Aristotelian theory of hylomorphism in natural interpretation,and devided“form”into“substantial form”and“accidental form”.“Substantial form”determines what an entity is,and it is assigned to each entity according to their species to explain the various characteristics of natural things.Modern thinkers represented by Descartes systematically refuted this theory.In their view,creating an“X-form”specifically to indicate why X is X does not constitute any explanation.In line with modern“subjectivity metaphysics”,the best principle of natural explanation is Mechanism that focuses entirely on the observable and imaginable extension of matter and its structure.