Knowra Substance Substance In metaphysics, substance is what exists in itself rather than depending on something else for its existence. It is commonly contrasted with properties, which exist in or are attributed to substances.
Property : A feature or attribute that something has, such as color, shape, or mass. Properties are typically said to depend on substances rather than exist independently.
Bundle theory : The view that an ordinary object consists of a bundle of properties rather than an underlying bearer. It rejects the separate substratum that many substance theories posit beneath properties.
Aristotle : An ancient Greek philosopher whose writings shaped logic, natural science, and metaphysics. His account of primary substances became a central starting point for later theories.
Hylomorphism : The theory that material things are compounds of matter and form. Aristotelian substance is often explained as a unified matter–form compound.
Mind–body problem : The problem of explaining how mental phenomena relate to bodily processes. Treating mind and body as substances creates questions about their interaction and unity.
Accident (philosophy) : A feature that can change without the thing possessing it ceasing to exist. The substance–accident distinction separates a thing's identity from its changeable features.
Substratum theory : The view that properties belong to an underlying bearer whose nature is not itself another property. It gives a direct account of what supports properties in a substance.
Categories (Aristotle) : Aristotle's work classifying beings, including substance, quantity, relation, and other categories. It distinguishes primary substances from features that are said of or present in them.
Substance–form dualism : The distinction between a thing's underlying matter and the organizing form that makes it the kind of thing it is. It explains substance through the unity of material constituents and organizing principle.
Metaphysical naturalism : The view that reality consists of natural entities and processes, without supernatural beings. Naturalist accounts ask whether substances reduce to the entities studied by the sciences.
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