THE PATH OF EVOLUTION 



an existence isolated from the individual being; 

 nothing of that which applies to all beings (or gen- 

 eralities) is substance, and there is no substance com- 

 posed of substance.* The undefined is an existence in 

 potency, and not in act. The definition is the expres- 

 sion of the essence, and the essence is only found in the 

 substance ; at least, it is found above all, first of all; 

 in fine, absolutely, in the substance." f 



Plato placed the Universal in an ideal region of 

 its own, and professed that from this superior region, 

 anterior to phenomenal nature, the principles were 

 communicated to things (substances) that determined 

 their manner of being. Aristotle also recognized that 

 the individual thing could only be defined or named 



* " L' homme, 1'cheval, tous les Universaux resident dans les indi- 

 vidus, la substance n'est pas quelquechose d'universel: c'est un en- 

 semble, un compose de telle forme et de telle matiere (a) Rien 

 d'universal n' a une existence isolee des etres particuliers Rien de 

 qui s'applique a tous les etres n'est substance, et il n, ya aucune sub- 

 stance composes de substance." (b) The latter clause in the sentence 

 is to disavow the notion that matter as an universal was composed 

 of an assembly of all individual subsistents. 



Idem. P. 81. (a) Metaphysics VII., 10. (Aristotle.) 



(b) VII-16, Trad, de MM. Pierron et Zevort. 



f Aristotle had previously established that Matter (distinguished 

 from such or such matter) was an universal, and adds that, being an 

 universal, Matter was not a substance. He had thus expressed him- 

 self: " L'indertimine, c'est Fetre en puissance et non en act. II eat 

 evident que la definition est Fexpression de Fessence, et que Fessence 

 ne se trouve que dans les substances, ou du moins qu' elle se trouve 

 surtout, et avant tout, absolutement enfin dans les substance. 



(a) Philo. Scholas. T. 1, P. 82. Aristotle Metaphysics VII., 4. 



(ft) Ibid., IV. 4. 



30 



