concept

substance

Also known as: substances

Facts (10)

Sources

Dualism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Winter 2016 Edition) plato.stanford.edu Howard Robinson · Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Aug 19, 2003 5 facts

claimThomas Aquinas identified the soul, intellect, and form as a substance, effectively treating them as a single entity within his philosophical system.

claimDavid Hume criticized the conception of substance for lacking empirical content, arguing that searching for the owner of properties that make up a substance reveals only further properties.

perspectiveAristotle believed that matter's behavior is essentially affected by its form, meaning that while matter is a necessary condition for a substance, the nature of a substance does not follow from its matter alone.

claimExplaining the nature of the unity of the immaterial mind is a challenge for both those who believe the mind is a substance and those who believe it is a bundle of properties.

claimRadical empiricists attacked René Descartes' conception of a dualism of substances, finding it difficult to attach sense to the concept of substance itself.

Non-physicalist Theories of Consciousness cambridge.org Cambridge University Press Dec 20, 2023 2 facts

claimThe conceivability of consciousness without anything else suggests that properties could exist as tropes (pure, free-floating instances of properties) rather than inhering in a substance.

claimProperty dualists argue that it is metaphysically possible for phenomenal consciousness to inhere in a substance that does not have physical properties, while maintaining that this is nomologically impossible (incompatible with actual psychophysical laws).

Panpsychism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2015 Edition) plato.stanford.edu William Seager, Sean Allen-Hermanson · Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy May 23, 2001 1 fact

perspectiveBaruch Spinoza viewed mind and matter as attributes of a single, infinite substance he identified as God.

Critique of Panpsychism: Philosophical Coherence and Scientific ... thequran.love Zia H Shah MD · The Muslim Times May 7, 2025 1 fact

claimBaruch Spinoza proposed that matter and mind are two attributes of the same underlying substance, which serves as a historical precedent for panpsychist thought.

Panpsychism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2025 Edition) plato.stanford.edu Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy May 23, 2001 1 fact

claimGottfried Wilhelm Leibniz proposed that the universe is composed of substances called monads, which are absolutely simple, exist independently of other things, and cannot interact with each other.