Z.7–9, The Reintroduction of Matter and Form

Z.7–9 has been thought to have been written elsewhere and inserted between Z.6 and Z.10. If so, it is well-suited to have been so inserted. It fits Z better than one might first think; it provides a needed reintroduction of matter and form; and it contributes to Z.10–11’s topic of whether form has matter as part of it. It should be taken seriously when trying to understand Z, including passages that might be thought to commit Aristotle to a particular view about basic constituents. The most important of these says that form is primary substance. But its context makes clear that its concern is the primary essence when things have essences secondarily and derivatively. Z.7–9 also leaves individual composites as candidates for basic constituents.