The Problem of Contraries and Prime Matter in the Reception of Aristotle’s Physical Corpus in the Work of Thomas Aquinas

Abstract

This paper deals with the reception of the Aristotelian physical theory of contraries in the cosmological thought of Thomas Aquinas, developed in the context of the condemnations of Aristotle in the thirteenth century. It also discusses the way in which Aquinas addressed the problems derived from the Aristotelian refutation of the Eleatic theories of Parmenides and Melissus, as well as his acceptance, without significant modifications, of Aristotelian physical mechanics as the architecture of the created world.