In Aristotle’s writing, Physics, he asserts every physical object is a compound of matter (hulê) and form (morphê, eidos), a theory known as hylomorphism. As one of the first writers during ancient times to introduce the concept of life scientifically, he believed that matter could exist without form, but form could not exist without matter. Therefore, Aristotle contended the soul cannot exist without the body.

Hylomorphic accounts of objects have been endorsed by several contemporary philosophers (e.g., Kit Fine, Mark Johnston, Kathryn Koslicki, Michael Rea, and Christopher Shields). With particular relevance to the present ICRME investigation, philosophers Christopher Austin, Anna Marmodoro, Robert Koons, Alexander Pruss, and William Simpson aim to reconfigure Aristotle’s hylomorphic framework in order to offer a consistent and attractive interpretation of modern biology.

Everything which comes to be, comes to be out of, and everything which passes away passes away into, its opposite or something in between. And the things in between come out of the opposites—thus colors come out of pale and dark. So the things which come to be naturally all are or are out of opposites.         — Aristotle