Ancient Sources on Matter in Late Medieval Commentaries on Aristotle

In the mid-13th century, just after Aristotle’s works on natural philosophy were translated, various conceptions of matter were at play. The ancient commentaries of these works negotiated the epistemic authority of two canonical authors, Plato and Aristotle, in their mutual relation and in relation to interpreters from various philosophical traditions. Medieval views on matter were subject to shifts in the canon, with new authorities being added (the Arabic commentators; scholastic commentators), and shifts in the canonical value of the different authorities (a stronger position of Aristotle to the detriment of Plato). Further canonical shifts are linked to the incorporation of information from source texts in other genres (manuals, compendia, doxography, polemical treatises) into the commentary genre. Although there is a growing literature on medieval theories of matter, there is a need to analyse the presence of ancient sources and their use by late medieval thinkers.