Early Robert Grosseteste on Matter

Abstract

This article investigates the origin of Robert Grosseteste's theory of matter. Covering Grosseste's early production, from his De artibus liberalibus to De luce and the Commentarius on Aristotle's Physics , his gradual developing of a philosophical theory of matter and prime matter is examined by means of his progressive study of the works of the Aristotelian tradition. Surprisingly, Grosseteste's first notion of matter is bound to alchemy and astrology. It is a physical notion of matter as subject to astral influence and human manipulation. Only with his study of Aristotle's Physics does Grosseteste elaborate a more Aristotelian theory of matter, directly engaging himself with the manifold problems of assimilating Aristotle's theories into a Christian-based speculation. As a consequence, a much-refined version of his theory of matter is presented in the commentary on the Physics and De luce , where prime matter is envisioned as an extensionless point containing in itself the possibility of the existence of the entire universe. Notwithstanding the gradually more philosophical attitude marking Grosseteste's reflection, some tension between the alchemical and metaphysical epistemes of matter he engaged with can be appreciated throughout much of his early production.