{"id":7950,"date":"2014-05-17T04:58:22","date_gmt":"2014-05-17T04:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2014\/05\/17\/hylo-or-hylemorphic\/"},"modified":"2014-05-17T04:58:22","modified_gmt":"2014-05-17T04:58:22","slug":"hylo-or-hylemorphic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2014\/05\/17\/hylo-or-hylemorphic\/","title":{"rendered":"Hylo- or Hylemorphic?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first footnote to Patrick Toner's "Hylemorphic Animalism" (Phil. Studies<\/em>, 2011, 155: 65-81) reads:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The more common spelling is "hylomorphic," but David Oderberg has convinced me to substitute this spelling. After all, the Greek term in question is hyle<\/em>, not hylo<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

By this reasoning we should write 'cruxade,' 'cruxiform,' and 'cruxial' instead of the standard 'crusade,' 'cruciform,' and 'crucial.'  After all, the Latin term in question is crux<\/em>, not crus<\/em> or cruc<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, why not write 'hylemorphec' rather than 'hylemorphic'?  After all, the Greek term in question is morphe<\/em>, not morphi<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why don't we write 'polisology' and 'polisics' rather than 'politology' and 'politics'?  After all, the Greek term in question is polis<\/em>, not polit<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

And why don't we write 'morphelogy,' and 'gelogy' and 'gemetry' rather than 'morphology,' 'geology,' and 'geometry'?  After all, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

What am I missing?<\/span><\/p>\n

For a conservative there is a defeasible presumption in favor of traditional ways of doing things.  Note 'defeasible.'  Conservatives are not opposed to change; they are opposed to unnecessary and foolish and deleterious and change-for-the-sake-of-change change.  You could say that they are opposed to Obaminable<\/em> change.<\/span><\/p>\n

Addendum<\/strong> (18 May)<\/span><\/p>\n

Ed Feser writes,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

I had this debate with David years ago and initially defended "hylomorphism" precisely on the conservative grounds that that is the standard usage.  (You'll notice that in my book Philosophy of Mind<\/em> I use "hylomorphism.")  However, "hylemorphism" is not David's invention, and when I was writing the Aquinas book I found that some (though of course not all) of the old manuals did indeed use "hylemorphism."   So there hasn't in fact been uniformity on the spelling.  Hence I decided "Fine, what the heck." I'm not committed to it the way David is, though.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I am aware that 'hylemorphism' is not Oderberg's invention and that this spelling has also been used.  But unless I am badly mistaken, the 'hylo' forms occur more frequently that the 'hyle' forms.  So while Oderberg's usage is not an innovation, it does go against standard usage.  That's one consideration.  Another is euphony.  The 'hylo' compounds roll right off the tongue; the 'hyle' forms are slightly 'stickier.'  But your tongue may vary.  And then there are the considerations adduced above.
<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It just now occurs to me that there is one instance where the 'o' would be out of place.  Edmund Husserl speaks of hyletische Daten<\/em>, the translation being 'hyletic data.'  Here the 'e' satisfies the exigencies of euphony quite nicely.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This is surely no earth-shaking matter.  But on one way of looking at things it is wonderful that civilization has advanced to such a point that large numbers of people can spend time discussing such a scholarly punctilio.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The first footnote to Patrick Toner's "Hylemorphic Animalism" (Phil. Studies, 2011, 155: 65-81) reads: The more common spelling is "hylomorphic," but David Oderberg has convinced me to substitute this spelling. After all, the Greek term in question is hyle, not hylo. By this reasoning we should write 'cruxade,' 'cruxiform,' and 'cruxial' instead of the standard … Continue reading “Hylo- or Hylemorphic?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-language-matters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7950\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}