António de Castro Caeiro

In his lectures on the philosophy of nature, Maurice Merleau-Ponty interprets Jakob von Uexküll’s notion of Umwelt as akin to a melody. This essay outlines von Uexküll’s perspective on the feasibility of translating non-acoustic elements (optical: colours, shapes, and figures; haptic: tactile textures, flavours, tastes, and scents) into sounds or musical notes to compose a melody. It poses several inquiries: Does the link between melody and nature render natural entities as musical notes? Do the components of an entity constitute anatomical notes in the melody that defines the entity itself? Is it conceivable to distil every moment in life into a “note” symbol on a musical scale, characterised by specific duration, pitch, and volume? Melody, rhythm, and harmony are considered sophisticated “structures” that articulate and convey the essence of nature’s existence. Moreover, every human, every living creature, be it animal or plant, possesses a subjective “biological” interiority. The inner realm of each living subject, along with the objects in the external world, are enveloped within an atmosphere—a musical Umwelt. Humans exist within this musical milieu or atmosphere.

This seemingly simple question, "What is hylomorphism?", is not so straightforward to answer. We shall attempt to address this question by presenting and interpreting "On The History of Hylomorphism". We shall, therefore, examine closely the link between matter and form, body and soul, primarily in Aristotle's work. We then move on to Descartes, who goes to the extreme of radically separating soul (form) from body (matter). I shall read David Charles's detailed and insightful introduction, as well as Lilli Alanen's chapter on Descartes. We shall consider Descartes' perception of a burning wax candle. Subsequently, I shall venture a glimpse into the future of the narrative. We shall examine Kant's plate circularity and geometric circles in the "Doctrine of Schematism" (resembling David Charles's Sigma-Structure) and attempt to engage with the phenomenological stance, analysing Husserl's "brown bottle of beer", where the morphē-hylē relationship undergoes a transformation in his analyses of time consciousness.