I'm not really sure about that. But I don't know much about Aristotle.
As far as essence, Aristotle believed in a hylomorphic property in all things. Like, a chair has intelligible properties that make it a chair. But these aren't hard and fast rules. They are identifiable traits, or essences if you like, that make the thing essentially a chair. Say what you will about Aristotle's assumptions here, but I'll say one thing: the man thought that chairs do exist. When you start questioning that, it gets pretty weird. (As we learned in the chair thread.) Does that apply to things like "bigness" or "size." Well, maybe. I think Aristotle thought that size was a genuine property of extant things. But Plato was more the one who thought "bigness itself" was present in all big things. Aristotle kind of resisted that notion.
As for the speed of light, I'm sure many ancients assumed it was instantaneous. But, again, I don't know the particulars of Aristotle on this subject. I know one thing, Aristotle understood light better than Plato. Plato's understanding of light and optics is completely ass-backwards and as wrong as it could possibly be. Anything is an improvement upon that.
As far as essence, Aristotle believed in a hylomorphic property in all things. Like, a chair has intelligible properties that make it a chair. But these aren't hard and fast rules. They are identifiable traits, or essences if you like, that make the thing essentially a chair. Say what you will about Aristotle's assumptions here, but I'll say one thing: the man thought that chairs do exist. When you start questioning that, it gets pretty weird. (As we learned in the chair thread.) Does that apply to things like "bigness" or "size." Well, maybe. I think Aristotle thought that size was a genuine property of extant things. But Plato was more the one who thought "bigness itself" was present in all big things. Aristotle kind of resisted that notion.
As for the speed of light, I'm sure many ancients assumed it was instantaneous. But, again, I don't know the particulars of Aristotle on this subject. I know one thing, Aristotle understood light better than Plato. Plato's understanding of light and optics is completely ass-backwards and as wrong as it could possibly be. Anything is an improvement upon that.
