I have argued that, when Aristotle speaks of the ‘form’ or ‘formal nature’ of a creature, he often means the information required to order matter into a creature of a given kind. This interpretation is based not only on the various analogies he gives (imprints in wax; letters and syllables), but also on the fact that forms are present even when they are invisible. They are somehow present in an animal’s seed and are responsible for the development of the embryo and the appearance and functions of the adult. So an animal’s soul is its form, albeit under particular circumstances: If we must say
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