Substantial form
A theory of substantial forms asserts that forms (or ideas) organize matter and make it intelligible. Substantial forms are the source of properties, order, unity, identity, and information about objects.
The idea of substantial forms dominates ancient Greek philosophy and medieval philosophy, but has fallen out of favour in modern philosophy.
The idea of substantial forms has been abandoned for a mechanical, or “bottom-up” theory of organization. However, such mechanistic treatments have been criticized for the same reasons atomism has received criticism, viz., for merely denying the existence of certain kinds of substantial forms in favor of others (here, that of atoms, which are then thought to be arranged into things possessing accidental forms) and not denying substantial forms as such, an impossible move.
Articulation
Platonic forms
Plato maintains in the Phaedo regarding our knowledge of equals:
[Simias]-A considerable deficiency.
[Simmias] Necessarily. ...
Aristotelian forms