SUBSTANCE

That which makes a thing what it is and not something else, i.e., essence (ousia) in Greek philosophy. Aristotle said essence equals substance. Aristotle said substance is the inherent essence or cause of a particular thing, i.e., the unity of its form and matter. In scholasticism, substance is that which exists and persists independent of any other being. In Cartesianism , substance is that which exists independent of any other being. Infinite substance is God; finite substance, mind, and matter. In Spinoza , there is only infinite substance (God) and its modes. In Kantianism , substance becomes a subjective concept of the mind arising from the necessary organizing activity of Mind in connection with the data of experience. In British empiricism , substance is essentially the systematic or coherent organization of the specific qualities of experience. As such, it does not exist or is unknowable.