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energeía

Energeía (Greek: ἐνέργεια) is a philosophical term most associated with Aristotle, though the word appears in later scholastic and contemporary usage. It is usually translated as actuality, activity, or being-in-operation. The term contrasts with dynamis (potential), with energeía indicating the realization of a thing's capacity rather than mere possibility.

In Aristotle's metaphysics and natural philosophy, energeía denotes the act by which a thing actualizes its

Scholastic philosophy, notably Aquinas, adopts energeía as the realized state of a thing in contrast to its

In modern Greek, energeía means energy in the scientific sense. In historical philosophy, the term remains central

form
and
becomes
what
it
is.
It
is
the
state
of
a
thing
as
it
performs
its
proper
function
or
comes
to
be
in
full
actuality.
Examples
include
the
eye
seeing,
a
living
organism
acting,
or
the
completion
of
a
statue:
once
the
statue
exists,
its
form
is
energeía;
prior
to
completion
it
remains
a
potential
statue.
The
distinction
explains
change
as
a
passage
from
potency
to
act.
potencia;
acts
of
God
and
natural
processes
are
interpreted
through
act/potency.
Energeía
can
refer
to
motion,
perception,
or
any
realized
activity
and
is
used
to
articulate
how
form
and
matter
relate
in
the
ontology
of
substances.
to
discussions
of
Aristotle's
account
of
change,
causation,
and
the
relationship
between
form
and
matter.
The
concept
continues
to
influence
studies
of
metaphysics
and
the
theory
of
hylomorphism.