Hylomorphism:. . . each complex item admits of a real definition, or statement of its essence, in terms of its matter, understood as parts or components, and its form, understood as a principle of unity. When an item’s parts are themselves complex, they in turn will have their own principles of unity (forms) and genuine parts (matter), and so on and so forth, either ad infinitum, or ter- minating in indefinables or “simples” (Johnston, 2006, 658).