The Stoic Doctrine on Matter

The Stoics assign the first rank to what is only a potentiality. Matter does not beget form and quality could not arise from what has no quality, nor actualization from what is potential. They should therefore say substance and not substances. According to them, even God is no longer simple. He is posterior to matter, for he is a body constituted by form and matter. We must recognize that what possesses primary and absolute existence is anterior to what exists contingently.