That Time Aristotle Was Reincarnated As A Slime

So one of the most enjoyable shows this season seems to be That Time I Was Reincarnated As A Slime. Our hero is an adorable little slimeball named Rimuru Tempest. Well, ladies and gentlemen, elves and aliens: Today Rimuru-chan has agreed to stop by for a chat! Let’s give a warm welcome to Rimuru Tempest!

Thanks, NegativePrimes! It’s great to be here.

It’s great to have you, Rimuru-chan. Now, I know that you aren’t allowed to talk a lot about yourself yet, is that right?

Yes, I had to sign a NDA. The folks at 8-Bit don’t want me to give any spoilers for what’s going to happen later in the season.

Sure, makes sense. But what I really wanted to talk to you about today was your two special skills, “Divine Sage” and “Predator”. Basically, Predator allows you to eat nearly anything, and Divine Sage grants you knowledge, particularly of things you’ve consumed with Predator.

And boy, let me tell you: They are super-useful!

I brought an apple today. Could you give us a quick demonstration of your powers?

Shblormp! Ta da!

Wow! Now that you’ve eaten the apple, what can you tell me about it?

It’s sweet and useful for making things like applesauce. spits out canned applesauce

Holy guacamole! Not only did you turn the apple into sauce, you also canned it. Where did you get the can from??

Same place I got the bottles for the potions I made in Episode 1.

But—

NDA.

Fine. Anyway, it occurs to me that you’re an excellent example of Aristotle’s metaphysics.

Whozit’s whatzit?

Aristotle was one of the great philosophers of ancient Greece. Basically, he said that anything that existed had both “form” and “matter”. Form is what something is, while matter is what it is made of. Um, please don’t eat the curtains.

Fine, you’re no fun.

So the apple you ate had the form “apple”, and the matter was the stuff that you turned into sauce.

Wait, I turned the apple into applesauce. Are you saying that the matter is still around, but not the form? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FORM??

Well, there’s no rule that says forms have to last forever. When you eat something, you retain its matter, but not its form. The matter takes on another form: If I were to eat it, it would get digested into stomach juices; whereas for you it took on the form “applesauce”. However, it is possible to go the other way, and retain the form without retaining the matter.

???

When you look at the apple and understand what it is, your mind retains the form “apple” but not the matter. We call this—

“Knowing”! That’s the difference between knowing something and eating something. Knowing retains the form and not the matter; eating retains the matter but not the form. Right?

You’re the most philosophically-astute slime I know.

Well, I am a divine sage. Say, is it possible to retain both the matter and the form of something at the same time?

Of course. When I eat an apple, as long as I know what I’m eating, my mind retains the form and my stomach retains the matter. What I can’t do is retain both without separating them.

Why not?

Because if I ate the apple while retaining its form, I’d choke on it. And if my mind retained the matter along with the form, my very brain would turn into a physical apple!

Yikes!!

You said it! But you, you’re different. I think you can retain both. With Predator and Divine Sage, you can eat something and thus retain its matter, then analyze what you’ve eaten and hence retain its form. And because knowing and eating for you take place in the same act, you can keep things you eat (like your dragon friend) in the same form without digesting them: You can keep their forms and matter united in your slime-stomach!

I’m so cool!

Yeah, I think Aristotle would flip out if he could get his hands on you. He’d probably want to reincarnate as a slime, too! I mean, he did love analyzing everything. He’d probably also go crazy trying to figure out where those glass canning jars come from.

Somethings are better left unknown.

Oh come on, can’t you just whisper it in my ear? I promise I won’t tell our readers.

I suppose, if you insist. Here, come closer.

Sure, thing—Hey, what are you—?

Shblormp!

(Sudden end of conversation.)