In philosophy, substance means, approximately, that element of an object without which it would not exist. In the millennia-old Aristotelian tradition[?], as well as early modern[?] traditions that follow it, substances are treated as having attributes[?] and modes[?].
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a poetical paraphrase in French in 1651.
The "Imitation of Christ" derives its title from
the heading of the first book, De imitatione Christi
et contemptu omnium ...