The essays composing this volume investigate the stratifications and changes in the evolution of theories of matter in the philosophical and theological tradition. They also investigate cases and crucial moments for the definition of the different conceptions of matter (from Thomas Aquinas to Bruno, from Descartes to Diderot, from Hobbes to d’Holbach, just to name a few), so as to make it possible to follow their complex trajectories. In examining the transformations undergone by the statute of matter, this collective volume combines the historical-philosophical perspective, attentive to the reading and interpretation of the texts and to the identification of lines of continuity and fractures between the authors, with theoretical and conceptual analysis: the polysemic character characteristic of the idea of matter emerges, and involves different research perspectives (theology, natural philosophy, cosmology, politics) being intimately linked to the re-elaboration of questions posed by ancient thought, also in medieval and modern times.