The aim of the paper is to offer an analysis of the three following notions: material, immaterial and formal in Nicolai Hartmann’s Ontology. Firstly, I explore the Hartmann’s critique of the merely material and merely formal ontology. The attempt is to offer a definition of the categorial pair composed by matter and form, in the context of the entire categorial system. Furthermore, I try to describe the role of matter in the categorial laws (kategoriale Gesetze), in particular the law of matter (das Gesetz der Materie). The purpose is to show the project of a general formal ontology and the current importance of Hartmann’s ontology in continuity with the Husserl’s third logical investigation. Nonetheless, a pure formal intepretation of ontology presents limits based on the underlying immateriality expressed by the privileged form of the event (Ereignis).
