N.b., an Aristotelian substance is such that the form of the integral whole is in every part so to speak. This distinguishes integral wholes or substances from accidental wholes, like machines where the parts are just so arranged so that they happen to enter into certain causal relations. But the formal cause is strictly accidental; in true substances, in integral wholes, a substantial form renders the thing a true unity. The causal relations don't just-so-happen to be there, they don't just happen to result in an effect by virtue of their circumstance; they are intrinsically ordered toward an end.
And, of course, when you learn something, universal principles are presupposed by anything we study. Metaphysics, for example, studies the first principles of being qua being, and so whatever is known in a thing that is universally true or true of the class, is true of everything else, or of the class.
Furthermore, much of our knowledge is analogical. Thus, when we learn a new thing, we may do so by analogy or we may notice analogies. And let us not forget the Logos in which (or Whom) all finds its analogical being. The effect resembles in some sense its cause, and all that exists stands in an analogical relation to its creating and sustaining cause, the Logos.
And, of course, when you learn something, universal principles are presupposed by anything we study. Metaphysics, for example, studies the first principles of being qua being, and so whatever is known in a thing that is universally true or true of the class, is true of everything else, or of the class.
Furthermore, much of our knowledge is analogical. Thus, when we learn a new thing, we may do so by analogy or we may notice analogies. And let us not forget the Logos in which (or Whom) all finds its analogical being. The effect resembles in some sense its cause, and all that exists stands in an analogical relation to its creating and sustaining cause, the Logos.