Philoponus's own argument that prime matter possesses three-dimensional extension as its defining characteristic undermines the claim that abstraction produces something genuinely characterless.

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Characterless(as the state abstraction is claimed to produce): Having no defining features or properties—completely without distinguishing qualities.
Defining characteristic(as what three-dimensional extension supposedly is for prime matter): The most essential feature of something—the one thing that makes it what it is rather than something else.
Philoponus(the subject of the statement): A Greek philosopher from the 6th century who was famous for challenging the dominant ideas of Aristotle by pointing out mistakes and contradictions in his writings.
Three-dimensional extension(as what Philoponus claims is the defining characteristic of prime matter): The property of taking up space in three dimensions (length, width, and height)—basically, having physical size and shape.
abstraction(Godfrey, Quodlibet V, q. 10): The process by which the agent intellect draws out potentially intelligible content from phantasms, making that content available to the possible intellect
prime matter(Aristotelian metaphysics and its Renaissance reception): The fundamental underlying matter posited in Aristotelian doctrine, debated as to whether it is eternal or created.

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