Nature, Change, and Agency in Aristotle's Physics

Nature, Change, and Agency in Aristotle's Physics PDF Author: Sarah Waterlow
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198244820
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
This examination of Aristotle's concept of natural substance and its implications for change, process, agency, teleology, mathematical continuity, and eternal motion illustrates the conceptual power of Aristotle's metaphysics of nature along with its scientific limitations and internal tensions.

Nature, Change, and Agency in Aristotle's Physics

Nature, Change, and Agency in Aristotle's Physics PDF Author: Sarah Waterlow
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198244820
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
This examination of Aristotle's concept of natural substance and its implications for change, process, agency, teleology, mathematical continuity, and eternal motion illustrates the conceptual power of Aristotle's metaphysics of nature along with its scientific limitations and internal tensions.

The Chain of Change

The Chain of Change PDF Author: Robert Wardy
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521373272
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
The Chain of Change is the first full-scale philosophical commentary devoted to Aristotle's Physics VII, in which Aristotle argues for the existence of a first, unmoved cosmic mover. This study systematically considers the major issues of the book, and argues for the fundamental importance of Physics VII in our understanding of Aristotelian cosmology and natural science. Physics VII is extant in two versions, and therefore poses special editorial problems. For this reason one of the features of Dr. Wardy's study is the provision of an improved text and translation in both versions. The author's comprehensive comparison of their merits, philosophical and philological, has a significant bearing on our understanding of the nature and evolution of the Aristotelian corpus. The second part of the book is devoted to critical examination of the argument, including one of the most elaborate and challenging in the entire Aristotelian corpus. Throughout, the author concentrates on those points where Aristotle diverges most sharply and provocatively from contemporary presumptions in philosophy and natural science.

Physics

Physics PDF Author: Aristotle
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198240921
Category : Physics
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
The eighth book of Aristotle's Physics is the culmination of his theory of nature. He discusses not just physics, but the origins of the universe and the metaphysical foundations of cosmology and physical science. He moves from the discussion of motion in the cosmos to the identification of a single source and regulating principle of all motion, and so argues for the existence of a first 'unmoved mover'. Daniel Graham offers a clear, accurate new translation of this key text in the history of Western thought, and accompanies the translation with a careful philosophical commentary to guide the reader towards an understanding of the wealth of important and influential arguments and ideas that Aristotle puts forward.

The Order of Nature in Aristotle's Physics

The Order of Nature in Aristotle's Physics PDF Author: Helen S. Lang
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521624533
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
In this book Helen S. Lang enters into the point of view of the ancient world to explain how they saw the world and to show what arguments were used by Aristotle to support this view. Lang demonstrates a new method for reading the texts of Aristotle by revealing a continuous line of argument running from the Physics to De Caelo. The author analyzes a group of arguments that are almost always treated in isolation from one another and reveals their elegance and coherence. She concludes by asking why these arguments remain interesting even though we now believe they are absolutely wrong and have been replaced by better ones. The author establishes that we must rethink our approach to Aristotle's physical science and Aristotelian texts. In so doing, her book will provoke debate and stimulate new thinking among philosophers, classicists, and historians of science.

Aristotle's Physics

Aristotle's Physics PDF Author: Aristotle
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198720263
Category : Chance
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description


Physics

Physics PDF Author: Aristotle
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780192835864
Category : Physics
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
For many centuries, Aristotle's Physics was the essential starting point for anyone who wished to study the natural sciencesThis book begins with an analysis of change, which introduces us to Aristotle's central concepts of matter and form, before moving on to an account of explanation in the sciences and a defence of teleological explanation. Aristotle then turns to detailed, important, and often ingenious discussionsof notions such as infinity, place, void, time, and conintuity. He ends with an argument designed to show that the changes we experience in the world demand as their cause a single unchanging cause of all change, namely God.This is the first complete translation of Physics into English since 1930. It presents Aristotle's thought accurately, while at the same time simplifying and expanding the often crabbed and elliptical style of the original, so that it is very much easier to read. A lucid introduction and extensivenotes explain the general structure of each section of the book and shed light on particular problems.

On Aristotle's Physics 3

On Aristotle's Physics 3 PDF Author: John Philoponus
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781472500199
Category : Philosophy of nature
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
"Book 3 of Aristotle's Physics primarily concerns two important concepts for his theory of nature: change and infinity. Change is important because, in Book 2, he has defined nature - the subject-matter of the Physics - as an internal source of change. Much of his discussion is dedicated to showing that the change occurs in the patient which undergoes it, not in the agent which causes it. Thus Book 3 is an important step in clearing the way for Book 8's claims for a divine mover who causes change but in whom no change occurs. The second half of Book 3 introduces Aristotle's doctrine of infinity as something which is always potential, never actual, never traversed and never multiplied. Here, as elsewhere, Philoponus the Christian turns Aristotle's own infinity arguments against the pagan Neoplatonist belief in a beginningless universe. Such a universe, Philoponus replies, would involve actual infinity of past years already traversed, and a multiple number of past days. The commentary also contains intimations of the doctrine of impetus - which has been regarded, in its medieval context, as a scientific revolution - as well as striking examples of Philoponus' use of thought experiments to establish philosophical and broadly scientific conclusions."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

Aristotle's Science of Matter and Motion

Aristotle's Science of Matter and Motion PDF Author: Christopher Byrne
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1487503962
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Although Aristotle's contribution to biology has long been recognized, there are many philosophers and historians of science who still hold that he was the great delayer of natural science, calling him the man who held up the Scientific Revolution by two thousand years. They argue that Aristotle never considered the nature of matter as such or the changes that perceptible objects undergo simply as physical objects; he only thought about the many different, specific natures found in perceptible objects. Aristotle's Science of Matter and Motion focuses on refuting this misconception, arguing that Aristotle actually offered a systematic account of matter, motion, and the basic causal powers found in all physical objects. Author Christopher Byrne sheds lights on Aristotle's account of matter, revealing how Aristotle maintained that all perceptible objects are ultimately made from physical matter of one kind or another, accounting for their basic common features. For Aristotle, then, matter matters a great deal.

Aristotle's Ontology of Change

Aristotle's Ontology of Change PDF Author: Mark Sentesy
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
ISBN: 0810141906
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
This book investigates what change is, according to Aristotle, and how it affects his conception of being. Mark Sentesy argues that the analysis of change leads Aristotle to develop first-order metaphysical concepts such as matter, potency, actuality, sources of being, epigenesis, and teleology. He shows that Aristotle’s distinctive ontological claim—that being is inescapably diverse in kind—is anchored in his argument for the existence of change. Aristotle may be the only thinker to propose a noncircular definition of change. With his landmark argument that change did, in fact, exist, Aristotle challenged established assumptions about what it is and developed a set of conceptual frameworks that continue to provide insight into the nature of reality. This groundbreaking work on change, however, has long been interpreted through a Platonist view of change as unreal. By offering a comprehensive reexamination of Aristotle’s pivotal arguments, and establishing his positive ontological conception of change, Sentesy makes a significant contribution to scholarship on Aristotle, ancient philosophy, the history and philosophy of science, and metaphysics.

Aristotle's Physics Book I

Aristotle's Physics Book I PDF Author: Diana Quarantotto
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107197783
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 301

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Book Description
This book provides a comprehensive and in-depth study of Physics I, the first book of Aristotle's foundational treatise on natural philosophy. While the text has inspired a rich scholarly literature, this is the first volume devoted solely to it to have been published for many years, and it includes a new translation of the Greek text. Book I introduces Aristotle's approach to topics such as matter and form, and discusses the fundamental problems of the study of natural science, examining the theories of previous thinkers including Parmenides. Leading experts provide fresh interpretations of key passages and raise new problems. The volume will appeal to scholars and students of ancient philosophy as well as to specialists working in the fields of philosophy and the history of science.