PHILOS 2P03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Arche, Four Causes, Origin Myth
21 Apr 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
The greek title of the work, ta phusika, is derived from the greek word phusis , For aristotle, the student of nature studies those things that are subject to change (e. g. living thing and their capacities, the elements, the heavenly bodies: natural or physical is things that change but not something like god. In the physics, aristotle addresses general issues underlying all study of nature, such as change, causation, explanation, chance, time, space, place, void, infinity. Yet the nature of natural things is not only what it is made from, but also its shape (morphe) or form (eidos: a bed has a shape which is made for sleeping on, form is made. The natural philosopher studies both form and matter, since natural things are compounds of form and matter: distinguishes natural vs math. The mathematician studies shapes apart from the natural bodies they are the shapes of; the student of nature studies shapes in material things subject to change.
