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Edward Grant - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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A History of Natural Philosophy: From the Ancient World to the Nineteenth Century
2007Co-Authors: Edward GrantAbstract:Natural Philosophy encompassed all Natural phenomena of the physical world. It sought to discover the physical causes of all Natural effects and was little concerned with mathematics. By contrast, the exact mathematical sciences were narrowly confined to various computations that did not involve physical causes, functioning totally independently of Natural Philosophy. Although this began slowly to change in the late Middle Ages, a much more thoroughgoing union of Natural Philosophy and mathematics occurred in the seventeenth century and thereby made the Scientific Revolution possible. The title of Isaac Newton's great work, The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, perfectly reflects the new relationship. Natural Philosophy became the 'Great Mother of the Sciences', which by the nineteenth century had nourished the manifold chemical, physical, and biological sciences to maturity, thus enabling them to leave the 'Great Mother' and emerge as the multiplicity of independent sciences we know today.
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God and Reason in the Middle Ages: Reason in Action: Natural Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts
God and Reason in the Middle Ages, 2001Co-Authors: Edward GrantAbstract:N ATURAL Philosophy, OR Natural SCIENCE AS IT WAS SOMETIMES called, was the most widely taught discipline at the medieval university. For more than four centuries, virtually all students who obtained the master of arts degree had studied Natural Philosophy, and most undergraduates were exposed to significant aspects of it. What was Natural Philosophy for university students in the late Middle Ages? WHAT IS Natural Philosophy? In the broadest sense, Natural Philosophy was the study of change and motion in the physical world. In Chapter 3, we saw that it was one of Aristotle's three subdivisions of theoretical knowledge, or knowledge for its own sake. Natural Philosophy was concerned with physical bodies that existed independently and were capable of motion, and therefore subject to change. In truth, Aristotle's Natural Philosophy was also concerned with bodies in motion that were themselves unchanging, as was assumed for all celestial bodies. In general, Aristotle's Natural Philosophy was concerned with separately existing animate and inanimate bodies that undergo change and possess an innate source of movement and rest. Because the domain of Natural Philosophy was the whole of nature, as the name suggests, it did not represent any single science, but could, and did, embrace bits and pieces of all sciences. In this sense, Natural Philosophy was “The Mother of All Sciences.”
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God, Science, and Natural Philosophy in the Late Middle Ages
Between Demonstration and Imagination, 1999Co-Authors: Edward GrantAbstract:Andrew Cunningham and Roger French have made important and provocative claims about Natural Philosophy and science to which the author likes to reply. The major claim asserts that the object of Natural Philosophy as a discipline was the study of God's creation and God's attributes. The author evaluates the exant writings of medieval Natural philosophers. When investigating connections between God and Natural Philosophy in the Middle Ages, it is essential to distinguish two quite different aspects of this relationship: (1) the intrusion of God, His creation and theology into the commentaries and questions on Aristotle's Natural books, and therefore into Natural Philosophy; and (2) the intrusion of Natural Philosophy into theology, that is, the importation of Natural Philosophy into theological treatises by theologians where Natural Philosophy was treated in traditional terms as a 'handmaiden to theology', or to combat heretical opinions. Keywords: Aristotle's Natural books; God's attributes; God's creation; middle ages; Natural Philosophy; Roger French; science
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A History of Natural Philosophy: Natural Philosophy before the Latin Translations
A History of Natural Philosophy, 1Co-Authors: Edward GrantAbstract:Aristotle's Natural Philosophy and Greek science generally did not begin to enter Western Europe until the middle of the twelfth century. Before that time, only a minuscule part of Greek science and Natural Philosophy was available in the West. The Romans had not been sufficiently interested in such subjects to translate relevant Greek texts into Latin. But some Roman authors wrote treatises that modern scholars would regard as primarily concerned with Natural Philosophy. Among those in this group who have left extant treatises, the most famous are Lucretius (ca. 95–ca. 55 bc ), Seneca (ca. 4 bc – ad 65), and Pliny the Elder (ca. ad 23–79). ROMAN AUTHORS The fame of Lucretius derives from his great poem, On the Nature of Things , which presents a picture of nature based on the atomic theory of Epicurus (341–270 bc ), a Greek philosopher. Lucretius dealt with many topics, but the most important was his cosmic vision based on an assumption of an infinity of worlds, each composed of atoms moving in an infinite void space. He assumed that each world comes into being by a chance coming-together of atoms in the void; eventually each world passes away when its atoms dissociate and move into the void to form parts of other worlds. Lucretius was largely ignored by medieval Christianity, because of his attacks on religion and his denial of a created world, as we see in his statement that “our starting-point will be this principle: Nothing can ever be created by divine power out of nothing .”
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Natural Philosophy after the Translations: Its Role and Place in the Late Middle Ages
A History of Natural Philosophy, 1Co-Authors: Edward GrantAbstract:By the beginning of the thirteenth century, the major treatises of Greek and Arabic origin in science and Natural Philosophy were available in Latin translation. It is almost certain that lectures were being given on at least some of Aristotle's books on Natural Philosophy at the new universities of Oxford and Paris in the first decade of the thirteenth century. This is evident from the fact that in 1210, the Parisian Synod decreed, among other things, that “no lectures are to be held in Paris either publicly or privately using Aristotle's books on Natural Philosophy or the commentaries, and we forbid all this under pain of excommunication.” The prohibition of 1210 is a good indication that Aristotle's works on Natural Philosophy were readily available, for otherwise there would have been no need to ban public and private lectures on them. Although the University of Paris is not specifically mentioned in the decree, it is virtually certain that mention of public lectures is a reference to lectures at the university. To place medieval Natural Philosophy in its proper context, it is essential to describe the structure and character of the universities, which were indeed the “proper context” for Aristotle's Natural Philosophy and the commentaries on, and elaborations of, it. Indeed, it is almost as if the universities of Oxford and Paris, and their numerous successors, came into being to serve this function. THE MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITY In the course of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Europe had rapidly become urbanized.
Roger French - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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william harvey s Natural Philosophy
1994Co-Authors: Roger FrenchAbstract:William Harvey's Natural Philosophy was a view of the world that he had put together during his education in Cambridge and Padua. It contained ways of structuring knowledge, formulating questions and arriving at answers that directed the programme of work in which he discovered the circulation of the blood. This book, the most extensive discussion of Harvey to be published for over twenty-five years, reports extensively on the views of those who wrote for and against him. It is a study of a major change in Natural Philosophy and of the forces which acted for and, equally important, against change. In a period traditionally central to historians of science, it is argued here that Natural Philosophy and particularly Harvey's speciality within it - anatomy - was theocentric. Harvey's contribution was experiment; and the revolution which occurred in the seventeenth century was concerned not with science but with experiment and the status of Natural knowledge.
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William Harvey's Natural Philosophy
1994Co-Authors: Roger FrenchAbstract:List of figures Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Natural Philosophy and anatomy 2. Harvey's sources in Renaissance anatomy 3. Harvey's research programme 4. The anatomy lectures and the circulation 5. The structure of De motu cordis 6. Early reactions in England 7. Overseas 8. Two Natural philosophies 9. Circulation through Europe 10. Back to Cambridge 11. Harvey and experimental Philosophy Index.
Nicholas Maxwell - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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We Need to Recreate Natural Philosophy
Philosophies, 2018Co-Authors: Nicholas MaxwellAbstract:Modern science began as Natural Philosophy, an admixture of Philosophy and science. It was then killed off by Newton, as a result of his claim to have derived his law of gravitation from the phenomena by induction. But this post-Newtonian conception of science, which holds that theories are accepted on the basis of evidence, is untenable, as the long-standing insolubility of the problem of induction indicates. Persistent acceptance of unified theories only in physics, when endless equally empirically successful disunified rivals are available, means that physics makes a persistent, problematic metaphysical assumption about the universe: that all disunified theories are false. This assumption, precisely because it is problematic, needs to be explicitly articulated within physics, so that it can be critically assessed and, we may hope, improved. The outcome is a new conception of science—aim-oriented empiricism—that puts science and Philosophy together again, and amounts to a modern version of Natural Philosophy. Furthermore, aim-oriented empiricism leads to the solution to the problem of induction. Natural Philosophy pursued within the methodological framework of aim-oriented empiricism is shown to meet standards of intellectual rigour that science without metaphysics cannot meet.
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In Praise of Natural Philosophy: A Revolution for Thought and Life
2017Co-Authors: Nicholas MaxwellAbstract:Modern science began as Natural Philosophy. In the time of Newton, what we call science and Philosophy today – the disparate endeavours – formed one mutually interacting, integrated endeavour of Natural Philosophy: to improve our knowledge and understanding of the universe, and to improve our understanding of ourselves as a part of it. Profound, indeed unprecedented discoveries were made. But then Natural Philosophy died. It split into science on the one hand, and Philosophy on the other. This happened during the 18th and 19th centuries, and the split is now built into our intellectual landscape. But the two fragments, science and Philosophy, are defective shadows of the glorious unified endeavour of Natural Philosophy. Rigour, sheer intellectual good sense and decisive argument demand that we put the two together again, and rediscover the immense merits of the integrated enterprise of Natural Philosophy. This requires an intellectual revolution, with dramatic implications for how we understand our world, how we understand and do science, and how we understand and do Philosophy. There are dramatic implications, too, for education, and for the entire academic endeavour, and its capacity to help us discover how to tackle more successfully our immense global problems.
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In praise of Natural Philosophy: a revolution for thought and life
2017Co-Authors: Nicholas MaxwellAbstract:The central thesis of this book is that we need to reform Philosophy and join it to science to recreate a modern version of Natural Philosophy; we need to do this in the interests of rigour, intellectual honesty, and so that science may serve the best interests of humanity. The book seeks to redraw our intellectual landscape. It leads to a transformation of science, and to a transformation of Philosophy, so that these two distinct domains of thought become conjoined into one: Natural Philosophy. This in turn has far-reaching consequences for the whole academic enterprise. It transpires that we need an academic revolution. We urgently need to reorganize universities so that they become devoted to seeking and promoting wisdom by rational means – as opposed to just acquiring knowledge, as at present. Modern science began as Natural Philosophy. In the time of Newton, what we call science and Philosophy today – the disparate endeavours – formed one mutually interacting, integrated endeavour of Natural Philosophy: to improve our knowledge and understanding of the universe, and to improve our understanding of ourselves as a part of it. Profound discoveries were made, indeed one should say unprecedented discoveries. It was a time of quite astonishing intellectual excitement and achievement. And then Natural Philosophy died. It split into science on the one hand, and Philosophy on the other. This happened during the 18th and 19th centuries, and the split is now built into our intellectual landscape. But the two fragments, science and Philosophy, are defective shadows of the glorious unified endeavour of Natural Philosophy. Rigour, sheer intellectual good sense and decisive argument demand that we put the two together again, and rediscover the immense merits of the integrated enterprise of Natural Philosophy. This requires an intellectual revolution, with dramatic implications for how we understand our world, how we understand and do science, and how we understand and do Philosophy. There are dramatic implications, too, for education. And it does not stop there. For, as I will show in the final chapter, resurrected Natural Philosophy has dramatic, indeed revolutionary methodological implications for social science and the humanities, indeed for the whole academic enterprise. It means academic inquiry needs to be reorganized so that it comes to take, as its basic task, to seek and promote wisdom by rational means, wisdom being the capacity to realize what is of value in life, for oneself and others, thus including knowledge, technological know-how and understanding, but much else besides. The outcome is institutions of learning rationally designed and devoted to helping us tackle our immense global problems in increasingly cooperatively rational ways, thus helping us make progress towards a good world – or at least as good a world as possible.
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Popper's Paradoxical Pursuit of Natural Philosophy
2004Co-Authors: Nicholas MaxwellAbstract:Philosophy of science is seen by most as a meta-discipline – one that takes science as its subject matter, and seeks to acquire knowledge and understanding about science without in any way affecting, or contributing to, science itself. Karl Popper’s approach is very different. His first love is Natural Philosophy or, as he would put it, cosmology. This intermingles cosmology and the rest of Natural science with epistemology, methodology and metaphysics. Paradoxically, however, one of his best known contributions, his proposed solution to the problem of demarcation, helps to maintain the gulf that separates science from metaphysics, thus fragmenting cosmology into falsifiable science on the one hand, untestable Philosophy on the other. This has damaging repercussions for a number of issues Popper tackles, from the problem of induction to simplicity of theory and quantum theory. But his proposed solution to the demarcation problem is untenable. Metaphysical assumptions are an integral part of scientific knowledge, inherent in the persistent acceptance of unified theories against the evidence. Once this is appreciated, it becomes obvious that Natural Philosophy, a synthesis of science and Philosophy, is both more rigorous and of greater intellectual value than the two dissociated components we have today. What Popper sought for could come to full fruition. Problems that Popper tackled, from the problem of induction, to the problem of unity of theory, problems of quantum theory, and problems concerning the scope and limits of physics, all receive more adequate resolution within the new, fully-fledged Natural Philosophy.
David A Lines - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Natural Philosophy and mathematics in sixteenth century bologna
Science Education, 2006Co-Authors: David A LinesAbstract:This paper focuses on the developments experienced by Natural Philosophy and mathematics in Bologna during a period of rapid change in the relationship of the various disciplines in the faculty of Arts and Medicine. Insisting that university science was characterized by a greater vitality than the traditional historiography usually concedes, this examination first offers some comments about the place of Natural Philosophy in the Italian universities, then discusses more specifically the University of Bologna. Changes that took place in the funding of Natural Philosophy, in the designation of astronomy and mathematics, and in the cycle of books read for Natural science are all examined in turn and are complemented by a series of tables.
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Natural Philosophy in Renaissance Italy: the University of Bologna and the Beginnings of Specialization
Early Science and Medicine, 2001Co-Authors: David A LinesAbstract:In the Italian universities, there was traditionally a strong alliance between Natural Philosophy and medicine, which however was all to the advantage of the latter; its teachers were better regarded and better paid than others in the faculty of Arts and Medicine, and this led to career paths that sought out the teaching of medicine as soon as possible. This article examines a reversal of this trend observable in sixteenth-century Bologna and some other Italian universities (Pisa and Padua), leading to careers concentrating on Natural Philosophy and on the interpretation of Aristotelian works. It appears that financial incentives were part of the context leading to specialization in Philosophy. An appendix listing the careers of nearly 200 teachers of Natural Philosophy in Bologna between 1340 and 1600 illustrates the developments.
Stanley N. Salthe - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Perspectives on Natural Philosophy
Philosophies, 2018Co-Authors: Stanley N. SaltheAbstract:This paper presents a viewpoint on Natural Philosophy focusing on the organization of substance, as well as its changes as invited by the Second Law of thermodynamics. Modes of change are pointed to as definitive of levels of organization; these include physical, chemical, and biological modes of change. Conceptual uses of the subsumptive hierarchy format are employed throughout this paper. Developmental change in dissipative structures is examined in some detail, generating an argument for the use of final causality in studies of Natural systems. Considerations of ‘internalism’ in science are presented along the way.
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Natural Philosophy and developmental systems
Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 2001Co-Authors: Stanley N. SaltheAbstract:Natural Philosophy is being revived by way of grounding it in thermodynamics and information theory. This discourse systematizes information from all the sciences so that every field of knowledge of nature supports every other as parts of a concept of general evolution. The point is to construct an intelligible picture of the world. Change in material systems involves both development and evolution. General evolution is primarily developmental, and the specification hierarchy of integrative levels can be used to model it. In this hierarchy, biology is seen as a kind of material system, and social phenomena as kinds of biological systems. This pattern implies there was a tendency toward psychology on the earth. This scheme is biased by having been produced by psychological, social, biological beings, integrating humans with the rest of nature, and so it embodies valuation. Natural Philosophy welcomes values in its constructions. There has never been a culture without an origination myth; general evolution, as constructed within Natural Philosophy, differs by referring to its own genesis within a picture of the genesis of the world. Copyright © 2001 International Society for the Systems Sciences.
