Aristotle's Science of Matter and Motion / / Christopher Byrne.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2018 English
• VerfasserIn: Byrne, Christopher,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2018]; ©2018
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (208 p.)

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’s focus is 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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: The Case against an Aristotelian Physics -- 1. Motion and Change in Perceptible Objects -- 2. Efficient Causality in Perceptible Objects -- 3. The Material Causes of Perceptible Objects -- 4. The Material Elements and Prime Matter -- 5. Simple Physical Necessity in the Material Elements -- 6. Simple Physical Necessity in Objects Made out of the Elements -- 7. The Dual Nature of Perceptible Objects -- 8. Matter and the Soul -- 9. The Role of Teleological Explanation -- 10. Conclusion: The Independence of the Material Cause -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index of Texts from Aristotle