Natural Principles

The Basic Principles of Nature

Aristotle's Physics begins with an in-depth discussion on the basic principles of nature. Aristotle says that there are a certain number of basic principles that can account for nature’s processes. Aristotle came to the idea of the basic principles by synthesizing the theories of philosophers and drawing out the underlying principles that they all had in common. Aristotle found that the primary cause of all things coming to be is matter, form, and privation. 1In order to come to these conclusions of matter, form, and privation, Aristotle had to consider his predecessors theories. He was able to then find the truth and error in their arguments. He then commenced to dispel the error while retaining and applying the truth to his own philosophy. By coming up with his new theory he was able to correct problems using the theories of the early philosophers.

By studying all Pre-Socratic philosophical ideas concerning the basic principles, Aristotle was able to deduct the common denominator, common to all Pre-Socratic ideas, which was that in nature the basic principles had to be contradictory.

Thales was a mathematician that studied in Egypt and is well-known for his famous theorem about right angles. 2He is also celebrated for stating that water was the only principle of nature because without water all living things will die. The contraries of the water theory were the condensing and rarefying of the water which would make it into different forms.

Another example is Anaximenes, who said air was the primary source of nature because most things need oxygen to live. Anaximenes explains his doctrine of change by air: “ [Air] differs in essence in accordance with its rarity or density. Whe...

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...ange though its form may change solved the problem that some philosophers had of not believing in prime matter.

Aristotle’s analysis of the basic principles of the early philosophers was only the first step to his search for the discovery of the source of all natural processes. By establishing his first general argument for these basic principles matter, form and privation Aristotle could go on to investigate a variety of different topics, ranging from general topics like motion, causality, time, to systematic assessments and accounts of natural phenomena for all different kinds of natural entities.

Bibliography

1. Aristotle, Physics or Natural Healing. Edited by Glen Coughlin. south bend, IN: St. Augustine’s Press, 2004.

2. Fieser, James and Bradley Dowden. “Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.” 1995. http://www.iep.utm.edu/ (accessed Apr. 29, 2011).