Blackwell Reference Online

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A ncient G reek philosophy, philosophy of science [Greek phusikoi or phusiologi , literally the men who talk about nature; also translated as physicists, referring to the pre-Socratic philosophers, who attempted to explain the world by appeal to natural causes, in contrast to the theologi , who explained the generation and structure of the world in terms of myth and supernatural forces] Aristotle claimed that the founder of natural philosophy was Thales. Natural philosophy is concerned with the question “What is the world made of ?” and natural philosophers usually answer the question by appeal to a single material substratum , something equivalent to Aristotle's material cause. Historians of philosophy, however, generally believe that Aristotle's account is not very accurate, for natural philosophers did not have the concept of matter , and their keyword was “nature,” the principle of a thing's growth and present organization. Most of them wrote books entitled “On Nature.” “Natural philosophers have two modes of explanation. The first set make the underlying body one … The second set assert that the contrarieties are contained in the one and emerge from it by segregation.” Aristotle, Physics ... log in or subscribe to read full text