Paper Example on Contribution of Aristotle

Introduction

Aristotle is a scientist and philosopher of Greek origin who lived between 384 BC and 322. In Western history, he was an intellectual figure. Even after the Renaissance, Reformation, as well as Enlightenment, the concepts of Aristotle remained embedded in thinking of the Western people (Makin 43). The philosopher had a vast intellectual range that covered most of the sciences and arts. This paper will discuss how Aristotle contributed to his scientific field of physics.

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The Contributions in Physics

Aristotle invented the categorical syllogism logic. Concisely, syllogism shows a particular form of reasoning in which a conclusion has two premises. The premises have a common term associating them together (De Groot 248). The logical deduction is at the epitome of all famous achievements of Aristotle. He developed a logical procedure that can be used for concluding a statement depending on the available propositions. The propositions can be either facts or assumptions. The syllogism theory has attained a significant influence on western logic history. The logical reasoning can be applied in the scientific field of physics to solve problems (Rovelli 485). Importantly, the philosopher introduced new frontiers in scientific fields, specifically in physics. For instance, Aristotle believed that motion could cause any kind of change. His definition of motion is the actuality of potentiality. As such, he understood that physics is a part of theoretical science that tended to be in sync with the natural philosophy.

In his theory of motion, Aristotle established that everyone could move from a given place to another. Different bodies can occupy the place left behind by a person. Therefore, a place is not identical to the body occupying it at a time. From this aspect, Aristotle argued that human beings are both on Earth and in the universe (Makin 47). The universe is commonplace for everything. However, the universe is not a place in any way since it does not have a container outside. In this manner, Aristotle's description of place differs from Isaac Newton's theory of space. Aristotle believed that place existed because of the bodies occupying it.

Moreover, Aristotle came up with the theory of matter. In his arguments, he established that change could occur in various categories. For example, there may be a change in substance category like when something changes to another (Rovelli 29). When some substance changes in quality or quantity, it remains the same throughout. However, he believed that when a substance turns into another, then matter persists. He defined matter as anything that is not describable by the categories of being. In essence, life may provide different examples of matter that change a given kind to another.

An example is the case of a bottle with cream turning to butter after shaking. Therefore, whatever comes out of the bottle is similar to what went in since there is no addition or subtraction even though the substances are different in kind. Aristotle derived his notion of matter from these cases (De Groot et al. 249). Furthermore, Aristotle explained the theory of gravity. He believed that all bodies have to move to their natural places. However, the natural places depend on the composition of natural elements. For instance, since most of the commonplace liquids have water as a partial component, they move towards water bodies. The philosopher did not believe in the existence of vacuums and argued that in case they existed, then the terrestrial motion is infinitely fast in vacuums (Rovelli 34). In his description of celestial motion, Aristotle considered crystal spheres are comprising of the sun, stars, as well as the moon. These spheres do not change their circular motion. He established the concept of unmoved mover entailing moving other things yet the substance that moves such things is not moved.

Aristotle argued that the Earth was spherical in its actual nature. He concluded that the Earth is a sphere as he was able to see stars but was unable to see further north. In his philosophy, Aristotle discusses substantial and accidental forms of substances. As such, he argued that in the substantial forms, the substance is universal and serves as a predicate of the second substance while an accidental form predicates the first substance (Makin 58). Ideally, for one to gain or lose substantial forms, the nature of predicating substances has to be changed. In his different treaties, he described the setup of the world with similarities to the theorists of the pre-Socratic era. Regarding the makeup of the universe, he embraced the view of Empedocles that the creation of everything emanated from varying compositions.

Conclusion

Precisely, Aristotle made substantial contributions to the scientific field of physics. In his theories, treaties and philosophical works, Aristotle established the scope of observing nature, as well as theorizing about physics by the Western culture. If Aristotle had not made significant strides in physics, Newtonian physics could not have been successful. Due to the vastness of his intellectual range, he discussed different aspects and concepts in physics that are even applicable in the contemporary world of science.

Works Cited

De Groot, Jean, and Sylvia Berryman. "Aristotle's Empiricism: Experience and Mechanics in the 4th Century BC." Aestimatio: Critical Reviews in the History of Science 11 (2016): 248-252.

Makin, Stephen. "Potentiality in Aristotle's Physics and Biology." Handbook of Potentiality. Springer, Dordrecht, 2018. 45-70.

Rovelli, Carlo. "Aristotle's Physics: A Physicist's look." Journal of the American Philosophical Association 1.1 (2015): 23-40.

Rovelli, Carlo. "Physics Needs Philosophy. Philosophy Needs Physics." Foundations of Physics 48.5 (2018): 481-491.