The problem of motion: mediaeval and modern
Following the doctrine of St. Albertus Magnus and St. Thomas Aquinas, I offer an Aristotelian definition of motion in terms of act and potency. I argue that this definition of motion is needed in order to understand the natural world and that it is compatible with the mathematical physics that was d...
| Published in: | Science et esprit |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Bellarmin
2005
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| In: |
Science et esprit
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Movement
/ Concept of
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| RelBib Classification: | VA Philosophy |
| Summary: | Following the doctrine of St. Albertus Magnus and St. Thomas Aquinas, I offer an Aristotelian definition of motion in terms of act and potency. I argue that this definition of motion is needed in order to understand the natural world and that it is compatible with the mathematical physics that was developed in the 17th century. Furthermore, this understanding of motion avoids two mistakes. On the one hand, it avoids the temptation, to which Ockham infamously yielded, of understanding motion exclusively in terms of form and of losing thereby the genuinely successive character of motion. On the other hand, it avoids the tendency, characteristic of modern thinkers like Descartes, to reduce motion to a purely mathematical entity bereft of any causes, qualities, or substantial existence. |
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| ISSN: | 0316-5345 |
| Contains: | In: Science et esprit
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