Physics
Eight books seek the principles of natural beings, characterized by an internal source of motion and rest. Matter, form, change, infinity, place, void and time are investigated before the question of a first mover.
Understanding the text
Physics here means philosophy of nature, not an experimental science organized through contemporary categories.
Key points
- 01
Change
Change requires an underlying subject and a distinction between what it already is and what it can become.
- 02
Four causes
Matter, form, moving source and end answer different explanatory questions rather than naming four competing forces.
- 03
Time and motion
Time is analyzed as the number of motion with respect to before and after, raising questions about the soul’s role in counting.
Explore the ideas in depth
Principles of nature
Aristotle asks what makes natural things and their changes intelligible. Matter, form and privation help analyze becoming, while the four kinds of cause distinguish material, form, agent and end. Explaining one thing may require several complementary answers to “why?”.
Motion, time and infinity
Later books investigate motion, place, void, time and infinity; the last leads to the question of a first mover. This ancient treatise is not a modern experimental physics textbook. It supplies an influential conceptual framework whose arguments and limitations should be read in context.
How to read it
Read books I–II for principles and IV for time; follow the objections as carefully as the definitions.
Editions & sources
- Consult the reference 1classics.mit.edunew tab
- Consult the reference 2plato.stanford.edunew tab
- Consult the reference 3classics.mit.edunew tab
Summaries and key points are original editorial interpretations. They accompany reading the work and do not replace an edition of the text. Editorial method ↗