The Order of Nature in Aristotle\'s Physics: Place and the Elements

The book demonstrates a method for reading the texts of Aristotle by revealing a continuous line of argument running from the Physics to De Caelo. The author analyses a group of arguments that are almost always treated in isolation from one another, and reveals their elegance and coherence. She concludes by asking why these arguments remain interesting even though we now believe they are absolutely wrong and have been replaced by better ones. The book establishes the case that we must rethink our approach to Aristotle’s physical science and Aristotelian texts, and as such will provoke debate and stimulate new thinking amongst philosophers, classicists, and historians of science.

• Aristotle remains one of the most widely studied of all philosophers • An alternative reading of Aristotle’s views of the physical world showing its coherence and elegance

Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Part I. Place: 1. Aristotle’s physics and the problem of nature; 2. Nature and motion; 3. Place; 4. Void; Part II. The Elements: 5. Inclination: an ability to be moved; 6. Inclination as heaviness and lightness; 7. Inclination: the natures and activities of the elements; Part III. Nature As a Cause of Order: 8. The order of nature in Aristotle’s physics; Bibliography of works cited; Subject and name index; Index of Aristotelian texts.