|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Emily asked:
|
|
I have to do a report for my 8th grade science class. The question is to compare Aristotle's ideas on
motion with the ideas of motion of current philosophers. What are the differences between the two, if
any and who are the current philosophers who discuss this?
|
|
============
|
|
I can offer a little guidance. Aristotle had a number of ideas about motion that were accepted as true
up until around the time of Galileo (the early 1600's). For example, Aristotle believed that when we
throw a ball, some of the force we put on it remains with the ball to keep it moving, but gradually gets
used up.
|
|
Galileo had a different explanation — one we now accept. The force only acts on the ball while we
are in contact with it. Once it leaves our hand, it is the inertia of the ball (its resistance to a change in
its speed and direction) which means it keeps going, and only another force (air resistance) will stop
it.
|
|
I haven't given a full account of the differences between Aristotle's understanding and ours. You can
look them up elsewhere. Nevertheless, there are several interesting things to say about this.
|
|
Galileo used a different way of working out motion from Aristotle. Aristotle observed and then thought.
Galileo did these two, but then he tried experiments to test whether his thoughts were accurate. With
this change, Galileo moved the study of motion from philosophy to science — indeed, some people
will say that he invented modern science by doing so.
|
|
Consequently, it is no longer philosophers who generate ideas about motion. Now, it is scientists. So,
I cannot answer your last question. (Philosophers discuss the importance of Galileo and how science
works, but they don't discuss ideas of how motion works any more).
|
|
Another interesting thing, though, is this. Many people, when they think about motion, think about it in
ways very similar to how Aristotle did. This is because Aristotle's way seems more in line with our
experience. The "scientific" way is not so easy to understand. This is one of the reasons why learning
the Laws of Motion can be so hard — we have to learn to think about the world in a different way.
|
|
Tim Sprod
|
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
