SUMMARY OF PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE

REVISION ON PHILOSOPHY NATURE

1.      Argument on the number of principle. In what sense is principle or the basic stuff infinite?

Being is One in what sense? How do we understand one? For we can mean by ‗one‘ what is (1) continuous, (2) indivisible (3) essentially same. If the first is the case, then being is plenty or many, for what is continuous is divisible ad infinitum. In this regard, the problem of the relation between the whole and the parts is raised which leads to second sense of oneness. If they are one because they are indivisible, then nothing will have quantity or quality. From which it follows that the one will not be infinite which refers to quantity. Nor will it be limited according to Parmenides, for though a limit is indivisible, the limited is not. The former is the end or terminus ad quem, while the latter is a mobile (one is a measure and the other is measurable.) If the third sense is used, then is it to be maintained that all things are one because they have the same definition? This is Heraclitean doctrine; it will be the same thing to be good and to be bad; man will be man and horse as the same time. Then nothing will make sense anymore. Melissus Countered Next, he concludes on what should be taken: ―What ‗is‘ may be many either in definition (as one thing may be ‗white‘ and ‗musical‘ at the same time) or by division (as the whole and its parts); or in potency and actuality (for ‗one‘ may mean either ‗potentially one‘ or ‗actually one‘. With this analysis, we see immediately that it is impossible for all things to be one.

2.      i. According to Aristotle, how many principles of being are there for a scientific understanding of motion or change in natural things?

There are three principles of being namely, matter, form and privation.

ii. How are these principles related to each other?

Matter: It is that in which generation takes place. It is a passive potency which receives the form and cannot act on itself. Without the matter, the form does not exist, but matter receives the form. It cannot be completely without form or privation. Finally, it is that in which the privation and the form are understood.

Form:  This is the structure and function of a thing. It is what allows prime matter to become substance. It is an active potency which brings existence to matter and matter cannot be known without the form. Once there is form, the matter is in existence and known. It is through it a thing comes to be in act.

Privation: privation is a principle which qualifies the matter. It is the proper potency/aptitude for a form and leaves once the form comes which makes it not to be among the causes. It is seen in becoming and not in existing. It is non-existence in act. Matter is never entirely without privation which makes privation necessary for generation. In fact, it is same in subject with matter but differ in definition. Privation is necessary for generation because it qualifies the matter and describes the form it takes.

Finally, whereas matter and form are per se principles, thus, constituting in the definition of a thing, privation is a per accidens principle because it is coincident with matter and without it, the matter will still be in existence, hence, it is not included in the definition of a thing.

iii. Evaluate his position in relation to the two schools of thought on the existence of motion.

The monist school states that the principle is just one. This implies non existence of motion. To this, Aristotle posits that the principle cannot be one since there cannot be one contrary. If it is just one principle, it has to be the principle of another thing. Another group states that there is infinite principles. To this, Aristotle argues that there cannot be infinites principles for that will imply that being cannot be known. Aristotle, thus posited a finite principles, but they are more than two since two contraries cannot act on themselves but on a subject (substratum). They cannot be more than three, because that will imply the existence of more than one substratum.

3.      How many are the causes of beings and explain their relative priorities.

There are four kinds of causes of beings namely:

Ø  Material cause- that of which a thing is made of.

Ø  Formal cause- the statement of the essence and its general. 

Ø  Efficient cause-that which brings something about. The primary source of change or coming to rest.

Ø  Final cause- that for the sake of which a thing is done or made. Hence, it explains the purpose a thing serves, that, for the sake of which the efficient cause acts. The intention of the agent.

Regarding theirPriority, the final and the formal causes are prior to material and efficient causesaccording to reason, conversely, material and efficient causes are prior tofinal and formal causes in respect to existence.

4.      What is Nature and why is it necessary to have a science/philosophy of Nature?

Nature is the principle of motion and rest in that in which it is primarily and per se and not according to accident. All object of nature have in themselves a principle of their motion.

It is necessary to have a science of Nature because it offers us the tools needed for scientific knowledge. Science is knowledge by causes and it is by knowing the cause of a thing that one is able to see and explain why a conclusion is true. This is what science of nature does, hence,it is important in knowledge acquisition.

ii. How is nature said to be the following:

b.      a. principle: It is an intrinsic (inherent) property of motion that enables it to act or be acted on. It is the starting point of the philosophy of nature.

c.       a cause: Nature causes something to move and makes it also to remain at rest when it reaches its proper place

d.      a matter: nature is a subject insofar as it is called matter, which underlies each natural thing.

e.       a form: nature is in a subject insofar as it is called form, which is the act of a thing. Nature is form because it is the principle of coming to be in a specie and also the cause of growth of what has come to be. It is that which give act to nature.

f.        Substance: in the sense that it is in the substance that the accidents of a thing inhere.

iii. How is the subject matter of science of nature different from that of Mathematics and Metaphysics?

Whereas natural science treat of things within the boundaries of natural bodies, mathematics treats of what is abstracted from motion and matter. While natural science demonstrates through the four causes of being, mathematics demonstrates only through the formal cause and metaphysics demonstrates principally from the formal and final causes but secondarily efficient cause.The object of science of nature depends on matter for its existence and definition, while the object of metaphysics is independent of matter for its existence and definition.

5.      i. What is chance? Is chance one of the causes of beings? What is its genus and species as a cause?

Chance is defined as the accidental cause of exceptional or unintended results of choice or nature acting for another purpose. Things in nature are regular acting in the same way unless impeded, but chance are unintended, unforeseen and exceptional. Impediment of nature results to chance. For Aristotle, chance is anything exceptional to the rule. It is called fortune or luck when it concerns human beings and can be reduced to efficient cause. Aristotle’s view on chance is that once you hold that everything is by chance, there cannot be science.

Yes, chance is one of the causes of beings. Its genus and species are cause and accidental respectively.

ii. Does nature acts for an end or by chance?This is a critique of Darwinism- natural selection by chance.

Nature is among the number of causes which act for the sake of something. For things which do not know the end do not tend toward the end unless they are directed by one who does know, as the arrow is directed by the archer. Hence if nature acts for an end, it is necessary that it be ordered by someone who is intelligent. This is the work of providence. Nature acts for an end. This is because unlike chance, nature is known by its regular and ordered motion or occurrence since nature acts in the same way unless impeded. It is obvious that art act for a definite end with determinate means. In production, before a thing is produced the producer must have known the end, that is, the purpose of the intended product. Consequently, the end of a house built is for shelter, a car is for transportation etc. Since art is an imitation of nature, it follows that nature act for an end. More so, in nature, form is the end of matter. The end is not in the matter but in the final cause. The final cause is always in the agent who is the natural being that orders things. since natural things are ordered, they must have been ordered by an agent for an end. For things that are ordered cannot have ordered themselves.

iii. Do things necessarily come to be as a result of matter or end?

The end necessitates the choice of matter. The end is the ultimate purpose or cause of things. Matter is necessarily relative to the end. But the end is not due to matter.Matte is necessary for the end of a thing to be in act. So matter is necessary in nature and change on the matter. The end in things connotes that things have intelligence in them.

The Priority of end in the intellect: the cause of matter is the end and not vice versa. Thus, an agent is needed in uniting the matter with the end. For to posit that matter is the cause of the end is to affirms Dawkins who denies the agent. He held this view because whereas the end is not a principle for action but reasoning, matter is the principle for action. The root of this error is ignorance of motion. But  things are made or generated based on their end that is based on the ‘why’ or reason behind it for it is not a chance event. Things implies that the necessity of matter is conditional because of its end. Hence, the world does not necessarily evolved because of the nature of matter but matter with its nature is put in place in view of the universe that isbe evolved.Necessity which depends on prior causes are absolute. The prior causes according to intellect is end while prior cause according to nature is matter. Form is the end of generation. Necessity from formal and efficient ( or the agent) causes are absolute. E.g. in the alteration of night and day, the efficient cause is the sun. while necessity resulting from posterior things in existence is provisional not absolute.

Epistemologically, operationally, and in act, matter is prior to the end while ontologically and in potency the end is prior to the matter.Finally, for a thing to be, there must be an agent who must give form to matter.

Aristotle’s levels of Cognition: every material thing is quantitative. The intellect grasp quantity via quality. Quality is like form inherent in quantity. How the multiplicities are perceived as unity in the act of knowing. It is by the apprehension of things in their qualities by the senses. Quantities and qualities are first apprehended as foundation of unity in the multiplicity of sensible data. The human intellect cannot comprehend multiplicity as such (for that is chaos) but modifies it. Thus the human intellect looks for order, regularity and uniformity which are found in the form. The form is reveal through operation. Unity is attained on different level- senses, memory, intellect by different power of the soul, namely,  memory, intellect and will. In these levels, knowledge is attained when the intellect knows the end. The unity in diversity is known through the form, the seat of intelligibility that is the organising, regular, operational, uniting and ordering  principle in things.

Motion is reducible to quantity because operation flows from the form (quality) but this operation is known to us in the intellect through the matter (quantity). hence, quantity is the first category of motion.

6.      i. What is motion in philosophy of nature? List the properties of motion, and justify the definition of motion by Aristotle.

Motion is the act of that which is in potency insofar as it is in potency. It otherwise means an act of a mobile insofar as it is mobile. Its justification: its formal causes namely potency and act are prior to motion.This is because motion is neither the potency of a thing existing in potency for some things are actually in potency, nor the act of a thing in act. But, it is the act of a thing in potency where the word “act” designates its relation to a prior potency and the words “of a thing in potency” designate its relation to a further act. To set a thing in motion means to cause it to pass from potency to act. The implication of this principle is that only a thing which is in act can bring another from potentiality to actuality.

The properties of motion are space, place, time and infinity. All are extrinsic to motion except infinity which is intrinsic.

ii. How many types of motion are there? How do they relate to the categories/genera of beings?

There are three kinds of motion which are: qualitative motion called alteration- a change within the same kind from a lesser to a greater degree, quantitative motion based on growth. Here, motion towards complete magnitude is called increase while towards contraries is called decrease. Finally, motion in respect of place or locomotion (local motion) and continuity and contrary extremes exist in them. 

iii. what are the factors involve in motion?

There are five factors that are involved when we talk of motion namely: that which directly causes motion(the efficient cause or the mover), that which is in motion (the mobile or the subject of motion), that in which motion takes place (i.e. time), that from which motion proceeds (the starting point or terminus ad quo) and that to which motion proceeds (the end terminal that is terminus ad quem).

iv. How is motion continuous  or continuum and divisible or contiguous?

When the end points of species are one i.e. touches, continues and become one, they are said to be continuous. But when they touch, don’t continue and becomes two actual points, it is contiguous. According to Aristotle, those things that are composed of parts have extremities that are one or together. Thus, those extremities that are one are called continuous (continuum) while those that touch themselves without being in constant movement are contiguous. Continuous things are those things which are composed of points which do touch one another, continues in motion or rest and do not break. Consequently, motion is continuous.

Aristotle argues that, in continuous things, there will always be the existence of two points, the first point where the thing moved from to where it is moving or moved to. Since there are two points for a moving object, it therefore follows that there will be difference in position and time for continuous things where the change in position is associated with magnitude.

However, since magnitude and motion are correlated, he opines that magnitude is divisible because of the difference in positions for a moving or moved object. He thereby added that motion is divisible since magnitude is divisible.

iii. Relate Aristotelian understanding of motion to that of modern physics.

7.      Write short note on the following:

i.                    Primematter: this is pure potency. It is the substantial underlying reality of all things, and as such has the potential to become anything. It has no physical appearance, quality or quantity. It has no form and therefore cannot be known. It is that which is in potency for substantial existence. It has no form or privation but subject to them. There is no other matter before it.

ii.                  Potency: These are those things which can be but are not. It is the ability of a thing to achieve a determinate end.

iii.                Act: These are those things which already exist. It is the acquisition of the form by matter.

iv.                Principle:"that from which something comes in any way". Thus something is able to be a "principle" without being a cause, as the starting-point of a motion.

v.                  Element: it is that material cause for which a thing is primarily composed of, which is in that thing and is not divided by the form.

vi.                Existence: Whenever the matter takes a form, there is existence. Form is that which gives existence to matter and because form causes existence in act, therefore form is the act. There are two forms of existence: Substantial existence which is “matter from which” existence begins and accidental existence which is “matter in which” accidental changes can take place without affecting the subject. Substance (subject) is the being while predicates are on it. The subject has already a complete existence but can only experience accidental change. Man is a substantial existence while man’s colour is accidental.

vii.              Generation: this is the movement to existence. It is a change from non-existence to existence and a change to form. It takes place from a non-being which is in potency to being while Corruption is the movement from existence to non-existence. Matter and efficient causes are absolute necessity for generation while conditional necessities are causes after generation i.e. completeness which are end and formal causes

viii.            There are two forms of generation: Those things that come into being and are called generation simpliciter which is the substantial form and the things come into being as something and are called generation secundum quid which is the accidental form. It is already in being, but the changes that take place in it are accidental changes. There three conditions for generation which are matter, privation and form.

ix.                Matter: Matter is the primary substratum of each thing, from which it comes to be without qualification, and which persists in the result. Matter is in potency to the thing generated and in a sense its substance, since it enters its constitution or constitution of its substance. So it is here likened to substance.

x.                  Form is something divine and very good and desirable, for every form is divine since every form is a certain perfection in likeness of the divine. Each thing in act has form. Form is the perfection and good of a potency.

xi.                Privation is non-being; it is the negation of a form in a subject, and is outside the whole being. Privation relates to evil for it is privation or negation of form-good.

xii.              Substance:

xiii.            Fortune is a per accidens cause in those things which come to be in a few instances according to what is proposed for the sake of an end. Only intellectual beings/agents act by fortune.

xiv.            Rest is a privation of motion, it can be seen to be a contrary

8.      i. Make a case for a beginning of the universe given Aristotle’s position that motion is divisible if and only if the mobile is divisible; the mobile is divisible if and only if magnitude is divisible; and magnitude is divisible if and only if time is divisible.

ii. Explain why generation and corruption are not motion.

Generation and corruption are not motion because they are instantaneous change while motion is continuous. Whereas generation is simple coming forth, corruption is simple going out. Generation is not motion because what does not exist cannot be moved, and if it exists it is already generated. Hence, generation is a change from nonbeing to being that takes place between contradictories, while corruption is a change from being to nonbeing between contradictory terminals. However, motion occurs between generation and corruption. Thus, only the change from subject to subject (i.e. two affirmative contraries or intermediaries) is motion i.e. from a being to another being which signify two terminals (black to white).

iii. What do you understand by the following statements:Time is not a bundle of “nows” and motion is not a bundle of “no-motions”,

Furthermore, as it has already been established that time is considered as before, now and future and ‘now’ as that which terminates the past and begins the future which is not contiguous but continuous since time is not an aggregate of indivisible ‘nows’. A particular ‘now’ is indivisible and therefore has no motion. Does it then means that there is no motion in time since time is considered in the ‘now’ which is already past? He answers that considering that there is difference in the ‘now’ and a former ‘now’, then the time between the two ‘nows’ are divisible. Motion resides at this time between the two ‘nows’. Motion is accordingly divided to time since there is difference in time and less motion in less time and vice versa.

The finite is not in the infinite, but infinite is in the finite?

iv. Write short notes on the following:

Ø  Infinite: It is an intrinsic property of motion According to Aristotle, Infinite exists as something in potency; it is that which is not to be entirely in act or be in act at once, but can be in act part after part. Infinite is that beyond which there is always something. Thus, like motion, it is partly  in act and partly in potency.

Ø  Place is the immobile surface of that which primarily contains a body. It is what contains that of which it is the place while remaining distinct from it. It is the immediate place of a thing i.e. the immediate boundary of a thing. it is the boundary of the containing body, while the contained body is what is apt to be moved in respect to place.

Ø  Void: Place is in a space while a thing is in a place. The remaining part of a place in a space not occupied by the thing, is the void. There is still void for compressible things to allow for compression. This is a place in which there is nothing i.e. no object. But for Aristotle, nature abhors vacuum and it is difficult to get void in nature. So, void does not exist.

Ø  Space: It is seen as an absolute dimension that does not change. Like the four dimensions of a room. It does not change the dimensions of the body that fills it. In fact, it does not affect the state of the body. it is the generality of places but when marked out, it becomes a place. Some philosophers argue that there can be neither duration nor succession in space.

Ø  Time: it is in the numbering of motion according to before and after i.e. as it crosses different points of place. It is a measure of motion, basically, local motion in its duration essentially (hours, days) and also in its being (continuous and numerable). It is also a measure of rest for those things that are not moving but have motion at a point. Therefore, time is everywhere both in things in motion and those at rest. Itis divisible. It talks about how short or long an event lasts when it occurs in so far as it is a continuum and much or little in so far as it is a number. Time, as a number (much or little), the minimum is one e.g. a year, day or second. But as a continuum (long or short), it can be divided into smaller parts just like magnitude. Time is linked with movement  that is something in motion and change. Time is that by which movement can be numerically estimated. Movement is measured by the time and time is measured by the movement, they define each other. It enables things to change; therefore, there is change because there is time. It cannot be pointed as an actual thing, are not extended in space, not sensible objects and has no location. It deals with events. Without events, there is no time because in talking about time, we talk about temporal sequence of events within space. It is the duration of events. Time is related to event in that events make time but there is no event outside now which is always in the past. The future is not an actuality. It is the same everywhere but different due to the event by reason of before and after. Time  is infinite in potency but finite in being. It is a continuum but discrete in relation to motion and events.

Ø  Now: Is applied in terms of ‘now’ in so far as it is not always the same but in as much as it is the conception of ‘before’ and ‘after’ (i.e. events succeeding one another from the past, through the present to future). The ‘now’ is a point in time, an instant, a moment. Time is known through the now. Now is the various points in the difference between the before and the after. The culmination of those instances makes up the time. That is why now seems to be continuous and a boundary of time. E.g. he has now come, he came at 2:00pm, it happened then. In its strict sense, now is the end of the past and a beginning of the future making it continuous. In fact, it measures time and if there is no time, there is no now and vice versa. Now is our most immediate experience of time and once experienced, ceases to be but becomes past. Now distinguishes the past from the present. It points to a moment, an instant.

a.        

v. How is motion in the moved and the mover?

movers are in potency of moving the mobile and being moved because its movement is concurrent with the mobiles. Since what the mover causes by acting and what the moved receives in being acted upon are one and the same thing, so, motion in so far as it proceeds from the mover to the mobile is an act of the mover (action, efficient cause: act of the agent) but in as much as it is in the mobile from the mover, it is an act of the mobile (passion, effect: act of the patient).

How is infinity in finite?

Sensible things have infinite in the finite only in potency but such things are finite in act. This is potential infinity. Actual infinity is that beyond which there is nothing and is not experienced in nature such cannot move. That is why God is infinite

i.                    What is a cause?

A Cause simply means ‘that which produces an effect; a person or thing that makes something happen. Again, it may mean ‘the reason for something; a factor that justifies something; an aim, a principle or a movement that is strongly defended or supported. Cause is necessary in nature because the three principles of nature are not sufficient for generation

9.      Use any of the five ways of Aquinas to demonstrate the existence of a First Mover.

ii.                  Given that motion always requires a subject, explain St. Aquinas’s distinction between creation and evolution.

evolution is in time, it is a change of form.

iii. Given the relationship between time and motion, make a case for the end or eternity of the universe as we know it.

The First Way: The Argument from Motion (Ex Motu)

Aquinas employs Aristotle’s potentiality and actuality in order to explain the existence of God from motion. Everything which moves goes from potentiality to actuality. It is an actual motion that converts a potential motion into an actual motion. Each thing is moved by something else but this sequence of motion cannot extend ad infinitum. Thus, it is necessary to arrive at a first mover, put in motion by no other and this first unmoved mover is what we call God. However, Aristotle asserts that since everything that is moved is moved between two termini, the motion of the infinite mobile objects is finite. There is a finite motion in the whole series of motion. Secondly, in his postulation of series of motion, he posits that there cannot be an eternal series of motion because basically, there will be a first mover and a first moved in the series. Though there are different causes of motion in the series, there is an ultimate cause of motion which though causes motion but is itself uncaused and unmoved. If there is something which is moved by another, it is necessary to come to a first that is not moved by another to be able to experience motion. Thus, we must come to a first unmoved mover and if this first does not act, the last does not act and there will be no mover or moved. Therefore, the first moving cause in the whole universe must not be moveable even per accidens.

In view of the fact that there is no infinite series of moved movers and there is immobility of the first mover from the perpetuity of motion, Aristotle views the Eternal as the “Prime Mover” and “Uncaused Cause” and this Prime Mover, Aquinas calls God. For Aristotle, therefore, there is a single continuous perpetual motion which accounts for and is prior to all earthly generation and corruption and that is the Unmoved mover.

Finally, the Unmoved Mover is the first mover in the series of movers. He is not in motion but imparts motion, and as such, he is the ultimate Cause of motion. And if he does not act, there will be no motion as he is the initiator of motion. He is known as God.