EAN: 9783319212623

SPRINGERBRIEFS IN HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNO...

This book presents a recasting of Aristotle's theory of spatial displacement of inanimate
objects. Aristotle's claim that projectiles are actively carried by the media through which
they move (such as air or water) is well known and has drawn the attention of commentators from
ancient to modern times. What is lacking  however  is a systematic investigation of the
consequences of his suggestion that the medium always acts as the direct instrument of
locomotion  be it natural or forced  while original movers (e.g. stone throwers  catapults 
bowstrings) act indirectly by impressing moving force into the medium. Filling this gap and
guided by discussions in Aristotle's Physics and On the Heavens  the present volume shows that
Aristotle's active medium enables his theory - in which force is proportional to speed - to
account for a large class of phenomena that Newtonian dynamics - in which force is proportional
to acceleration - accounts for through the concept of inertia. By applying Aristotle's medium
dynamics to projectile flight and to collisions that involve reversal of motion  the book
provides detailed examples of the efficacy and coherence that the active medium gives to
Aristotle's discussions. The book is directed primarily to historians of ancient  medieval  and
early modern science  to philosophers of science and to students of Aristotle's natural
philosophy.

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