The Order of Nature in Aristotle's Physics

With the account of the nature and activities of the elements, the analysis of place and the elements is complete. Taken together “the where,” i.e., place and not void, and inclination, i.e., the active orientation of each element toward its respective proper place, exhibit the order of nature in Aristotle's physics. Nature is always a cause of order, and that order is constituted within the world by two principles. Place is the first limit of the containing body and renders the cosmos orderly in respect to direction; thus the cosmos exhibits “up,” “down,” “left,” “right,” “front,” and “back” immediately and intrinsically in itself. Second, inclination constitutes the very nature of each element as an intrinsic source of being moved toward its proper place, e.g., up for fire and down for earth; consequently, elemental motion is never random or irregular because, in the absence of hindrance, each element cannot fail to be moved toward (and to rest in) its proper place.

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• The Science of Harmonics in Classical Greece

  Open Access•Andrew Barker•Science of Harmonics in Classical…•2007

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