Aristotle’s views on natural philosophy

01/04/2025 8 min Episodio 105
Aristotle’s views on natural philosophy

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Episode Synopsis

John Vespasian explains that Aristotle’s views on the natural world established the basis of scientific thought and civilisation. Aristotle’s philosophy is relaying on experience, observation, and logical reasoning. His approach to natural philosophy consists of studying the cosmos and nature through careful observation and analysis. His three foundational works in this area are “Metaphysics,” “Physics” and “On the Heavens.” In “Metaphysics,” Aristotle introduced his theory of the four causes. This theory creates a framework for understanding how nature works. According to the four-cause theory, all entities in the world can be analysed by identifying their material cause (what they are made of), formal cause (their structure or shape), efficient cause (what brings them into existence) and final cause (their purpose of goal). By applying observation and the four-cause theory, Aristotle established a classification of objects and animals. In his work titled “History of Animals,” he categorised animals according to their mode of reproduction and whether they possess blood. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/aristotles-views-on-natural-philosophy/