Difference between revisions of "Natural philosophy"

Revision as of 20:53, August 3, 2014

GOD IS DEAD

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-'''Natural philosophy''' is a branch of metaphysical philosophy treating the natural world, that is, real entities belonging to grades of being inferior in power to man, the angels and God.
+GOD IS DEAD
-"Metaphysical" is a word meant to distinguish an anciently established division between two different types of knowledge.  In Western Civilization's earliest surviving complete philosophical work, the ''Charmides'' by [[Plato]], the distinction is drawn between bodies of knowledge that produce a practical result, and those that do not.  Natural philosophy has been categorized as a theoretical, speculative or "metaphysical" rather than a practical branch of philosophy (like, for example, ethics).  Bodies of knowledge that guide arts and draw upon the philosophical knowledge of nature may produce practical results, but these subsidiary sciences (e.g. architecture or medicine) go beyond natural philosophy.
-==Methods of natural philosophy==
-Natural philosophers render account of nature by
-*observing and describing nature including the gathering of observations and descriptions of others
-*attempting measurements of physical quantities and distinguishing samenesses and differences of qualities in order to compare and contrast various phenomena
-*arranging reasonings from known facts into arguments, attempting to prove or explain things less known, while refining definitions of the arguments' mediating ideas to ensure the judgments composing the arguments work together logically
-*testing one's arguments by applying them to further cases and comparing them against the ideas of others.
-==Origins of natural philosophy==
-Western natural philosophy began with eminent [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] pre-Socratic philosophers such as [[Thales]], [[Anaximander]], possibly [[Pythagoras]], [[Heraclitus]], [[Anaxagoras]], [[Empedocles]] and [[Philolaus]], many of whom were involved in various schools.  For example, Anaximander and Thales belonged to the Milesian school.  [[Plato]], briefly and [[Aristotle]] at length, in works that survived to today, continued these studies of nature.
-==Presuppositions of natural philosophy==
-Natural philosophy presupposes that change is a reality.  Although this may seem obvious, there have been some philosophers who have denied the concept of change, such as Plato's predecessor [[Parmenides]] and later Greek philosopher [[Sextus Empiricus]], and perhaps some Eastern philosophers.  [[George Santayana]], in his ''Scepticism and Animal Faith'', attempted to show that the reality of change cannot be proven.  If his reasoning is sound, it follows that to be a physicist, one must restrain one's skepticism enough to trust one's senses.
-==Branches and subject matter of natural philosophy==
-Major branches of natural philosophy include [[astronomy]] and [[cosmology]], the study of nature on the grand scale;  [[etiology]], the study of (intrinsic and sometimes extrinsic) [[cause]]s; the study of [[chance]], probability and randomness; the study of [[chemical element|element]]s; the study of the [[Infinity|infinite]] and the unlimited (virtual or actual); the study of [[matter]]; [[mechanics]], the study of translation of motion and change; the study of [[nature]] or the various sources of actions; the study of natural [[quality|qualities]]; the study of physical [[quantity|quantities]]; the study of relations between physical entities; and the philosophy of [[space]] and [[time]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Adler|first=Mortimer J.|authorlink=Mortimer Adler|title=The Four Dimensions of Philosophy:  Metaphysical, Moral, Objective, Categorical|publisher=Macmillan|year=1993|isbn=0-02-500574-X}}</ref>
-The scope of natural philosophy is commonly extended to the plant and animal kingdom.  Under which are studied [[life]] and [[death]] as well as nutrition and disease (though not the arts of medicine themselves), generation and habitations for various life forms; the nature of various [[animal]]s and their [[desire]]s and contentment, pleasure and pain, sense, [[emotion]]s, good and bad [[habit]]s and their acquired and innate [[knowledge]], memory and imagination and estimative powers; their various social arrangements; and arguments for and against different aspects of [[speciation]].
-==Natural philosophy and science==
-Natural philosophy also was a name that applied to [[scientific]] rather than purely philosophical study which was used extensively before the 19th century.
-The term ''scientist'' only emerged in the 19th century.  Prior to this, scientific study was called ''natural philosophy'' and scientists were ''natural philosophers.''  These disciplines entailed broad areas of study of the universe, employing [[mathematics]] and the [[scientific method]] in the sciences of [[chemistry]], [[physics]], [[anatomy]], and so forth.
-==References==
-<references/>
-[[Category:Science]]
-[[Category:Philosophy]]
-[[Category:Physics]]

Difference between revisions of "Natural philosophy"

Revision as of 20:53, August 3, 2014

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