Natural philosophy

Natural philosophy was a way people studied the world and the universe a long time ago. It was like the beginning of science, where they looked at things like physics, biology, chemistry, and astronomy without thinking about magic or other unexplained forces. This kind of study started way back in classical antiquity with thinkers like Aristotle and lasted until the 19th century.

Back then, natural philosophy was a part of philosophy, which was a big word for all kinds of learning and thinking. But later, especially in the 19th century, the word "science" came to mean a special way of learning that used experiments and careful observation. Even famous books from long ago, like Isaac Newton's Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica from 1687, used the term natural philosophy.

In places like Germany, some thinkers kept using the idea of natural philosophy into the 1800s. They tried to connect ideas about nature and human spirit in new ways, moving away from older styles of thinking. Big names in philosophy like Goethe, Hegel, and Schelling were part of this movement. They saw nature as something alive, unlike other thinkers who thought the world worked like a machine.

Origin and evolution of the term

The term natural philosophy came before we started using natural science the way we do today. Natural science grew out of philosophy, especially natural philosophy. Natural philosophy was different from natural history because it used reasoning to explain nature, while natural history mainly described things.

Greek philosophers thought natural philosophy was about understanding everything in the universe, not just things humans made. Later, in the 1400s and 1500s, natural philosophy was just one part of many areas of study. The first person to be a special expert in natural philosophy was Jacopo Zabarella, hired at the University of Padua in 1577.

The words science and scientist only took on their modern meanings in the 1800s. Before that, science just meant any kind of knowledge or study. The idea of science as a special way of studying the world began when experimental science and the scientific method became separate from natural philosophy. A natural philosopher named William Whewell from the University of Cambridge suggested using the word “scientist” in 1834.

By the mid-1800s, natural philosophy mostly came to mean just physics. Today, some universities still use the name in their degree titles, like at the University of Oxford and the University of Aberdeen. Even famous books like Isaac Newton’s Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy from 1687 show how the term was used back then.

Scope

Natural philosophy was an old way of studying the world around us. It looked at things like stars, plants, and animals to learn how nature works. People who studied natural philosophy asked big questions about the universe and how everything changes and moves.

Some thinkers believed that change was real, while others were not so sure. They wondered if we can really trust what we see with our eyes. Natural philosophy also tried to separate ideas about the mind from ideas about the physical world, exploring how both fit together.

Branches and subject matter

Natural philosophy looked at many parts of the world and universe. It studied big topics like astronomy and cosmology, which look at space and everything in it. It also studied why things happen, called etiology, and looked at causes. Other areas included studying chance and randomness, the basic elements that make up the world, and ideas about the infinite. Natural philosophy also explored matter, how things move with mechanics, and the nature of actions. It looked at natural qualities, physical quantities, and the relationships between different parts of the physical world. Finally, it examined ideas about space and time.

History

For the history of natural philosophy before the 17th century, see History of science, History of physics, History of chemistry, and History of astronomy.

People have always thought about nature, even before cities and written history existed. In ancient Greece, people began to think about the world without just using religion to explain things. Some early thinkers, like Parmenides, Heraclitus, and Democritus, focused on understanding nature. Three philosophers from Miletus, Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes, tried to explain natural events without using stories about the Greek gods. They were known as natural philosophers.

Later, Aristotle brought back the idea of studying nature closely. He believed that everything in nature has a purpose and a way it naturally behaves. His ideas about how things change and move shaped how people thought about nature for many years.

In ancient Greece, early philosophers like Anaximander tried to explain events such as eclipses. Heraclitus thought the stars were made of fire inside bowls. Anaximenes believed air was the basic element that could change into water, fire, earth, and stones. Empedocles said the world was made of four elements: fire, air, earth, and water. Plato believed the world was an imperfect copy of perfect ideas made by a divine craftsman.

Aristotle had many important ideas about nature. He believed objects have both a "form" and "matter." For example, a dog has the form of a dog, but its matter is what it's made of. He also thought change was natural and happened when an object's properties changed, like a leaf turning from green to brown.

During the Middle Ages, thinkers used Aristotle's ideas to discuss how things move. They debated whether motion was a type of change or something separate. In the early modern period, scientists like Galileo began using experiments and math to study nature, moving away from just thinking about ideas. This shift helped create the science we know today.

Current work in the philosophy of science and nature

In the middle of the 20th century, ideas about nature brought up old questions that thinkers like Aristotle and Kant had talked about before.

Since then, some people have said it's important to think about nature from a bigger, more thoughtful way, not just a very strict science way. Some ideas come from old thinkers like Thomas Aquinas. Others come from Edmund Husserl and his students. There is also a way of thinking called process philosophy, inspired by Alfred North Whitehead.

Today, thinkers like Brian David Ellis, Nancy Cartwright, David Oderberg, and John Dupré are known for looking at the natural world in new ways. Nicholas Maxwell suggests bringing science and philosophy closer together again.