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This article is about the philosophical study of nature. For the current in 19th-century German idealism, see Naturphilosophie.
Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin philosophia naturalis) was the philosophical study of nature and the
physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science. It is considered to be the precursor of natural
science.[by whom?]
A celestial map from the 17th century, by the Dutch cartographer Frederik de Wit
From the ancient world, starting with Aristotle, to the 19th century, natural philosophy was the common term for the practice of
studying nature. It was in the 19th century that the concept of "science" received its modern shape with new titles emerging such
as "biology" and "biologist", "physics" and "physicist" among other technical fields and titles; institutions and communities were
founded, and unprecedented applications to and interactions with other aspects of society and culture occurred. [1] Isaac Newton's
book Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687), whose title translates to "Mathematical Principles of Natural
Philosophy", reflects the then-current use of the words "natural philosophy", akin to "systematic study of nature". Even in the
19th century, a treatise by Lord Kelvin and Peter Guthrie Tait, which helped define much of modern physics, was titled Treatise
on Natural Philosophy (1867).
In the German tradition, Naturphilosophie (philosophy of nature) persisted into the 18th and 19th century as an attempt to
achieve a speculative unity of nature and spirit. Some of the greatest names in German philosophy are associated with this
movement, including Goethe, Hegel and Schelling. Naturphilosophie was associated with Romanticism and a view that regarded
the natural world as a kind of giant organism, as opposed to the philosophical approach of figures such as John Locke and Isaac
Newton who espoused a more mechanical philosophy of the world, regarding it as being like a machine.
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ReferencesEdit
1. ^ Cahan, David, ed. (2003). From Natural Philosophy to the Sciences: Writing the History of Nineteenth-Century
Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226089282.
2. ^ The naturalist-theologian William Whewell coined the word "scientist"; his earliest written use identified by
the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1834.
3. ^ a b Moreno Muñoz, Miguel (20 September 1998). "Historia de la filosofía (C.O.U.) - Tema 1". Gobierno de
Canarias (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 23 September 2010. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
4. ^ Michael J. Crowe, Mechanics from Aristotle to Einstein(Santa Fe, NM: Green Lion Press, 2007), 11.
5. ^ Martin Heidegger, The Principle of Reason, trans. Reginald Lilly, (Indiana University Press, 1991), 62-63.
6. ^ See especially Physics, books I and II.
7. ^ Hankinson, R. J. (1997). Cause and Explanation in Ancient Greek Thought. Oxford University Press.
p. 125. ISBN 978-0-19-924656-4.
8. ^ a b c d e David C. Lindberg, The Beginnings of Western Science, University of Chicago Press, 2007, p. 50.
9. ^ Aristotle, Physics II.7.
10. ^ Michael J. Dodds, "Science, Causality and Divine Action: Classical Principles for Contemporary
Challenges," CTNS Bulletin 21:1 [2001].
11. ^ Dodds 2001, p. 5.
12. ^ a b John E. Murdoch and Edith D. Sylla Science in The Middle Ages:The Science of Motion (1978) University of
Chicago Press p. 213-222
13. ^ More, Louis Trenchard (January 1941). "Boyle as Alchemist". Journal of the History of Ideas. University of
Pennsylvania Press. 2 (1): 61–76. doi:10.2307/2707281. JSTOR 2707281.
14. ^ Boyle, Robert; Stewart, M.A. (1991). Selected Philosophical Papers of Robert Boyle. HPC Classics Series.
Hackett. pp. 176–177. ISBN 978-0-87220-122-4. LCCN 91025480.
15. ^ "The Age of the Projectors | History Today". www.historytoday.com. Retrieved 2016-10-19.
16. ^ Willmoth, Frances (1993-01-01). Sir Jonas Moore: Practical Mathematics and Restoration Science. Boydell &
Brewer. ISBN 9780851153216.
17. ^ Yamamoto, Koji (2015-12-01). "Medicine, metals and empire: the survival of a chymical projector in early
eighteenth-century London". The British Journal for the History of Science. 48 (4): 607–
637. doi:10.1017/S000708741500059X. ISSN 0007-0874. PMID 26336059.
18. ^ "Teleology and Randomness in the Development of Natural Science Research: Systems, Ontology and Evolution |
Evolution (1.1K views)". Scribd.
19. ^ E.A. Burtt, Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science (Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, 1954),
227-230.
20. ^ See, e.g., Michel Weber and Will Desmond, (eds.), Handbook of Whiteheadian Process Thought, Frankfurt /
Lancaster, ontos verlag, Process Thought X1 & X2, 2008.
21. ^ See his The Philosophy of Nature: A Guide to the New Essentialism 2002. ISBN 0-7735-2474-6
22. ^ David S. Oderberg, Real Essentialism (Routledge, 2007). ISBN 0415323649
Further readingEdit
Adler, Mortimer J. (1993). The Four Dimensions of Philosophy: Metaphysical, Moral, Objective, Categorical.
Macmillan. ISBN 0-02-500574-X.
E.A. Burtt, Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science (Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, 1954).
Philip Kitcher, Science, Truth, and Democracy. Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Science. Oxford; New York: Oxford
University Press, 2001. LCCN:2001036144 ISBN 0-19-514583-6
Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy and Its Connection with Political and Social Circumstances from
the Earliest Times to the Present Day (1945) Simon & Schuster, 1972.
Santayana, George (1923). Scepticism and Animal Faith. Dover Publications. pp. 27–41. ISBN 0-486-20236-4.
David Snoke, Natural Philosophy: A Survey of Physics and Western Thought. Access Research Network,
2003. ISBN 1-931796-25-4.Natural Philosophy: A Survey of Physics and Western Thought Welcome to The Old
Schoolhouse® Magazine
Nancy R. Pearcey and Charles B. Thaxton, The Soul of Science: Christian Faith and Natural Philosophy (Crossway
Books, 1994, ISBN 0891077669).
Alfred N. Whitehead, Process and Reality, The Macmillan Company, 1929.
René Thom, Modèles mathématiques de la morphogenèse, Christian Bourgois, 1980.
Claude Paul Bruter, Topologie et perception, Maloine, 3 vols. 1974/1976/1986.
Jean Largeault, Principes classiques d'interprétation de la nature, Vrin, 1988.
Moritz Schlick, Philosophy of Nature, Philosophical Library, New York, 1949.
Styrman, Avril: Economical Unification as a Method of Philosophical Analysis. University of Helsinki, 2016.
Andrew G. Van Melsen, The Philosophy of Nature, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh 1954.
Miguel Espinoza, La matière éternelle et ses harmonies éphémères, L’Harmattan, Paris, 2017.
External linksEdit
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Natural philosophy
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"Aristotle's Natural Philosophy", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Institute for the Study of Nature
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