INTRODUCTION

The search for truth is one that inexhaustible for it encompasses everything and thus, has

everything connected to it. The truth of the world though tried to be proven by the earlier

philosophers, came to a point where they could not make further progress and thus kept trying to

seek possible ways to grasp or rather understand the truth behind the beauty, order and

magnificence of the world. For example, Thales proposed that the earth is made of water, as its

single material substance, Anaximander proposed that Aperion is that which everything in world

is made from for it is boundless, indefinite and unlimited and thus, Anaximenes, says that air is

that which all things come from. All these propositions were done in respect to their perception

of the earth.

After the pre-Socratics, came Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, who also gave their own views on

the nature of the world and contributed to the already existing knowledge, modifying them and

making their own propositions to either support or refute positions which they felt were feasible

enough to be taken.

Thus the philosophy of the medieval was borne out of the notion that God is the source and

summit of everything and that in him(God), everything the world and beyond can be explained.

This epoch was characterized also its strong religious foundations on which most of their

theories were hinged upon. This cut across all their manifestations of life: laws and customs, art

and literature, music and poetry, education and morals. 1 They sought to use that idea of faith and

reason to explain all the realities of the world.

The renaissance era came as a result of the drift from the religious and faith based explanations

of things in the world to an era which as more focused on the human person and his dignity, and
1
Battista Mondin, A History of Medieval Philosophy (Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 2010), 1.

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so on. It was an era that saw to the drastic reduction of the power of the church on the state and

set the state to be an autonomous body from the church.

Natural philosophy according to Aristotle is, the science of those beings which undergo change

and are independent of human beings2. This he distinguished from metaphysics and mathematics

and a host of wide range subjects which are included in the physical sciences.

In this work, a deeper leap shall be taken into the medieval and renaissance eras respectively and

their relation to natural philosophy, and all the movements that flourished in them, then a

comparison shall be made between the both of them in relation to natural philosophy. Then, a

general summary will be made and thus, the conclusion.

OVERVIEW OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY

The concept of natural philosophy was an attempt to sideline all the metaphysical realities

especially in the explanation of the realities of the world. Aristotle who had an insatiable hunger

to study nature, studied various topics ranging from general issues like motion, causation, place

and time, to systematic explorations and explanation of natural phenomena across different kinds

of natural entities3. For this, he provided a general framework for this enterprise in his physics,

which he divided into two main parts, nature and motion.

For him, nature is an inner principle of change and being at rest 4, thus meaning that the nature of

an entity is responsible for its resting and the movement. He further opines that the nature of the

2
Del Soldato, “Natural Philosophy in the Renaissance,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2020
edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL= https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2020/entries/natphil-ren/.
3
Istvan Bodnar, “Aristotle’s Natural Philosophy,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer2023
Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), forthcoming
URL=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2023/entries/aristotle-natphil/.
4
Istvan Bodnar, “Aristotle’s Natural Philosophy,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer2023
Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), forthcoming
URL=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2023/entries/aristotle-natphil/.

2
entity is in and of itself sufficient to induce and explain the process once the relevant

circumstances do not preempt it5. Hence for him, an entity is, moves and develops other

characteristics all because it is in its nature to do so or its nature permits it to do so. For example,

because it is in the nature of an egg laid by a butterfly to become first a larva, then a caterpillar

and then a full blown butterfly. All these stages are uninterruptedly undergone because it is in its

nature to undergo these stages before getting to the final stage. Also in humans, it so that the life

begins from conception, from the zygote stage, forms to the stage of aa baby in the womb, and

thus, is born. At this stage the being is still at infancy, and thus, grows to a higher stage of

toddlerhood, then, a child, he then develops to adolescence, then to early adulthood and then to

adulthood. All these stages undergone by the human being is as a result of his nature or what his

nature permits.

Thus natural philosophy deals with the notion that nothing else causes the integration or

disintegration, change, motion and other physical appearances of a being except its nature. Hence

it does not take into consideration metaphysical realities and how they may in one way or the

other affect the physical realities. Unlike the medieval philosophers who believe in the

metaphysical realities and how they affect and direct in most cases the affairs and actions of the

physical world.

Hence, natural philosophy can be traced back to the earliest philosophers known as the Ionian

philosophers; Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Heraclitus, Parmenides and the other Ionians,

they can be accounted for as the first natural philosophers, who used the natural phenomena

around them to phantom and explain the whole world and the whole of reality. For instance,

5
Istvan Bodnar, “Aristotle’s Natural Philosophy,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer2023
Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), forthcoming
URL=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2023/entries/aristotle-natphil/.

3
Thales, in a bid to explain the origin of the world after all his wonder, he came to a conclusion

that the whole world was made from water. Anaximander in a bid to differ from Thales says that

everything come from Aperion, which he said was infinite, indefinite or unlimited rather than

just a single entity as earlier postulated by Thales and would be postulated by Anaximenes.

Anaximenes on his own part posited that everything come from air which he says that is a

neutral stuff and can be found in everything and everywhere, and is available to participate in

physical processes.

In all, we can hold that natural philosophy is scientific in inclination and it sought to understand

the natural world through the scientific procedure of observation, reasoning and speculation.

With this already, we could see how natural philosophy is a precursor to modern

philosophy/science. Even though it started off relying on philosophical and theoretical

frameworks to explain natural phenomena, it eventually evolved into the more rigorous scientific

disciplines as we have them today, through the instrumentation of empirical and experimental

approaches. The Copernican revolution and Galileo’s subsequent appropriation of it serve as

prominent examples of it. Natural philosophy, thus, played a great role in shaping the

development of scientific knowledge, laying the foundation of the scientific revolution in the

enlightenment era. According to Nicholas Maxwell, “It was conceived of, and pursued, as a

development of philosophy. It brought together physics, chemistry and other branches of natural

science as we know it today, with diverse branches of philosophy: metaphysics, epistemology,

methodology, philosophy of science – even theology.”6

MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY AND NATURAL PHILOSOPHY

6
Nicholas Maxwell, “In Praise of Natural Philosophy: A Revolution for Thought and Life,” Philosophia Vol. 40,
No. 4 (2012): 1.

4
The medieval era of philosophy took off where ancient philosophy stopped. It represented the

thoughts inherent in the works of the philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome, particularly

Plato and Aristotle, within the context of Medieval Christian Worldview. medieval philosophy

had close ties with theology, for it tried to harmonize faith and reason. The magisterial teachings

of the Church served as the authority in this time. This is chiefly the reason why theological

questions and discourses intertwined with philosophical ratiocinations then. Metaphysics was

regarded as first philosophy in this era, since it explored questions related to the existence of

God, the nature of the soul, the nature of universals and the relationship between the material and

spiritual realities.

Medieval philosophy is sometimes referred to as Scholastic Theology. Maurice De Wulf says:

“Scholastic philosophy which represents medieval philosophy par excellence, naturally consists,

like every other philosophy, in a rational investigation of all or some of the problems raised by

any attempt to explain fully the universal order of things.” 7 He goes on to say: “We find that

scholastic philosophy is almost always confounded with scholastic theology, which, in its

dogmatic aspect, is a body of doctrines received through a positive revelation from God.”8

Generally, medieval philosophy represents a rich and complex intellectual tradition that blended

ancient philosophical ideas with Christian theology, shaping the course of Western thought and

providing a bridge between the classical world and the modern era.

As a philosophical epoch, medieval philosophy spans from the 5th to the 15th century. In its

development, medieval philosophy had a lot to do with natural philosophy. In fact, some scholars

hold that natural philosophy played a significant role in shaping medieval philosophical

7
Maurice De Wulf, History of Medieval Philosophy, Trans. P. Coffey (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1909):
101.
8
De Wulf, History of Medieval Philosophy,101.

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discourse. Since philosophy in this era was influenced by ancient Greek philosophy and

theology, medieval philosophy drew a lot from the writings of some ancient Greek philosophers

like Aristotle. Some prominent philosophers of the medieval era are: Augustine, Boethius,

Ockam, Aquinas, etc.

Medieval philosophers engaged with natural philosophy in several ways. To begin with, they

sought to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology. This is properly instantiated

in Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae. Aquinas, like some other medieval philosophers, aimed at

reconciling Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology. He sought to draw the nexus

between reason and the natural world. This reason which studies nature, for him, was essential

for gaining knowledge about God’s creation. All these led to the development of some

philosophical systems, like Scholasticism – which aimed to harmonize reason and faith.

Medieval philosophy also dealt with topics like cosmology, the nature of matter, the properties of

elements, the structure of the universe, etc. It also dealt with the debates, such as the nature of

time, the existence of universals, the relationship between body and soul, the origins of life, and

so on. Natural philosophy was a significant aspect of medieval philosophy alongside some

branches of philosophy, like: metaphysics, ethics, etc.

During the medieval epoch, natural philosophy was considered a fundamental branch of

philosophy, since it played a huge part in reconciling philosophy with theological and

metaphysical considerations in various ways. Edward Grant tells us that French and Cunningham

hold that natural philosophy in the medieval epoch was primarily about God and creation but for

him and for French and Cunningham, natural philosophy, in its strict sense, is not primarily

about God and His creation. 9 He also went further to affirm, against those who say otherwise,
9
Edward Grant, The Nature of Natural Philosophy in the Late Middle Ages (Washington, D.C: The Catholic
University of America Press, 2010): 92.

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that there was science in the medieval ages.10 French and Cunningham created the sharp contrast

between medieval natural philosophers and modern scientists. They hold that the former

emphasized God and his Creation, while the later eliminated God and His creation from their

works. Grant refuted this by comparing two scientific treatises, one written in the medieval era

and the other in the 20th Century, namely: The Book of Jordanus de Nemore On the Theory of

Weight by Jordanus of Nemore and “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies,” an article by

Albert Einstein in 1905.11

The inquiry into the nature of matter, which comprised the properties and composition of various

substances, the transformation of matter, and the role of elements in the natural works, together

with the study of natural phenomena, which dealt with the observation of the behaviour of

animals, the growth of plants, and the properties of minerals, formed part of the basis of natural

philosophy in the medieval era. We must understand that in the medieval era, natural philosophy

was not limited to empirical verification or experimental approach. It however consisted of

metaphysical and theological considerations in approaching phenomena. Medieval philosophers

sought to find the balance and harmony between reason, observation and faith and this led to

unique and complex philosophical perspectives that influenced subsequent intellectual traditions

– for instance, modern science.

THE RENAISSANCE ERA AND NATURAL PHILOSOPHY

The Renaissance era spans, roughly, from the 14th to the 17th century. It was a transformative

period in the history of Europe and was characterized by significant cultural, intellectual and

artistic changes. From this period, scholars and thinkers began to make a breakaway from the

medieval atmosphere. The key characteristics of this era are: humanism, revival of classical
10
Grant, The Nature of Natural Philosophy in the Late Middle Ages, 92.
11
Grant, The Nature of Natural Philosophy in the Late Middle Ages, 92.

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learning, secularism and individualism, scientific and intellectual advancements, artistic

renaissance, printing press and spread of knowledge, and so forth. Some of the most prominent

figures in the history of science, like Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, etc., were products of this era.

There is the suggestion that: “If the Middle Ages were dark, the Renaissance was the bright

dawn of a new era. Scholars and teachers began to rediscover the old thoughts of the classical

philosophers from Greece and Rome.”12 He continued that people were now ready to see the

world for themselves, not under the “guise” of Christian theology, as the medieval era had it.13

The Renaissance was a transformative period that brought about profound changes in various

spheres of life, including art, science, philosophy and politics. It laid the foundation for the

modern world by fostering a spirit of inquiry, promoting humanistic views as well as challenging

traditional authorities. It saw to the revival of learning, the exploration of new artistic techniques,

and a departure from the dominance of religious authority. It celebrated human potential and

artistic expression. With this, it is safe to classify the Renaissance as a period of cultural rebirth,

artistic expression and a renewed interest in classical knowledge. It was in this era that the

famous Copernican revolution took place. The scientific method of inquiry began to gain more

attention and the background for modern science was laid down.

The Renaissance era played a pivotal role in the development and transformation of natural

philosophy. Due to the fact that interests became piqued with scientific inquiry, there are several

aspects which can be highlighted on how the Renaissance era unfolded its relationship with

natural philosophy. The first of this relationship will be the revival of ancient Greek and Roman

thought. In the Renaissance era, there was a resurgence of interest in the works of ancient Greek

12
“The Renaissance: Introduction to the Renaissance,” Caldwell County Schools
https://nc01811136.schoolwires.net/cms/lib/No, (Accessed on 20/06/2023).
13
“The Renaissance: Introduction to the Renaissance,” Caldwell County Schools.

8
and Roman philosophers. Scholars began to revisit and study the classical writings of figures

such as Aristotle, Plato, Ptolemy, etc. The ideas of these ancient scholars proved a formidable

foundation in the exploration of the natural world and this in turn influenced the development of

natural philosophy during the Renaissance. James Hankins asseverated that what was most

obvious about the Renaissance philosophers is that they, being humanists, scholastics and “new

philosophers”, had the determination to break out of the narrow range of Aristotelian textbooks

which were the foundations of 13th and 14th century scholastic philosophy.14 Hankins further

posited that in the Renaissance, improvement was made in the quality of translations of Greek

and in acquiring more knowledge of the ancient Muslim, Jewish as well as medieval Christian

commentary tradition.15 Through this, scholars of the Renaissance era were able to understand

and teach the traditions of ancient Greek and Roman philosophers.

The Renaissance era also related with natural philosophy in its observation and empirical study,

integration of mathematics, exploration and discovery, influence of certain Renaissance thinkers

like Leonardo da Vinci, Nicolaus Copernicus, etc. In all, the Renaissance era marked a

significant shift in the approach to natural philosophy. It emphasized concepts such as

humanism, curiosity, and laid the foundation for the scientific revolution that resulted in

subsequent centuries. Through its mathematical analysis, empirical observation and integration

of classical knowledge, the Renaissance era led to the advancement of several scientific

disciplines and brought natural philosophy to the fore.

EVALUATION

14
James Hankins, “The Significance of Renaissance Philosophy,” The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance
Philosophy, ed., James Hankins (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007): 341.
15
Hankins, “The Significance of Renaissance Philosophy,” 341.

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Medieval philosophy and Renaissance philosophy had distinct approaches to natural philosophy

and this shows the different intellectual and cultural contexts of their respective periods. While

medieval philosophy was influenced by Christian theology and sought to reconcile faith with

reason, Renaissance philosophy initiated a departure from the medieval worldview and made a

U-turn to ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, with emphasis on humanism, individualism,

curiosity, etc. Natural philosophy for medieval thinkers incorporated elements of Neoplatonism

and Aristotelianism, together with its deep focus on theological concerns in its exploration of the

relationship between God’s creation and the natural order. Renaissance philosophy grafted

towards empirical observation, mathematical analysis and the exploration of the natural world

based on direct experience. Both eras, therefore, contributed significantly to natural philosophy

and we have a lot to draw from in their rich tapestry of understanding.

CONCLUSION

From the foregoing, we have been able to see how medieval philosophy and Renaissance

philosophy relate to natural philosophy. It is thus important to note that their approaches to

natural philosophy though different, contribute immensely to the development of our

understanding of the natural world, and they also paved the way for the development of modern

scientific inquiry.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bodnar, Istvan. “Aristotle’s Natural Philosophy.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

(Summer2023 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.). Forthcoming

URL=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2023/entries/aristotle-natphil/.

10
De Wulf, Maurice. History of Medieval Philosophy. Trans. P. Coffey. London: Longmans,

Green, and Co., 1909.

Grant, Edward. The Nature of Natural Philosophy in the Late Middle Ages. Washington, D.C:

The Catholic University of America Press, 2010.

Maxwell, Nicholas. “In Praise of Natural Philosophy: A Revolution for Thought and Life.”

Philosophia Vol. 40, No. 4 (2012): 1-11.

Mondin, Battista. A History of Medieval Philosophy. Bngalore: Theological Publications in

India, 2010.

Soldato, Del. “Natural Philosophy in the Renaissance.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of

Philosophy (Fall 2020 edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). URL=

https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2020/entries/natphil-ren/.

“The Renaissance: Introduction to the Renaissance.” Caldwell County Schools

https://nc01811136.schoolwires.net/cms/lib/No. Accessed June 20, 2023.

Hankins, James. “The Significance of Renaissance Philosophy.” The Cambridge Companion to

Renaissance Philosophy. Ed., James Hankins. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

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