Physics
by Aristotle · first published 1472
19mentions
5recommended by
18HN commenters
2014–2026first – last mentioned
28% recommend72% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Close reading of Aristotle's natural philosophy that rewards careful study. Rovelli's essay offers a physicist's take on it, and pairing it with a commentary or the Metaphysics is a useful approach for newcomers.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Nearly all the works Aristotle (384-322 BCE) prepared for publication are lost; the priceless ones extant are lecture-materials, notes, and memoranda (some are spurious). They can be categorized as practical; logical; physical; metaphysical; on art; other; fragments.
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…talking about. Of course he was right but for this to be effective there needs to be a theory and better experiments and that is what Galileo provided. I recommend Carlo Rovelli's essay on Aristotle's Physics: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1312.4057.pdf.
on “Science and Tech of the Byzantine Empire” ↗Aristotle's Physics, Metaphysics, and De Anima.
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗Two points. First, I might recommend the Metaphysics before the Physics. Second, I think reading the original Aristotle as a novice and alone is perhaps not the best move. I think it is best to start with a commentary or something more pedagogically suitable.…
on “Hylomorphism” ↗You may be interested in: "Aristotle's Physics: a Physicist's Look" My take is that it was hard to find a better theory, the usual explanation of scholastical dogmatism is to shallow. https://arxiv.org/abs/1312.4057
on “Who can claim Aristotle?” ↗…these two texts. As an added incentive to whet your appetite, Wittgenstein was particularly interested in Theaetetus in his later years. And if I had to recommend two texts from Aristotle, definitely his Physics and his Metaphysics. Here he's dealing with the really deep, and meaty, problems of philosophy. These four texts definitely get me going, so to speak, although my talking about them bores my wife silly.…
on “Otto Dix, Nietzsche, and the Great War (2019)” ↗> I think modern usage of the term dates to Aristotle's books: Physics & Metaphysics. 'Physics' is about nature and feels like a direct ancestor to modern science. 'Metaphysics' is pretty close to what we still call metaphysics. Most people think of these things (logic,…
on “Ants swarm like brains think” ↗"Two thousand years ago, Aristotle’s “Physics” was a wide-ranging set of theories that were easy to state and understand." I'm having a hard time imagining that anyone comes away from just having read Aristotle with the impression that his work…
on “It Is, in Fact, Rocket Science” ↗> Classical mechanics is not something sacred. It is our first serious model of physics. Just a sidenote: it is at most our second serious model. Aristotle's Physics has a bad rap, but it's "a correct and non-intuitive approximation of Newtonian physics in the suitable domain (motion in…
on “Why Quantum Mechanics?” ↗Way back when, in ancient Greek, "meta" just meant "alongside" or "next to" or "after". Then Aristotle wrote a book called "Physics" (though its subject was broader than what we now call physics) and another book whose title has been lost, about more abstruse things. It was typically shelved next to the "Physics" and listed after…
on “The Metaprogrammer” ↗As I understand it, that is not the etymology of metaphysics. In fact metaphysics means the subject matter of the books Aristotle wrote after (meta) he wrote The Physics. https://www.etymonline.com/word/metaphysics https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/metaphysics#Etymology
on “A Formal Apology for Metaphysics [pdf]” ↗…trading extra efforts for sure failure. >> Still, I have made great progress. That which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal. — as recounted by Aristotle, Physics VI:9, 239b10 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno%27s_paradoxes#Achilles_an... For a lot of things in life, there are indeed infinite sub tasks you need to complete. Most of us aren't going to make it.…
on “What I learned at work this year” ↗Aristotle’s Physics is a good example how common sense ridiculed in our society while it > is to be properly understood as the physics of objects immersed in a fluid, air or water [1] Kindergarten children can engage…
on “Is Stupidity Expanding? Some Hypotheses” ↗I think it’s this one? That which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal. — as recounted by Aristotle, Physics VI:9, 239b10
on “Bitcoin value tumbles almost 50% since record November” ↗I used to TA an intro philosophy course designed for STEM types based on Aristotle’s Physics and etc., and lemme tell you the students ate that shit up. Kinda had to gently remind them that the physics they knew wouldn’t help them with ontological problems like “what is an object?” but once…
on “St. John’s Reading List: A Great Books Curriculum” ↗…think paleographers think of the text as an abstract object and manuscripts as approximations of it. E.g. you might have a couple hundred manuscripts (and other things like printings, etc) of Aristotle’s Physics, but the text is what you get after you identify and try to correct scribal errors.
on “One Line in the Oldest Math Text Hinted at Hidden Universes [video]” ↗