"Nature abhors a void" is an expression that everyone must have heard more than once. But at the same time, its meaning, and even more so the author, is not known to everyone. Essays written on the topic “Nature does not tolerate emptiness”, as a rule, are considered in a moral aspect. Although in fact this expression is directly related to science - physics.
The Greatest Thinker
The author of the expression “nature does not tolerate emptiness” is Aristotle. This philosopher lived in Ancient Hellas in the 4th century. BC e. He was a student of the famous thinker - Plato. Later, from 343 BC. e., was assigned to the young Alexander the Great as an educator. Aristotle founded the Peripatetic School of Philosophy, better known as the Lyceum.
He belonged to the naturalists of the classical period and had a very great influence in the scientific community. He founded formal logic, laid the foundation for the development of the natural sciences. Aristotle created a system of philosophywhich covered many areas of human development. These include:
- sociology;
- philosophy;
- policy;
- logic;
- physics.
It is to the last of these sciences that Aristotle's saying "nature abhors a vacuum" is relevant.
Fundamental Treatise
The foundations of physics as a science were laid by the greatest thinker and philosophers in one of his treatises called "Physics".
In it, for the first time, he considers it not as a doctrine of nature, but as a science that studies movement. The last of the categories is closely associated by Aristotle with the concepts of time, emptiness and place.
To understand what Aristotle's statement “nature abhors a void” means, you should at least briefly familiarize yourself with what he spoke about in his fundamental treatise, consisting of eight books.
The essence of the treatise
Each of his books says the following.
- Book 1. Controversy with philosophers who claimed that movement is impossible. To prove the opposite, examples of the difference between such concepts as form and matter, possibility and reality are introduced.
- Book 2. Evidence of the existence in nature of the beginning of rest and movement. Separating random from arbitrary.
- Book 3. Identification of nature with movement. Its connection with such concepts as time, place, emptiness. Considering infinity.
- Book 4a movement for which location is an important factor. Emptiness and chaos are also varieties of place, although the philosopher considers the former to be non-existent.
- Book 5. We are talking about two types of movement - the emergence and destruction. The movement does not apply to all philosophical categories, but only to quality, quantity and place.
- Book 6. The statement about the continuity of time, about the existence of movement, including the infinite, which goes in a circle.
- Book 7. Reasoning about the existence of the Prime Mover, since any movement must be initiated by something. The first of the movements is movement, which has four types. It's about pulling, pushing, carrying, spinning.
- Book 8. Statement of the question of the eternity of motion and the transition to paradoxes. Conclusion that the root cause of the circular motion is the motionless Prime Mover, which must be one and eternal.
Thus, after a brief acquaintance with the essence of Aristotle's treatise, it becomes clear that the expression "nature does not tolerate emptiness" is an integral part of the philosopher's reasoning about fundamental physical concepts and their relationship.
Void Denial
As noted above, it is in the fourth book that emptiness and chaos are interpreted by Aristotle as varieties of place. At the same time, the philosopher considered emptiness only theoretically, he did not believe that it exists in reality.
Any place is characterized by three dimensions - length, width and depth. It is necessary to distinguish between the body and the place, because the body can be destroyed, but the place cannot. Based on their teachings aboutplace, philosopher and explores the nature of emptiness.
Dispute with natural philosophers
Its existence was assumed by some of the representatives of Greek natural philosophy and, first of all, by the atomists. Their thesis is that without recognizing such a category as emptiness, one cannot speak of movement. After all, if there were universal occupancy, then there would be no gap for the movement of bodies.
Aristotle considered this view wrong. Since the movement is able to occur in a continuous medium. This can be seen in the movement of fluids when one of them takes the place of the second.
Other evidence of the thesis
Besides the above, the recognition of the fact of the presence of emptiness, on the contrary, leads to the denial of the possibility of any movement. Aristotle did not see the reason for the emergence of movement in the void, since it is the same here and there.
Movement, as can be seen from the treatise "Physics", implies the presence of heterogeneous places in nature. Whereas their absence leads to immobility. Aristotle's final argument on the problem of emptiness is the following.
If we assume the existence of emptiness, then once set in motion, none of the bodies could stop. After all, the body must stop in its natural place, and such a place is not observed here. Therefore, the void itself cannot exist.
All of the above allows us to understand what “nature abhors a void” means.
Figuratively
The expression "nature does not tolerateemptiness" from the field of science has passed into social practice, and today it is mostly used in a figurative sense. It gained its popularity thanks to François Rabelais, a humanist writer from France who worked in the 16th century.
In his famous novel Gargantua, medieval physicists are mentioned. According to their point of view, "nature is afraid of the void." This was their explanation for certain phenomena, such as the rise of water in pumps. There was no understanding of pressure difference back then.
One of the allegorical understanding of the studied expression is as follows. If a person or society does not consciously cultivate and support a good, good beginning, then it will inevitably be replaced by a bad and evil one.
The sleep of reason produces monsters
This Spanish proverb is analogous to the expression "nature abhors a void" when it is used in a figurative sense. The proverb gained wide popularity when Francisco Goya, a famous Spanish painter of the 18th century, used the title of one of his creations.
It is included in the sensational cycle of etchings, which is known as "Caprichos". Goya himself wrote a commentary on the painting. Its meaning is as follows. If the mind is asleep, then monsters are born in the sleepy dreams of fantasy. But if fantasy is combined with reason, then it becomes the progenitor of art, as well as all its wonderful creations.
In the era of Goya, there was such an idea of \u200b\u200bpainting, according to which it was considered asuniversal language of communication accessible to everyone. Therefore, initially the etching had a different name - "The Common Language". However, the artist considered him too impudent. Subsequently, the picture was called "The Dream of Reason".
In order to describe the reality around him, Goya used fantastic images. The dream that gives birth to monsters is the state of the world of his contemporaries. It is not reason that reigns in it, but stupidity. At the same time, people do not make any attempts to get rid of the shackles of a terrible dream.
When the mind loses control, it sinks into sleep, a person is captured by dark entities, which the artist calls monsters. This is not only about the stupidity and superstition of one person. Bad leaders, false ideologies, unwillingness to study the nature of things take over the minds of the majority.
It seems that the expression "nature abhors a void" can be fully applied to everything that the Spanish painter spoke about, if used in an allegorical sense.
