ILLUSTRATION G
Apollonian
mechanical orderings of states
Aristotle’s Physics is concerned with an analysis of motion; motion is change with respect to place; the natural state of objects was rest in a location in balance with the elements of which they were composed (earth, water, air, fire); motion was an attempt by the object to reach this natural state which depends on the object’s composition of the 4 elements (note- the elements are NOT substances but abstractions explain the behaviours of materials): rocks fall because the Earth realm is down; water flows down as its natural realm is beneath the Earth realm. Identical objects (of the same material), fall directly proportional to their weights, inversely proportional to the density of the medium through which they move. Above & beyond the natural tendency of objects to rise or fall, unnatural motion from side to side results from the turbulent collision & sliding of the objects as well as transmutation between the elements. Aristotle believed all motion had to have a distinct mover, something pushing that keeps a projectile moving after it leaves the hand?
Magian
secret forces
Philoponus (490-570 AD) Byzantine Alexandrian, modified Aristotle's theory (continuation of motion depends on continued action of a force) to include that a body acquires a motive power (inclination) for forced movement from the agent producing the motion & this enables the continuation of motion. This temporary, self-expending inclination ends violent motion, changing it back into natural motion. Avicenna (980-1037), Persian polymath physician, astronomer, thinker & writer of the Islamic Golden Age, adopted the same idea: a moving object has force which is dissipated by external agents like air resistance; he distinguished between "force" and "inclination" (or mayl) & claimed an object gained mayl when in opposition to its natural motion. The continuation of motion depends on the inclination transferred to the object, that the object remains in motion until the mayl is spent. Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī (973–1048) described non-uniform motion as the result of acceleration; his theory of mayl tried to relate the velocity and weight of a moving object (a precursor of the concept of momentum). Abu'l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī (1080 -1164), Islamic philosopher, physician & physicist of Jewish descent from Baghdad, contradicted Aristotle's theory of motion, his theory of motion showed velocity & acceleration are 2 different things & force is proportional to acceleration not velocity
Faustian
processes
Newton’s Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687), established classical mechanics, his 3 laws describing the relationship between the motion of an object & forces acting on it. First law: an object either remains at rest or continues to move at a constant velocity, unless it is acted upon by an external force. Second law: the rate of change of momentum of a body over time is directly proportional to the force applied, & occurs in the same direction as the applied force. Third law: when one object exerts a force on a second object, that second object exerts a force that is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first object.