Surfaces Aristotle

Moreover, the troubles for Aristotle s scheme do not end with this list of highest kinds—Kant s criticism extends to Aristodes intra-categorial divisions of quantity and quality as well. Aristode divides each of these categories into several distinct species quantity divides into continuous and discrete quantities, the former of which divides into body, line, surface, time and place, the latter of which divides into... 

When one turns to Aristotle s theory about the relation between mathematical objects and material substances, one can reinforce the view that prime matter and extension are crucial in both Aristode s theory of mathematics and his hylomorphism. Aristode thinks that mathematical entities do not independendy exist. It is not that mathematical entities do not exist at all but they only exist as dependent entities whose mathematical treatment requires the abstraction from some of the conditions that are necessary for their existence. (Mete. 1061a28-36, Mete. 1078al-5, Mete. 1078a25-6, Phys. 193b31-4). A surface, for instance, is dependent on a physical substance whose phys-icality requires its ability to move. A mathematician, however, treats the features of a surface in so far as the surface is a quantity, not in so far as it inheres in a mobile substance.10 In this way, although mathematicians do not treat mathematical entities as if they exist in the physical world, such entities do exist in material substances. 

Alpers W, Hiihnerfuss H (1989) The damping of ocean waves by surface films A new look at an old problem. J Geophys Res 94 6251-6265 Aristotle, Problemata Physica, Book XXIII Problems connected with salt water and the sea , No. 38... 

Water is by far the most commonplace liquid in everyday life. Some 70% of the surface of Earth is covered by oceans and about two thirds of the body mass of a human is water. The word water occurs in the second or third sentence of the Bible ( And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. ), depending on the actual translation. Aristotle, the most influential Greek philosopher listed water as an element in addition to air, fire and earth. One might think that such a liquid must also be an ordinary liquid. Nothing can be farther away from the tmth ... 

Throughout human history, people have struggled to understand the nature of earthquakes and, as a result, have feced the challenges of preparing for these seismic events. Some ancient civilizations attributed earthquakes to giant snakes, turtles, and other creatures living and moving beneath the earth s surface. In the fourth century b.C.e., Aristotle was the first to speculate that earthquakes were not caused by... 

Greek philosophers viewed the physical world as matter organized in the form of bodies having length, breadth, and depth that could act and be acted upon. They also believed that these bodies made up a material continuum unpunctuated by voids. Within such a universe, they speculated about the creation and destruction of bodies, their causes, the essence they consisted of, and the purpose they existed for. Surfaces did not fit easily into these ancient pictures of the world, even those painted by the atomists, who admitted to the existence of voids. The problem of defining the boundary or limit of a body or between two adjacent bodies led Aristotle (fourth century BC) and others to deny that a surface has any substance. Given Aristotle s dominance in ancient philosophy, his view of surfaces persisted for many centuries, and may have delayed serious theoretical speculation about the nature of solid surfaces [2]. 

The phenomenon of adhesion has been of interest for tens of thousands of years. Our remote ancestors were concerned to stick pigments to walls for cave painting and flint and bone to wood for tools and weapons. Aristotle remarked on the gecko s ability to adhere to vertical surfaces, both Galileo and Newton were fascinated by the high forces of adhesion that could be observed in certain surfaces in intimate contact. 

The composition of water was detected by Lavoisier in 1783. Cavendish demonstrated already in 1766 that hydrogen is one component of water and that hydrogen burns to water. This was a rather revolutionary discovery because since the time of Aristotle, it was believed that water is one of the basic substances. Water is the most abundant molecule on the Earth s surface. 

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