Reviews for Monsters and revolutionaries

The average rating for Monsters and revolutionaries based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-01-18 00:00:00 Martha Zouzalik "The proper analogy might be that Zeus does not send rain so that the crops will grow: it is just a matter of necessity." Physics is Aristotle's (384-322 BCE) philosophy of nature. Aristotle ponders why are things in nature the way they are? Why do living and non-living things in nature behave the way they do? Aristotle, employs his four causes in order to answer these questions. Therefore, the four ways we can explain a 'thing' is through; its material composition, the basic nature of the thing, its source of change and rest, and the things aim and purpose. As you can see, this is not a typical physics book, it's more of a philosophical take on the natural sciences. Although, the book ingeniously discusses infinity, continuity, place, space, time, and motion. Some of Aristotle's arguments reminded me of classical physics, the law of conservation of energy, the states of matter, and such descriptions of time associated me to entropy: "We do not say time has made him young"..."...time is responsible for destruction rather than for generation." The chapter on time has left a profound impression on me and the chapters on change a lasting impression on the physics world today. Aristotle, uses logic and observation to set the basic principles of the natural sciences, but does not implement experimentation, as this method was much later introduced, for deriving at scientific conclusions. Now, part of the arguments, Aristotle, arrives at are wrong, and he also has this urge to disprove the previous philosophers, especially Democritus and Zeno, which turns out by the current accepted knowledge, that Aristotle, was not completely right. But this does not diminish anything, as Aristotle, had a brilliant mind with which he arrived at revolutionary ideas. He is so capable of dissecting both the physical natures characteristics and his thoughts and turning them into logical expressions. He has a way with words. At times, it feels like he is playing with words or engaging in some type of logical and language arithmetic. But it's clear that this books topics and ideas were a source and inspiration for numerous scientists for millenniums to come. (4.5/5.0)

Review # 2 was written on 2014-08-18 00:00:00 Matthew Leclerc While this book helped me appreciate Aristotle's philosophical merit, it hasn't changed my opinion that Aristotle is tedious and pedantic. Aristotle does explore fascinating topics in this collection of lectures: infinity, time, change, place, movement/motion, space, etc, but Aristotle can make even topics that should be otherwise fascinating incredibly dry. Many of his arguments would seemingly require a diagrammatic approach, but, unfortunately, the reader is left to schematize Aristotle's logical constructions unaided. I personally did not labor over this aspect of his thought. Usually his points are understood intuitively without engaging in Aristotle's elaborate proofs. He does make some very salient points through out this book though and that made it worth reading. After reading his Metaphysics, I was curious as to Aristotle's approach to time and whether he considered it to be eternal; that he does indeed is made evident in this book. And as I said in my review to the Metaphysics, his prime mover has a rather perplexing relationship with time. While Aristotle denies infinity in most actual circumstances, he does consider time to be infinite. How a first mover can ever be reconciled to an infinite time is not at all clear. If he is within time, how could he have ever been the progenitor of a prime movement? It seems, as Aristotle declares, movement always existed in infinite time. If his prime mover exists outside of time, he must certainly be an ideal prime mover, but it still doesn't explain how he generates movement within infinite real time. Aristotle doesn't address these ambiguities here or in the Metaphysics. I had intended to go through more of Aristotle's writings after this, but as with what happened after reading his Metaphysics, I have had my fill of Aristotle for the time being.