Maximal motion and minimal matter: Aristotelian physics and special relativity

This paper shows how key aspects of Aristotle’s core concepts of matter and motion, some of which have recently been shown to help make sense of quantum mechanical indeterminacy, align with some important results of the energy-momentum relationship of special relativity. In this conception, mobility...

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Published in:Synthese (Dordrecht) 2022-09, Vol.200 (5), p.377, Article 377
Main Author: Keck, John W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ambiguity
Atoms & subatomic particles
Education
Epistemology
Experiments
Function words
Logic
Metaphysics
Motion
Nature
Original Research
Philosophy
Philosophy of Language
Philosophy of Science
Quantum physics
Theory of relativity
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description This paper shows how key aspects of Aristotle’s core concepts of matter and motion, some of which have recently been shown to help make sense of quantum mechanical indeterminacy, align with some important results of the energy-momentum relationship of special relativity. In this conception, mobility and indeterminacy are inherently linked to each other and to materiality. Applying these ideas to massless particles, which relativity tells us move at the maximal cosmic speed, allows us to draw the conclusion that they must be the most basic physical bodies, that is, mobile substances (secondary, locomotive matter). The most familiar massless particle, the photon, constitutes light. Furthermore, because the photon composes luminous matter but cannot be decomposed into anything else more basic, it fulfills the definition of element.
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subjects Ambiguity
Atoms & subatomic particles
Education
Epistemology
Experiments
Function words
Logic
Metaphysics
Motion
Nature
Original Research
Philosophy
Philosophy of Language
Philosophy of Science
Quantum physics
Theory of relativity
title Maximal motion and minimal matter: Aristotelian physics and special relativity
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