Philoponus' Comments to Aristotle's Physics as the First Step to the Development of Modern Laws of Motion

Abstract

The present work focuses on the historical importance of John Philoponus' criticism to Aristotles Physics as the basis of the birth of the science of modern mechanics. In the Physics commentary, written during the 6th century, Philoponus attacks a genuinely Aristotelian doctrine which states that motion must be the effect of some kind of force acting on a body, thus requiring the continuous operation of an external agent in order to obtain a uniform motion. On the contrary, according to Philoponus' theories, motion is the result of a force impressed by a mover and which exhausts itself during the motion. Although still erroneous, in this insightful theory the first step towards the concept of inertia in modern physics can be found.