Locomotion from Aristotelian Natural Philosophy up to Newtonian Physics

Aristotle and Ibn-Sina have dealt with the issue of motion, and especially locomotion, in their discussions of natural philosophy. In modern physics, on the other hand, Newton gives a different view of motion. Having compared the foundations, basic concepts, and laws of motion in Aristotelian and Newtonian physics, this article shows that Aristotle’s theory, despite some general similarities with Newtonian physics, suffers from lack of coherence, and in most cases differs from the latter. It is noteworthy that each theory is part of a completely different system of thought, and result from diverse methods of argumentation. Newtonian law of motion is an outcome of a major transformation in Aristotelian tradition, and similar propositions and relations in the two systems are hardly compatible.