Department of Philosophy, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Hagey Hall, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada.
Stud Hist Philos Sci. 2024 Oct;107:92-106. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2024.05.010. Epub 2024 Sep 2.
The prevailing narrative in the history of science maintains that the ancient Greeks did not have a concept of a 'law of nature'. This paper overturns that narrative and shows that some ancient Greek philosophers did have an idea of laws of nature and, moreover, they referred to them as 'laws of nature'. This paper analyzes specific examples of laws of nature in texts by Plato, Aristotle, Philo of Alexandria, Nicomachus of Gerasa, and Galen. These examples emerged out of the closely intertwined Platonic and Pythagorean traditions, and these philosophers' texts make reference to laws of nature when describing arithmetical methods, arithmological doctrines, or medical theories. Nicomachus' laws of nature are especially noteworthy, because they have features that historians look for in the search for the origin of the modern concept of laws of nature. Nicomachus' laws of nature are mathematical, universal, and necessary. This paper raises the possibility that the ancient Platonic and Pythagorean traditions influenced the subsequent development of the idea of laws of nature in medieval and early modern Europe, including the conception of laws of nature deployed by Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton.
在科学史的主流叙述中，古希腊人没有“自然法则”的概念。本文颠覆了这一说法，表明一些古希腊哲学家确实有自然法则的概念，而且他们称之为“自然法则”。本文分析了柏拉图、亚里士多德、亚历山大的斐洛、杰拉什的尼各马可和盖伦著作中的自然法则的具体例子。这些例子源自紧密交织的柏拉图和毕达哥拉斯传统，这些哲学家的著作在描述算术方法、算术学说或医学理论时提到了自然法则。尼各马可的自然法则尤其值得注意，因为它们具有历史学家在寻找现代自然法则概念起源时所寻找的特征。尼各马可的自然法则是数学的、普遍的和必要的。本文提出了这样一种可能性，即古希腊的柏拉图和毕达哥拉斯传统影响了中世纪和近代早期欧洲自然法则观念的后续发展，包括约翰内斯·开普勒和艾萨克·牛顿所运用的自然法则概念。
