ABSTRACT
Motion of objects on earth and stars in the heavens were among the first questions to engage early thinkers. Aristotle reasoned that the nature of motion is intimately connected with the nature of objects that move. Believing in an underlying unity of natural phenomena, he coupled understanding of motion to the nature of substance. This fundamental connection led him to the idea of natural motions for earthly and heavenly bodies, and a symmetrical scheme to classify and order the apparently inexhaustible complexity of matter and motion. Order was immensely reassuring. If he could find order in nature, then the behaviour of nature was predictable. Determinismwas inherently comforting.
