ABSTRACT
The new concept of matter involved a new concept of motion, of activity, and of the ontological status of form and the soul. Foundational in the modern theory of nature is the concept of matter as an independent actual existent or substance, in itself devoid of any internal process of change or becoming, and capable only of change of place, that is, of locomotion. Since locomotion is change of place, it is evident that concept of place is basically involved in concept of motion. Aristotle, in his discussion of locomotion, had subjected the concept of place to a detailed analysis. The Platonic revival of the Renaissance and its attendant anti-Aristotelianism had in the sixteenth century brought Aristotle's analysis of the concept of place into renewed and critical scrutiny even before it became urgent because of the new concept of matter. Aristotle had brought out that the factor which is fundamental in the natural, the physical existent, is that of kinsis.
