Western Civilization II / Unit 5 WC2 0401 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Natural Philosophy: Describing a Truth Already Known
Captions available
The idea
For a thousand years Europeans looked backward, to Aristotle and the ancients on the universe and the body, with Christian scholarship finding God's hand in nature. The point of natural philosophy was to describe a truth already known, not to discover one.
In practice
No empirical research, because the answer preceded the question.
Where people slip
Practical effects small at the time; long-term ones enormous.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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