COMPARE THE WAY GALILEO AND ARISTOTLE UNDERSTAND SCIENCE essays

COMPARE THE WAY GALILEO AND ARISTOTLE UNDERSTAND SCIENCE essays Since the creation of man, his surroundings and environment have mystified him. Many so called scientists have experimented and researched to explain the many wonders of man and how things work. To better understand natural philosophy and the way it developed over the many years of human existence, it is helpful to examine and compare two of mankinds greatest scientists. Looking at the way these two great thinkers thought and conducted their science can give us perspective to the many ways science can be done. Therefore a comparison of Aristotle and Galileo will be done to understand the way they each understand science. While Aristotle and Galileo have similarities in needing to find the causes of their conclusions and making sense of their raw observations, they differ in the method of their observation they do. While arguing their hypotheses, both Aristotle and Galileo feel the need to show the causes for why they believe what they believe. Throughout Aristotles Physics, he is repeatedly talking about causes. A cause is that out of which a thing comes to be and which persists. (82) Aristotle asks a lot of why questions and he answers these questions with the notion that certain causes cause a thing to happen they way it does. He also generalizes different types of causes. Aristotle didn't believe in experiment. Instead he wrote about what must logically be the case. Galileo is also interested in finding out the causes to his theories. He usually is not satisfied with just stating an idea without information or a cause to back it up. Galileo conducted many arduous experiments to prove his points. Both Aristotle and Galileo can be satisfied with their work once they have found suitable causes for their ideas. In examining the world and their environment around them, Aristotle and Galileo make sense, to a great extent, of their raw observations. This is true for both natural philosophers although may be m ...