The Philosophy of Nature

by Michael J. Dodds

The theories and discoveries of contemporary science, from physics and cosmology to chemistry and biology, point to the need for a philosophy of nature. Science continues to raise questions that exceed the limits of its method. It notices, for instance, a holistic behavior in atoms, molecules and organisms that cannot be explained by a quantitative, reductionistic account of their parts. It finds purpose in biological structures that suggests the presence of a mode of causality beyond quantitative force. In fact, the questions of contemporary science invite a retrieval of aspects of causality that were ignored or rejected in the scientific revolution of Galileo and Newton. This book contributes to that work of retrieval by exploring the account of nature and causality in the philosophy of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, not as an historical curiosity, but as a possible resource in addressing the questions of contemporary science through a new philosophy of nature.

110 pages, Paperback

Published August 30, 2010

About the author

Fr. Michael was born in Des Moines, Iowa. When he was thirteen, his family moved to Seattle, where he went to Blanchet High School and Seattle University before joining the Dominicans in 1970. After ordination, he taught for three years with the Christian Brothers at St. Mary's College, Moraga, California, and then went to the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, for doctoral work. He has taught at DSPT since 1985. He has served as Academic Dean at DSPT, as the Theology Area Convener at the GTU, and as Student Master, Regent of Studies, and Vicar Provincial for the Western Dominican Province.

BA (Philosophy), MA (Philosophy), St. Albert College; MDiv, MA (Theology), Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology; STD, University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

Reviews

[Drew Meisel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Philosophy of Nature explains the entirety of the subject from an Aristotelian and Thomist view. This was a book I was assigned to my Philosophy of Nature class. The way I’d describe the subject is as “Physics without the math”. It explains motion, time, space, cause, forms, prime matter, and much more. This book is the basis for discussing philosophy of the material and for future theology. My one complaint would be that I wish the last chapter was the first chapter and that it sometimes overused quotes without explaining them further. Good textbook