On the Motion of Animals

by Aristotle

Elsewhere we have investigated in detail the movement of animals after their various kinds, the differences between them, and the reasons for their particular characters (for some animals fly, some swim, some walk, others move in various other ways); there remains an investigation of the common ground of any sort of animal movement whatsoever.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Science, Classics, Science Nature, Physics

48 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Aristotle (Greek: Αριστοτέλης; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, and the arts. As the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy in the Lyceum in Athens, he began the wider Aristotelian tradition that followed, which set the groundwork for the development of modern science.
Little is known about Aristotle's life. He was born in the city of Stagira in northern Greece during the Classical period. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, and he was brought up by a guardian. At 17 or 18, he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of 37 (c. 347 BC). Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip II of Macedon, tutored his son Alexander the Great beginning in 343 BC. He established a library in the Lyceum, which helped him to produce many of his hundreds of books on papyrus scrolls.
Though Aristotle wrote many treatises and dialogues for publication, only around a third of his original output has survived, none of it intended for publication. Aristotle provided a complex synthesis of the various philosophies existing prior to him. His teachings and methods of inquiry have had a significant impact across the world, and remain a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion.
Aristotle's views profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. The influence of his physical science extended from late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance, and was not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics were developed. He influenced Judeo-Islamic philosophies during the Middle Ages, as well as Christian theology, especially the Neoplatonism of the Early Church and the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church.
Aristotle was revered among medieval Muslim scholars as "The First Teacher", and among medieval Christians like Thomas Aquinas as simply "The Philosopher", while the poet Dante Alighieri called him "the master of those who know". His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, and were studied by medieval scholars such as Pierre Abélard and Jean Buridan. Aristotle's influence on logic continued well into the 19th century. In addition, his ethics, although always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics.

Reviews

[Gokhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aristo’nun hayvanda hareketli olan şeylerin, kendisi sabit ve hareket etmeyen şeyler (örnekse hareket eden: el, hareket ettiren:bilek) sayesinde hareket edebildiğini ve buradan da kendi teleolojisinde evren kuramı geliştirdiği çalışmasıdır. Aristo bu eserinde ilaveten, canlı varlıklarda hareket üzerine bir sınıflandırma da yapmış; istem dışı ve iradi olarak ikiye ayırıyor. İradi olana daha detaylı yer verdiği kısımlarda, canlı varlıklarda harekete neden olanın; imgelem, seçim, istek ve arzu sıralamasında oluştuğunu, her birinin kendinden sonrakine neden olduğunu belirttikten sonra, bunları da, ikili gruplar halinde tekrar zihin (nous) ve iştaha indirgeyerek grupluyor. İstem-dışı olarak belirttiği (nefes alma, uyku gibi) hareketlerin ise, merkezle zorunlu bir ilişki içinde olan parçalar ya da merkezde olması gereken ruh tarafından hareket ettirildiği ayırdını yapıyor.

[Vapula · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's maybe two points of speculative value, but ultimately this piece makes me get Hegel's sarcastic remark concerning varieties of parrots.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reasoning through the motion of animals, joints and the unmoved mover.

[Jairo Fraga · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very short treatise, Aristotle mixes philosophical issues with physics, mainly on the movement, drawing parallels between animals movement and the movement of the Earth, needing to have an unmoved part in order to make movement possible, like a human on a boat on a river, it can't move itself, it must have a stationary thing, or a unmoved mover.

Aristotle says that the soul is what moves the animals. When asserting that such thing also happens on animals other than humans, it seems a bit sketchy, as for me animals don't have a soul, but that is all around Aristotle treatises.

[Zay Min Htut Aung · Rating 5 out of 5]

O my Aristotle very good

[Kaya Şener · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hayvanlarda iradi hareketin nasıl olabildiği konusunu işlerken, insanların onlardan farklarının nereden kaynaklı olduğunu ve benzer soruları düşüneceksiniz.

[Andy Febrico Bintoro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another classic by aristotle. This is also a quick read, more on the continuation of the previous book about animals' movement. This is more how they are walking.

[Brian Schiebout · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the Gait of Animals by Aristotle and translated into English by A.S.L Farquharson is a short scientific treatise. As the title implies this work deals with how animals use their limbs to move. In many ways I think this work even more than normal is guilty of oversimplification of a complex procedure. Basically Aristotle starts by defining the three contraries which make up a body and from which movement can originate. The first is superior and inferior where the superior is the part going to the sky while the inferior is the part moving to the ground. Movement in these directions is more the domain of plants even though animals can do it. The second is movement forward and backward. Forward which is to Aristotle the direction of the senses is the natural way which creatures move but not how they move. The third distinction left and right is how things move because to Aristotle all movement originates in the right which starts at rest and then moves the left. He then goes on to say that all animals with blood in them move with only four points which is blatantly false but it is part of the attempts by Aristotle to attempt to make the facts fit his theories. My interpretation of what he is saying is further complicated by the translator's use of the term flexion which seems to be a join but which could be many things as I have never heard the term before this work. Maybe if I understood what Aristotle actually means by that term this work would not seem so misguided. Otherwise the book shows many of the observational data for which Aristotle is known and displays his wit at times also. I just cannot accept the explanation which obviously does not fit the facts or logic or observation. Not the best work by Aristotle.

[Brian Schiebout · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the Motion of Animals written by Aristotle and translated into English by A.S.L Farquharson is a short scientific treatise. The work deals with how the theories of movement which Aristotle articulated in his Physics apply to animals. He starts by showing why for all movement of anything must involve a part which moves as well as one which is stationary. For animals the stationary part is whatever is holding still while you move so when you move your arms it is the shoulder and chest. He then goes back all the way out to the unmoving mover which is at the basis of his entire worldview and shows how even in nature something is in place while other things move. He then says everything must be moved by something and asks what is moving animals because it can not be something which is moving with what moves. In the course of this he explains how motion is relative to itself and can not move something in the same frame but only if it is on something else. Thus he decides that the mind and emotions which make up the soul of creatures which can move themselves. The soul does not have any movement in itself but it compels the rest of the being to move. This work was an interesting mix of truth and superstition which ofen are tied together by the logic of Aristotle.

[Reinhard Gobrecht]

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