Natural philosophy

From the ancient world (at least since Aristotle) until the 19th century, natural philosophy was the common term for the study of nature.

From the ancient world (at least since Aristotle) until the 19th century, natural philosophy was the common term for the study of nature. It was in the 19th century that the concept of science received its modern shape, with different subjects within science emerging, such as astronomy, biology, and physics. Institutions and communities devoted to science were founded.[1] Isaac Newton's book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687) (English: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) reflects the use of the term natural philosophy in the 17th century. Even in the 19th century, the work which helped define much of modern physics bore the title Treatise on Natural Philosophy (1867).

This article is about the philosophical study of nature. For the current in 19th-century German idealism, see Naturphilosophie.

A celestial map from the 17th century, by the Dutch cartographer Frederik de Wit

Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin philosophia naturalis) was the philosophical study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science.

From the ancient world (at least since Aristotle) until the 19th century, natural philosophy was the common term for the study of nature.