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Document Details :

Title: Where is the Heaven?
Subtitle: The Story of an Aristotelian Problem and its Presentation in Jewish Medieval Sources
Author(s): SCHWARTZMANN, J.
Journal: Revue des Études Juives
Volume: 153    Issue: 1-2   Date: janvier-juin 1994   
Pages: 67-85
DOI: 10.2143/REJ.153.1.2012634

Abstract :
It is well known that Aristotle's concept of place is one of the fundamental principles of his natural philosophy, and especially, of his mechanics. Although the existence of place is, according to him, an obvious fact, he takes pains in the first chapters of the Physics IV to prove it once again. Only after that he elaborates about the nature of place and its definition. Subsequently, he defines place as “the primary motionless boundary of that which contains". By establishing in the Physics IV an unbreakable bond between place and motion and by introducing the notion of natural places, Aristotle opens the way to his concept of the physical world as an autonomous self-energizing organism.


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