Customer Reviews:
 Excellent synthesis January 16, 2002
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Fr Wallace has an wonderful little gem here. Reflecting his experience both as a physicist and a philospher in the tradition of Aquinas and Aristotle, Wallace demonstrates how Aristotelian philosophy of nature, that of form, prime matter, powers, etc. coalesces nicely with the current understanding of modern physics, biology, and chemistry. One need not be a science or philosophy major to follow Wallace; he does a very good job of relating scientific and philosophical concepts in a manner that makes them interesting to the layperson. Highly recommended for anyone interested in how ancient and medieval philosophy coincides with the discoveries of science and modern physics.
 The Expert Scientist April 20, 2001
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
William Wallace presents himself and science, philosophy, physics, and astronomy very well in this book. I can only imagine how many years of research it took to find all the information. There are five main sections to the first part of the book. In part 1, the Philosophy of Nature, Wallace explains how power comes from different parts of nature. Those being vegetative, animal, human and physical. Nature itself is in the form but Wallace's main historian in chapter one is Aristoltle. The four causes of every sensible reality are matter, form, agent and end. Nature acts towards an end. In chapter 2, Modeling the inorganic, Wallacefirst tries to describe the difference between an atom and a molecule. We are elements and compounds just like every other thing is on the earth, wether inorganic or organic. All of the elements in the periodic table are composed of the same elementary particles. Cosmology tells us how th universe came to be, which started with a certain protomatter. In chapter 3, Plant and animal structures, Wallace goes on to speak of species:are actula natural kinds thgat result from processes at work in nature and are therefore manifestations of nature itself. All living organisms derive their energy from the sun, and then metabolize, and engage in the essential feature of all living things-homeostasis. Also, there are added powers when organic (living) things come into play. Reproductive power, developmental power, homeostatic power and metabolic control. Animal powers go on to include external senses, internal senses, behavioral response and motor power. Chapter 4, the Modeling of the Mind, tries to emphasize that the use of mental representations is essential to understanding cognitive processes in animals and humans. Knowing has both an objective and subjective character. Aristotle's four internal senses: the central (common sense), the imagination, estiminative sense and memory are all part of the higher human powers. Chapter 5, Human nature, describes the only two faculties that make humans different from animals. The Intelect and the will. Part two of the entire text really is the magnificent part-years of research, organizing and selection have seemingly gone into trhe generation of this text. Chapter 6, Defining the philosophy of science, names all the idea makers of science chronologically. Bacon, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, Whewell, J.S. Mill, Mach, Pierce, Poincare, Kuhn, Popper, Lakatos, Harvey, Newton etc. Chapters 8, 9, and 10 go deeper into proving the earth is round, how ellipses are formed, motion parallax and many other astonomical measures. Wallace truly proves that he is a philosopher of science-debating, cutting up, agreeing with the many different thinkers our time has allowed. How much longer canthe earth take all of this?
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