Natural philosophy#
Summary#
Natural philosophy is characterized as a world-exposition and world-arrangement rather than a true world-explanation. Its persuasive power derives from its basis in belief in the senses, offering “ocular evidence and palpableness” that appeals to an age with fundamentally plebeian tastes. This stands in contrast to the Platonic mode of thought, which found its aristocratic triumph precisely in resistance to obvious sense-evidence through pale, cold conceptual networks.