The Philosophy of Roger Bacon

...either because the powers original: "virtutes," referring to the inherent forces or qualities acting upon a body. were equal and then the mobile object would stand still, or one is stronger and then it would be moved according to its inclination. And this reasoning seems to conclude? the matter, and this is the intention of Alpetragius Al-Bitruji (d. 1204), an Andalusian astronomer who proposed a homocentric system of planetary motion as an alternative to Ptolemy’s epicycles. in his book On the Circular Motions of the Heavens original: "De motibus celorum circularibus.". To this point let us say

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through the principle, etc., and because it follows that if one imagines two motions more abstract than others—as the mathematicians do—then it seems to be different from itself; it cannot be accidentally indicated in this way, for it is possible that motion has the same goals original: "metas.". For two motions in the same matter and through the same poles would be of two bodies of one and the same species, and thus this would be an erroneous statement original: "hereticalis textus." In this context, "heretical" often refers to a philosophical error that contradicts the established "orthodoxy" of Aristotelian natural law., as it is something that cannot exist naturally, even if it can in mathematics. For as they say, many things can be imagined mathematically which cannot be natural realities, such as a sphere touching a plane at a single point A classic scholastic problem: a perfect mathematical sphere touches a flat surface at an infinitesimal point, but a physical sphere, due to the nature of matter and parts, cannot achieve this.. This is demonstrated mathematically, but it fails if the thing exists as a physical part in nature; yet they affirm this to be what is said in the text The "text" usually refers to the specific work of Aristotle being commented upon, likely De Caelo (On the Heavens) or Physica (Physics). without a doubt. For if there is an opinion regarding the time of the soul original: "de anima," likely referring to Aristotle's treatise on the soul and its relation to movement., just as it is called a "condescension" An adaptation or accommodation of a higher principle to a lower state., if it is only here naturally insofar as it cannot have being in things, then if it were to happen, it would be natural. The first point is proved because, unless it were so, it would follow that neither the judgment of the whole should be given, nor the judgment of its part, for every such definition is naturally mathematical; but if they differ in nothing, then the opposition of contradiction is the same to itself. But as they say, there is a demonstration of things involving matter, otherwise it approaches the matter mathematically, and thus it is so, and so he understood it. Likewise, the same thing will happen simply in nature and in mathematics if they have this same form, not as if these motions or other natural ones were the same in species and yet different in matter. For all say mathematically, just as the quantity is the same, so also is their abstract circularity and their abstract motions (to use the author's eloquence); just as their circularity and motion are considered naturally, and a natural circle or whatever quantity it may be. To the opposite, it is said that the opposition of contrary motions does not create a variety, as in the case of motion downward original: "deorsum." and the motion of fire upward original: "sursum.". If the motion of the earth is downward and its motion is also upward, then they would be two bodies in one, because the motion of the earth downward would follow its motion upward; thus, by the grace of God, the motion of different heavens either happens according to observation and so forth, around the same center and the same poles.