Aristotle

On Generation and Consumption Aristotle

On Generation and Corruption is a treatise by Aristotle. Like many of his texts, it is both scientific and philosophic. The philosophy, though, is essentially empirical; as in all Aristotle's works, the deductions made about the inexperienced and unobservable are based on observations and real experiences. The question raised at the beginning of the text builds on an idea from Aristotle's earlier work The Physics. Namely, whether things come into being through causes, through some prime material, or whether everything is generated purely through "alteration." From this important work Aristotle gives us two of his most remembered contributions. First, the Four Causes and also the Four Elements (earth, wind, fire and water). He uses these four elements to provide an explanation for the theories of other Greeks concerning atoms, an idea Aristotle considered absurd.