The Priority of Locomotion in Aristotle’s Physics

The work deals in depth with Aristotles thesis that the change of location is in many ways the most important and fundamental form of change and therefore has priority over all other types of change. In a first step, the author asks about the relevance of this by no means self-evident priority thesis and its discussion in Physics VIII. He shows that Aristotle’s arguments for this thesis – contrary to the previous interpretation – have an essential function in the larger context of Physics VIII and the Aristotelian one Fulfill natural philosophy in general. The focus of the work is on the exact reconstruction and discussion of the often difficult arguments in their complexity and brevity. The examination of this previously unexamined aspect of Aristotelian natural philosophy also provides information about the relationship that, according to Aristotle, exists between the different types of change. The study therefore makes a major contribution to a better understanding of his general theory of change and his natural philosophy.