1) "But God and nature create nothing that does not fulfill a purpose." Explain the meaning and potential importance of this concept in Aristotle's system of thought.
2) According to Aristotle, the universe or, what he calls the "world as a whole," is the only one of its kind. It is ungenerated and indestructible, and there is no void. Explain these ideas and offer an explanation of why Aristotle held such a view.
3) Explain how Aristotle accounted for movement and change (change takes place by "contraries," according to him). Offer, also, an explanation of why he might hold such a view.
4) What does it mean that there are "principles" in things and that these principles are there prior to the things? Give three examples of how Aristotle uses this assumption to explain a phenomenon.
5) Of what is the "world as a whole" (the cosmos or universe) made. Is it made of atoms or elements or what? Into what parts does Aristotle divide the "world as a whole?"
6) Aristotle teaches in Book IV that motion is analogous to "other forms of generation and change." He also says that weight and lightness contain "the germs of motion" within themselves. Explain what this all means. Also, why would he hold such a view?
7) Write an essay on Aristotle's method of knowing the physical world. Explain what his assumptions are. Prove your points with three examples taken from On the Heavens.
8) At times, Aristotle borrows a mathematical argument of the Pythagoreans and Plato (e.g., I,1) and at other times he rejects the importance of mathematical arguments (e.g., III,1). Explain this discrepancy and show how Aristotle distinguishes mathematics from science.