Physis

Physis ( _gr. φύσις) is a Greek theological, philosophical, and scientific term usually translated into English as "nature". In the Odyssey, Homer uses the word once (its earliest known occurrence), referring to the intrinsic way of growth of a particular species of plant. [Homer's text: _gr. ὣς ἄρα φωνήσας πόρε φάρμακον ἀργεϊφόντης ἐκ γαίης ἐρύσας, καί μοι φύσιν αὐτοῦ ἔδειξε. (So saying, Argeiphontes [=Hermes] gave me the herb, drawing it from the ground, and showed me its nature.) "Odyssey" 10.302-3 (ed. A.T. Murray).] In other very early uses it had such a meaning: related to the natural growing of plants, animals, and other features of the world as they tend to develop without external influence. But in the pre-Socratic philosophers it developed a complex of other meanings. [A useful though somewhat erratically presented account of the pre-Socratic use of the concept of _gr. φύσις may be found in Naddaf, Gerard "The Greek Concept of Nature", SUNY Press, 2006. The word _gr. φύσις occurs very early in Greek philosophy, and in several senses. Generally, these senses match rather well the current senses in which the English word "nature" is used, as confirmed by Guthrie, W.K.C. "Presocratic Tradition from Parmenides to Democritus" (volume 2 of his "History of Greek Philosophy"), Cambridge UP, 1965. The etymology of the word "physical" shows its use as a synonym for "natural" in about the mid-15th century: cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=physical |title=Physical |work=Online Etymology Dictionary |last=Harper |first=Douglas |accessmonthday=September 20|accessyear=2006.]

Since Aristotle, the physical (the subject matter of physics, properly _gr. τὰ φυσικά "natural things") has often been contrasted with metaphysical (the subject of metaphysics), discussed in Aristotle's works so titled, "Physics" and "Metaphysics".

"Physis" was understood by Thoreau as coming from darkness into light, biologically, cosmically, cognitively. (Walden Pond, 'Spring')

Leo Strauss felt this was a sign of something new in the world which the Greeks discovered – something distinct from the concept of a "way" general to other cultures.Fact|date=April 2007 (See also dharma and tao, for the development of related notions in other cultures.)

In medicine the element "-physis" occurs in such compounds as "symphysis", "epiphysis", and a few others, in the sense of "a growing". The physis also refers to the "growth plate," or site of growth at the end of long bones.

Notes

ee also

* Nature
* Nature (philosophy)
* Physics
* Philosophy of physics
* Ontology