Aristotelian physics

Aristotelian physics is the natural philosophy developed by Aristotle in the 4th century BCE, which dominated Western and Islamic thought until the Scientific Revolution.

It held that earthly matter consists of four elements—earth, water, air, fire—each seeking its natural place, with heavy things falling and light things rising.

Celestial bodies were made of a fifth element and moved in perfect circles.

Motion required a continuous cause; objects at rest were in their natural state.

Galileo's experiments challenged Aristotelian physics by showing that objects of different weights fall at the same rate.

The term now often implies outdated scientific thinking superseded by Newtonian mechanics.