Physics

The physical world is a moving image of eternity, fashioned by a divine craftsman according to eternal mathematical forms; physics can offer a likely story, not certain knowledge.

Physics is the science of natural things insofar as they are subject to change; its principles are matter, form, and privation, and its causes are four.

All things consist of indivisible atoms moving through the void; nothing comes from nothing, and natural phenomena require no divine explanation.

Physics studies mobile being as such; it is a genuine science subordinate to metaphysics, and its principles are derived from the philosophy of nature.

Physics must be reformed by abandoning ancient authority and beginning from systematic experiment; knowledge of nature is power over nature.

Physics proceeds by gathering propositions from phenomena through induction; its principles are mathematical, its test is experiment, and hypotheses about hidden causes have no place in it.

Precise measurement and the balance transform chemistry into a quantitative science; nothing is created or destroyed in chemical operations.

Experience shows us constant conjunction, not necessary connection; the causal reasoning on which physics depends cannot be justified by either reason or observation alone.

The laws of physics are possible because the understanding prescribes the conditions under which any experience is possible at all; nature's lawfulness is grounded in the mind.