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From Place to Space: A Background of the Establishment of Modern Sciences

Kim Seonghwan 1

1대진대학교

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ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to reveal that the change of the space theory, that is, the transition from place to space, constitutes one of the important theoretical backgrounds in the establishment of modern sciences. First, I argue that Galileo's space theory is based on his geometric atomism. In his geometric atomism, the key feature of space is the identity in that there is no part that can be distinguished one from another. Second, I argue that Plato and Aristotle understand space as the place, unlike modern sciences. Plato's theory of space starts from the identity of space as chora, goes to region distinction and ends with the individualization of different places of different bodies. Aristotle's place is not only individual in the sense that it is a place occupied by an individual body, but also unique in that it does not move as a unique direction where a body is carried. Third, I argue that Descartes' space theory opens the way to treat space in geometry by regarding the nature of space as an extension in the sense that it has geometric dimensions. The space theory of Galileo and Descartes laid the foundation for modern sciences by performing a transition from place to space. In modern sciences, "the desire to use time as an independent variable" is based on the space theory that turns the place into space.

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