Minima naturalia

Minima naturalia ("natural minima")^{[n 1]} were theorized by Aristotle as the smallest parts into which a homogeneous natural substance (e.g., flesh, bone, or wood) could be divided and still retain its essential character. In this context, "nature" means formal nature. Thus, "natural minimum" may be taken to mean "formal minimum": the minimum amount of matter necessary to instantiate a certain form.

Speculation on minima naturalia in late Antiquity, in the Islamic world, and by Scholastic and Renaissance thinkers in Europe provided a conceptual bridge between the atomism of ancient Greece and the mechanistic philosophy of early modern thinkers like Descartes, which in turn provided a background for the rigorously mathematical and experimental atomic theory of modern science.^[1]^[2]

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^ John Emery Murdoch; Christoph Herbert Lüthy; William Royall Newman (1 January 2001). "The Medieval and Renaissance Tradition of Minima Naturalia". Late Medieval and Early Modern Corpuscular Matter Theories. BRILL. pp. 91–133. ISBN 90-04-11516-1.
^ Alan Chalmers (4 June 2009). The Scientist's Atom and the Philosopher's Stone: How Science Succeeded and Philosophy Failed to Gain Knowledge of Atoms. Springer. pp. 75–96. ISBN 978-90-481-2362-9.

[Murdoch2001-2] John Emery Murdoch; Christoph Herbert Lüthy; William Royall Newman (1 January 2001). "The Medieval and Renaissance Tradition of Minima Naturalia". Late Medieval and Early Modern Corpuscular Matter Theories. BRILL. pp. 91–133. ISBN 90-04-11516-1.

[Chalmers2009-3] Alan Chalmers (4 June 2009). The Scientist's Atom and the Philosopher's Stone: How Science Succeeded and Philosophy Failed to Gain Knowledge of Atoms. Springer. pp. 75–96. ISBN 978-90-481-2362-9.

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