The Beginning of Motion

To Aristotle and other ancient philosophers, the most conspicuous feature of animate matter was its ability to initiate motion. They thought that when inanimate matter such as a rock has come to rest, it never moves again unless something kicks it. With the benefit of modern science, we can easily pick holes in these generalisations. The very idea of initiating motion now seems misconceived. But he did get one important thing right, which was most modern thinkers have got wrong. He recognised that life is a fundamental phenomenon of nature. End quote.