Glossary: Physis

This is very much a work in progress. All of these definitions are provisional and will be worked on and improved during the writing of the book. Feedback on the definitions would be especially welcome.

Physis

The Ancient Greek word for nature and is at the heart of the English words for both physicians and physics. It is also the Ancient Greek word for the study of all material, physical things – both of dead, inorganic materials and living organisms – their constitution and processes of transformation. With the specialisation of the sciences in the nineteenth century biology became a separate subject, leaving physics to retain the name in some academic universities.

Natural entities; The material things that exist. They posses both quality (Ideal form, substance) and quantity (matter) – length (extended matter) and weight (ponderable matter).
- Matter; inorganic – parts external to each other; organic (living organisms) – relations of parts is holistic, interdependent.
Sub-natural entities are impossible for the eye to directly see. They are non-material entities. Their behaviours no longer follow the laws of classical physics – in mainstream academic science this realm is described using the mathematics of quantum mechanics. They are conventionally called molecules, atoms and sub-atomic ‘particles’ (in mathematical physics (see knowledge) a particle is anything modelled by a zero dimensional point). Being non-material they are therefore spiritual entities. His seven ethers (three higher, warmth in the middle and three lower) have been used to describe the behaviours of such phenomena as light, chemistry, and the phenomena attributed to the so-called atom. [For more information see Thomas and Unger…]

Four classical elements;
- [See Lehrs; Thomas]
- Earth
- Water
- Air
- Fire
Four Ethers
- [The four ethers (three plus warmth or fire) and three (four including fire or warmth) fallen ethers, not to be confused with the now deprecated luminiferous ether of nineteenth century physics. See Marti, Lehrs, Bockemuhl, and numerous references from Steiner…].
- Warmth
- Light
- Chemical ether;
  - Also known as the sound, number, or tone ether. [Find the many Steiner references]…
    - [I am dissatisfied with my initial attempt at writing an account of chemistry. The subject is seemingly obvious, but I don’t yet have the ability to put it into words without it using the very words I am trying to define!] A concept for which the exact meaning of the word chemical is hard to define without reference to the word itself. The adjective, chemical, relates to chemistry (see moral philosophy) and the (relatively) low energy reactions of individual substances (see ousia). The noun identifies materials which have been isolated on the basis of their reactive and other properties – i.e. a chemical element or molecule. Their reactions need to be distinguished between simple mixtures on the one hand and isotopic reactions on the other.… In chemistry (see science, chemistry): “A [chemical] substance is a kind of matter that cannot be separated into other kinds of matter by any physical [non-nuclear] process.” Ebbing, et al (2016) p. 10.
  - Atom
    - The Ancient Greek philosophers, after Leucippus and Democritus, defined atoms as uncuttable corpuscles; indivisible, invisible entities, responsible for some sense perceptible material phenomena and qualities. Modern, mainstream (academic) science considers atoms to be the building blocks of matter. They are subsensible, subnatural, non-material entities, which have been associated with the qualities of chemical elements, amongst other phenomena. They have been discussed, from an anthroposophical perspective, by Unger ([1978] 1982/3), Thomas (2008).
    - In mainstream academic physics the electron shell of an atom is what determines the chemical properties of an atom. The inner nucleus of an atom is what determines both the atomic weight (see isotope) and the formation of its electron shell. The atom as imaged by an electron microscope is exactly as Rudolf Steiner described it – a frozen ball of electricity – however it is not normally frozen and only partly consists of electrons.
  - Life ether
    - Also called the meaning or atomic ether.
    - A principle quality of life is that its parts (organs, etc) form an interdependent organic whole. It is for this reason Steiner also called the life ether the meaning ether [see hermeneutics].
    - It has been called the atomic ether for reasons I do not as yet understand (see https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA093a/English/RSP1982/19050930p01.html). Nevertheless, when taking into account that the fallen life ether, the third force, clearly has something to do with destructive high energy nuclear reactions (high energy nuclear (isotopic) transmutation) it is my (tentative) belief that low energy biological transmutation is associated with the life ether.
Sub-natural or -physical entities and phenomena
- [This section needs a major rewrite to make it easier to read and understand – it is currently only a random collection of descriptions, a series of disconnected overlapping starting points without any flow.]
- Such occult (hidden) entities, such as atoms, are not visible to our physical senses – even when aided by light microscopes. By being ‘below’-nature, they only make themselves known through their interactions with material nature.
- Atom
  - The Ancient Greek philosophers, after Leucippus and Democritus, defined atoms as uncuttable corpuscles; indivisible, invisible entities, responsible for some sense perceptible material phenomena and qualities. Modern, mainstream (academic) science considers atoms to be the building blocks of matter. They are subsensible, subnatural, non-material entities, which have been associated with the qualities of chemical elements, amongst other phenomena.
  - However, late nineteenth century observations revealed naturally occurring radioactive decay – atoms were capable of breaking up into smaller entities, now known as nuclear fission. Early twentieth atom-smashing experiments revealed behaviours which led to the development of a variety of mathematical models of an atom as composed of a large family of sub-atomic ‘particles’. These nuclear reactions or transmutations demonstrated that atoms were capable of both fission and fusion.
  - They have been discussed, from an anthroposophical perspective, by Unger (1978 | 1982/3), Thomas (2008), [and Steiner and the Atom book].
  - In mainstream academic physics the electron shell of an atom is what determines the chemical properties of an atom. The inner nucleus of an atom is what determines both the atomic weight (see isotope) and the formation of its electron shell. The atom as imaged by an electron microscope is exactly as Rudolf Steiner described it – a frozen ball of electricity – however it is not normally frozen and only partly consists of electrons.
- Isotopes; In 1913 Frederick Soddy, when observing the radioactive decay of certain chemical elements – radioelements – he discovered the existence of otherwise identical chemical elements but each with different atomic weights. Because these radioelements occupied the same place in the periodic table he called them iso-topes – Greek for same place. Further studies, including atom-smashing experiments, identified each of these sub-physical emissions – called electrons , neutrons and protons which were directly associated with the properties of chemistry and atomic weight.
- Radioactivity; see physis): High energy isotope transmutations may occur naturally or can be induced artificially by so-called ‘atom-smashing’. Their emissions almost always include high energy radiation of one or more of three types:
  - Alpha-particle radiation: [Positively charged, high mass, helium nuclei… ]
  - Beta-particle radiation: [Negatively charged, low mass, electrons or positively charged positrons… ]
  - Gamma-ray radiation: [Massless, neutral, very high energy electro-magnetic radiation… traditionally defined by their natural radioactive origin… ]
  - X-ray radiation: [Massless, neutral, high energy electro-magnetic radiation… traditionally defined by their artificial origin and their lower energies than gamma-rays. They have now been shown to be the same as gamma-rays, with overlapping ranges of energies… ]
- Transmutations; Traditionally called nuclear transmutations because they involve the so-called nucleus of the so-called atom, but I prefer to call them isotopic transmutations. [Chemical element or isotope transmutations… alchemy…]
- Biological transmutation; The biological transmutation of chemical elements, is more technically characterised as the nuclear transmutation of isotopes in biological systems. The concept may be associated with more than one phenomena; the transformation of one chemical element into another, and/or of the new forming of chemical elements. https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/36823/TransmutationStableRadioactivePresentation.pdf , also Hauschka (2002). See Chapters …]
- Transmutation, nuclear: High energy isotopic reactions…
- Cold fusion: Low energy chemical element (isotope) reactions…
- Third force
  - Steiner said humankind is not ready for knowledge of this force. From hints it is obviously connected in some way with high energy isotopic (nuclear) reactions.