Abstract

The notion of space considered by Aristotle is that of something three-dimensionally extended and incorporeal: a three-dimensional extension that is neither a body nor dependent on a body, but existing unsupported, over and above bodies. The central role of space conceived in this way is that of providing a place or location for bodies by being something able to receive bodies and thus to be occupied by them. With an Aristotelian example, a wooden cube immersed in water would be received, according to this conception, in the region of space coextensive with it and bounded by the inner surface of the water, and it is this region of space that should be identified with the place of the wooden cube. A region of space that is not occupied by any body is also called a void. ¹