Natura non facit saltus
" Natura non facit saltus " ( Latin for "nature does not make jumps") is a basic assumption of ancient philosophy and natural science since Aristotle (or since the Eleates : ancient Greek Ἡ φύσις οὐδὲν ποιεῖ ἅλματα. ). In this form the axiom comes from Carl von Linné (1707–1778). The idea was later taken up in biological and geological gradualism .
The sentence expresses that processes or changes in nature do not take place abruptly and suddenly - discontinuously - but in principle continuously or steadily .
Importance in modern times
The axiom continues to have an effect in western natural science. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) and Sir Isaac Newton (1643–1727; mechanics ), both discoverers and developers of infinitesimal calculus , included this proposition in their considerations, as did Immanuel Kant (1724–1804; philosophy ). In Discourse véritable de la vie, mort et des os du géant Theutobocus of Jacques Tissot (Lyon 1613) is to find a similar thought:
“Natura in operationibus suis non facit saltum.”
"Nature makes no leaps in its processes."
Johann Amos Comenius (1592–1671) formulated in his work De sermonis Latini studio (1638):
"Natura et Ars nusquam saltum faciunt, nusquam fecerunt."
"Nature and art do not jump anywhere, have not made a jump anywhere."
For the neoclassical economics this axiom plays a role. Thus Alfred Marshall the quote his Principles of Economics (1890) preceded by a motto.
Knowledge in the modern age
Biologically discontinuous changes ( mutations ), especially according to the theory of punctualism , and the phenomenon of the quantum leap in modern quantum physics call this principle expressed in phyletic gradualism into question. Since in both phenomena the “jumps” take place in the subatomic and submolecular area, the sentence could be maintained if such smallest changes were excluded. However, there is also a contrary opinion from Nobel Prize winner Manfred Eigen :
“The coincidence has its origin in the indeterminacy of these elementary events. [...] Under special conditions, however, the elementary processes can also build up and thus a macroscopic representation of the indeterminacy of the microscopic game of dice. "
Without quantum leaps, that is, the smallest possible, discrete transitions between states, there would be no light, for example .
grammar
The Latin word for "jump", saltus, -ūs (long, unstressed "ū" in the gen. Singular, nominative and accusative plural) is a noun of the u-declension and in this axiom a correct accusative plural. This is why forms like salti (wrong case: nominative plural; and wrong declension: o-declension) or saltos (wrong declension) are incorrect in terms of grammar and form theory .