Momentum Theory | Explanation and Overview

Ibn Bajja, also known as Avempace, was a Muslim Andalusian polymath who lived in the 12th century. He was a philosopher, physician, and astronomer, and made contributions to various fields such as logic, psychology, and music theory. He wrote several books, including "Kitab al-Tamyiz" (Book of Distinction), which dealt with logic and the nature of knowledge, and "Kitab al-Isharat wa al-Tanbihat" (Book of Directives and Remarks), which discussed psychology and the nature of the soul. He also wrote a treatise on music theory, in which he discussed the mathematical and philosophical principles underlying the art of music.

  

He did write about motion and change in his works, in particular in his work "Kitab al-Isharat wa al-Tanbihat" (Book of Directives and Remarks) where he discussed the principles of physics, motion and causality. He argued that everything in the natural world is in a state of constant change, and that this change is caused by the movement of the celestial spheres and the influence of the elements.

  

In "Kitab al-Isharat wa al-Tanbihat", Ibn Bajja (Avempace) developed an Aristotelian physics that was heavily influenced by his Neoplatonist and Islamic beliefs. He believed that the universe is composed of a hierarchical arrangement of celestial spheres, each with its own unique properties and movements. These spheres, he believed, were the cause of motion and change in the sublunary realm. He also discussed causality and argued that every event in the natural world is the result of a cause and effect chain, with the celestial spheres being the ultimate cause of all motion.

Ibn Bajja also wrote about the concept of time, in which he argued that time is not an independent entity, but is rather a measure of the change of the celestial spheres. This view of time as being relative to motion and change is similar to some of the ideas later developed in the concept of momentum in physics.

It's worth noting that the concept of momentum as we know it today, was not formalized until the 17th century by Sir Isaac Newton, more than five centuries after the time of Ibn Bajja.