Natura non facit saltus
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Natura non facit saltus (Latin for "nature does not make (sudden) jumps") has been a principle of natural philosophies since Aristotle's time<ref>de.wikipedia.org article "natura non facit saltus"</ref>. It appears as an axiom in the work of Gottfried Leibniz and Isaac Newton, the inventors of infinitesimal calculus<ref>but see Archimedes' use of infinitesimals</ref>, as well in Linnaeus' Philosophia Botanica<ref>Quotes from Gottfried Leibniz on Wikiquote</ref>. The axiom expresses that natural processes are to vary continuously, or even in a differentiable fashion.
The principle is commonly seen as contradicting the postulates of quantum mechanics<ref>[1] and [2]</ref>, in which quantum leaps provide an example of discontinuous variation.
Modern evolutionary biology has terminology both suggesting continuous change, such as genetic drift, and suggesting discontinuous variation, such as mutation. However, as the basic structure of DNA is discrete, nature is now widely understood to make jumps, if on a very small scale[citation needed].
[edit] Variant forms
The principle is also variously referred to as:
- "Natura in operationibus suis non facit saltum" — 1613 appearance of a similar quote<ref name="german text">http://www.textlog.de/1850.html</ref>.
- "Natura non saltum facit" (Latin for "nature does not make a jump") — variant form used by Gottfried Leibniz
- "Die Natur macht keine Sprünge" — German translation of the phrase<ref name="german text"/>.
[edit] See also
- Mathematical concepts of "not making jumps"
- continuous variation
- discontinuous variation
- Continuum mechanics
- In biology
[edit] References
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