From Causes to Laws of Nature: Aristotle, Descartes, and Newton

This paper describes the process that led from the concept of cause, systematically introduced by Aristotle, to the concept of the law of nature. This process of change, like any other central notion in science, is not only of historical interest but also epistemological and for the teaching of natural sciences. In this sense, it is shown that the contributions of Descartes and Newton were key in this transformation since the former established the link between the concepts of cause and the law of nature; while the second consolidated and generalized this link with the formulation of the laws of motion, accompanied by the introduction of the force of gravity.