Antiperistasis, in philosophy, is a general term for various processes, real or contrived, in which one quality heightens the force of another, opposing, quality.
Overview Historically, antiperistasis as a type of explanation was applied to numerous phenomena, from the interaction of quicklime with cold water, to the origin of thunder and lightning.
In his Timaeus, Plato introduces the concept of periosis pushing around in order to explain various phenomena.Jan Opsomer, "Antiperistasis: A Platonic Theory," in: Jiménez, López, Aguilar (eds.), Plutarco, Platón y Aristóteles. Actas del V Congreso Internacional de la I.P.S. (1999), p. 417-430 Plato, for instance, appeals to it to explain how respiration functions in human beings.See Timaeus 77a-81e. His 'theory' has been most famously adopted by Aristotle who made popular the term antiperistasis.The etymology points to Ancient Greek, ἀντιπερίστασις, formed of ἀντί ("against") and περίστασις ("standing around") In a nutshell it was "the doctrine that a moving object, which is no longer in touch with the mover, is moved by the medium through which it moves.Golitsis P, Simplicius and Philoponus on the Authority of Aristotle, Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Aristotle in Antiquity, (ed.) A. Falcon, Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2016 Logically, it is connected to the idea that void does not exist.
It was using this explanation that academic philosophers claimed that cold, on many occasions, increases a body's temperature, and dryness increases its moisture. Thus, it was said, quicklime (CaO) was apparently set ablaze when doused with cold water (an effect later explained as an exothermic reaction). It was also the understood reason for why water, such as that in wells, appeared warmer in winter than in summer (later explained as an example of sensory adaptation). It was also suggested that thunder and lightning were the results of antiperistasis caused by the coldness of the sky.
Peripatetic philosophers, who were followers of Aristotle, made extensive use of the principle of antiperistasis. According to such authors,
Other examples used by the proponents of antiperistasis included the aphoristical saying of Hippocrates, "the viscera are hottest in the winter"; and the production of hail in the upper atmosphere, believed to occur only in the summer due to the increased heat of the sun.
Robert Boyle examined the doctrine in his work, "New Experiments and Observations upon Cold."
See also Le Chatelier's principle Homeostasis
References
"Antiperistasis", Cyclopædia, Ephraim Chambers, 1728