Aristotle, ancient Greek philosopher and scientist, argued that things fall because they have a natural tendency to move toward the center of the universe (center of the Earth). Rather than a force of gravity causing downward acceleration there is instead a force which holds pushes upwards to prevent things from falling. Galileo and others argued instead that bodies are naturally at rest and there is a force that causes them to fall.
It turns out in one sense modern physics, relativity, is in agreement with Aristotle. According to general relativity gravity is not a force (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3LjJeeae68) but instead a side effect of the geometry of spacetime. Things fall because the mass of the Earth warps the geometry of space such that the the object will move toward the center of the Earth. And it is the force produced by the whatever is holding an object up which actually exists.
