Newton's Philosophy of Nature

Newton's Philosophy of Nature PDF

Author: Sir Isaac Newton

Publisher: Courier Corporation

Published: 2012-08-21

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 0486170276

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A wide, accessible representation of the interests, problems, and philosophic issues that preoccupied the great 17th-century scientist, this collection is grouped according to methods, principles, and theological considerations. 1953 edition.

Isaac Newton's Natural Philosophy

Isaac Newton's Natural Philosophy PDF

Author: Jed Z. Buchwald

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 9780262524254

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Shedding new light on the intellectual context of Newton's scientific thought, this book explores the development of his mathematical philosophy, rational mechanics, and celestial dynamics. An appendix includes the last paper written by Newton biographer Richard S. Westfall.

Isaac Newton and Natural Philosophy

Isaac Newton and Natural Philosophy PDF

Author: Niccolò Guicciardini

Publisher: Reaktion Books

Published: 2018-02-15

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1780239483

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Isaac Newton is one of the greatest scientists in history, yet the spectrum of his interests was much broader than that of most contemporary scientists. In fact, Newton would have defined himself not as a scientist, but as a natural philosopher. He was deeply involved in alchemical, religious, and biblical studies, and in the later part of his life he played a prominent role in British politics, economics, and the promotion of scientific research. Newton’s pivotal work Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which sets out his laws of universal gravitation and motion, is regarded as one of the most important works in the history of science. Niccolò Guicciardini’s enlightening biography offers an accessible introduction both to Newton’s celebrated research in mathematics, optics, mechanics, and astronomy and to how Newton viewed these scientific fields in relation to his quest for the deepest secrets of the universe, matter theory and religion. Guicciardini sets Newton the natural philosopher in the troubled context of the religious and political debates ongoing during Newton’s life, a life spanning the English Civil Wars, the Restoration, the Glorious Revolution, and the Hanoverian succession. Incorporating the latest Newtonian scholarship, this fast-paced biography broadens our perception of both this iconic figure and the great scientific revolution of the early modern period.

“The main Business of natural Philosophy”

“The main Business of natural Philosophy” PDF

Author: Steffen Ducheyne

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2011-10-20

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 9400721269

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In this monograph, Steffen Ducheyne provides a historically detailed and systematically rich explication of Newton’s methodology. Throughout the pages of this book, it will be shown that Newton developed a complex natural-philosophical methodology which encompasses procedures to minimize inductive risk during the process of theory formation and which, thereby, surpasses a standard hypothetico-deductive methodological setting. Accordingly, it will be highlighted that the so-called ‘Newtonian Revolution’ was not restricted to the empirical and theoretical dimensions of science, but applied equally to the methodological dimension of science. Furthermore, it will be documented that Newton’s methodology was far from static and that it developed alongside with his scientific work. Attention will be paid not only to the successes of Newton’s innovative methodology, but equally to its tensions and limitations. Based on a thorough study of Newton’s extant manuscripts, this monograph will address and contextualize, inter alia, Newton’s causal realism, his views on action at a distance and space and time, the status of efficient causation in the /Principia/, the different phases of his methodology, his treatment of force and the constituents of the physico-mathematical models in the context of Book I of the /Principia/, the analytic part of the argument for universal gravitation, the meaning and significance of his regulae philosophandi, the methodological differences between his mechanical and optical work, and, finally, the interplay between Newton’s theology and his natural philosophy.

Priest of Nature

Priest of Nature PDF

Author: Rob Iliffe

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017-06-09

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0199995362

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After Sir Isaac Newton revealed his discovery that white light was compounded of more basic colored rays, he was hailed as a genius and became an instant international celebrity. An interdisciplinary enthusiast and intellectual giant in a number of disciplines, Newton published revolutionary, field-defining works that reached across the scientific spectrum, including the Principia Mathematica and Opticks. His renown opened doors for him throughout his career, ushering him into prestigious positions at Cambridge, the Royal Mint, and the Royal Society. And yet, alongside his public success, Newton harbored religious beliefs that set him at odds with law and society, and, if revealed, threatened not just his livelihood but his life. Religion and faith dominated much of Newton's life and work. His papers, never made available to the public, were filled with biblical speculation and timelines along with passages that excoriated the early Church fathers. Indeed, his radical theological leanings rendered him a heretic, according to the doctrines of the Anglican Church. Newton believed that the central concept of the Trinity was a diabolical fraud and loathed the idolatry, cruelty, and persecution that had come to define religion in his time. Instead, he proposed a "simple Christianity"--a faith that would center on a few core beliefs and celebrate diversity in religious thinking and practice. An utterly original but obsessively private religious thinker, Newton composed several of the most daring works of any writer of the early modern period, works which he and his inheritors suppressed and which have been largely inaccessible for centuries. In Priest of Nature, historian Rob Iliffe introduces readers to Newton the religious animal, deepening our understanding of the relationship between faith and science at a formative moment in history and thought. Previous scholars and biographers have generally underestimated the range and complexity of Newton's religious writings, but Iliffe shows how wide-ranging his observations and interests were, spanning the entirety of Christian history from Creation to the Apocalypse. Iliffe's book allows readers to fully engage in the theological discussion that dominated Newton's age. A vibrant biography of one of history's towering scientific figures, Priest of Nature is the definitive work on the spiritual views of the man who fundamentally changed how we look at the universe.

Sir Isaac Newton's Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy and His System of the World

Sir Isaac Newton's Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy and His System of the World PDF

Author: Sir Isaac Newton

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2023-11-15

Total Pages: 714

ISBN-13: 0520321723

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This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1934.

Newton's Principia

Newton's Principia PDF

Author: Isaac Newton

Publisher: Legare Street Press

Published: 2022-10-26

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781015496712

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Philosophical Perspectives on Newtonian Science

Philosophical Perspectives on Newtonian Science PDF

Author: Phillip Bricker

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 1990

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9780262023016

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These original essays explore the philosophical implications of Newton's work. They address a wide range of topics including Newton's influence on his contemporaries and successors such as Locke and Kant, and his views on the methodology of science, on absolute space and time, and on the Deity.Howard Stein compares Newton's refusal to lock natural philosophy into a preexisting system with the more rigid philosophical predilections of his near-contemporaries Christian Huygens and John Locke. Richard Arthur's commentary provides a useful gloss on Stein's essay. Lawrence Sklar puzzles over Newton's attempts to provide a unified treatment of the various "real quantities": absolute space, time, and motion. According to Phillip Bricker's responding essay, however, the distinctions Sklar draws do not go to the heart of the debate between realists and representationalists.J. E. McGuire and John Carriero debate Newtons views of the relationship between the Deity and the nature of time and space. Peter Achinstein looks at the tension between Newton's methodological views and his advocacy of a corpuscular theory of light; he suggests that Newton could justify the latter by a "weak" inductive inference, but R.I.G. Hughes believes that this inference involves an induction Newton would be unwilling to make. Immanuel Kant's critique of Newton's view of gravity is discussed and amplified by Michael Friedman In response, Robert DiSalle raises a number of problems for Friedman's analysis. Errol Harris and Philip Grier extend the discussion to the present day and look at the ethical implications of Newton's work.Phillip Bricker is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. R.I.G. Hughes is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina. Philosophical Perspectives on Newtonian Science is included in the Johns Hopkins Series on the History and Philosophy of Science.

The Cambridge Companion to Newton

The Cambridge Companion to Newton PDF

Author: I. Bernard Cohen

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2002-04-25

Total Pages: 785

ISBN-13: 1139826026

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Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727) was one of the greatest scientists of all time, a thinker of extraordinary range and creativity who has left enduring legacies in mathematics and the natural sciences. In this volume a team of distinguished contributors examine all the main aspects of Newton's thought, including not only his approach to space, time, mechanics, and universal gravity in his Principia, his research in optics, and his contributions to mathematics, but also his more clandestine investigations into alchemy, theology, and prophecy, which have sometimes been overshadowed by his mathematical and scientific interests.

A View of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy

A View of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy PDF

Author: Anonymous

Publisher: Library of Alexandria

Published: 2020-09-28

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 1465610537

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THE manner, in which Sir Isaac Newton has published his philosophical discoveries, occasions them to lie very much concealed from all, who have not made the mathematics particularly their study. He once, indeed, intended to deliver, in a more familiar way, that part of his inventions, which relates to the system of the world; but upon farther consideration he altered his design. For as the nature of those discoveries made it impossible to prove them upon any other than geometrical principles; he apprehended, that those, who should not fully perceive the force of his arguments, would hardly be prevailed on to exchange their former sentiments for new opinions, so very different from what were commonly received. He therefore chose rather to explain himself only to mathematical readers; and declined the attempting to instruct such in any of his principles, who, by not comprehending his method of reasoning, could not, at the first appearance of his discoveries, have been persuaded of their truth. But now, since Sir Isaac Newton’s doctrine has been fully established by the unanimous approbation of all, who are qualified to understand the same; it is without doubt to be wished, that the whole of his improvements in philosophy might be universally known. For this purpose therefore I drew up the following papers, to give a general notion of our great philosopher’s inventions to such, as are not prepared to read his own works, and yet might desire to be informed of the progress, he has made in natural knowledge; not doubting but there were many, besides those, whose turn of mind had led them into a course of mathematical studies, that would take great pleasure in tasting of this delightful fountain of science.