Philosophical Mechanics In The Age Of Reason

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Philosophical Mechanics in the Age of Reason

Author : Katherine Brading
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0197678955
Total Pages : 449 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (976 download)

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Book Synopsis Philosophical Mechanics in the Age of Reason by : Katherine Brading

Download or read book Philosophical Mechanics in the Age of Reason written by Katherine Brading and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2024-02-27 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From pebbles to planets, tigers to tables, pine trees to people; animate and inanimate, natural and artificial; bodies are everywhere. Bodies populate the world, acting and interacting with one another, and they are the subject-matter of Newton's laws of motion. But what is a body? And how can we know how they behave? In Philosophical Mechanics in the Age of Reason, Katherine Brading and Marius Stan examine the struggle for a theory of bodies. At the beginning of the 18th century, physics was the branch of philosophy that studied bodies in general. Its primary task was to provide a qualitative account of the nature of bodies, including their essential properties, causal powers, and generic behaviors. Pursued by a variety of figures both canonical (from Leibniz to Kant) and less familiar (from Du Châtelet and Euler to d'Alembert and Lagrange), this proved a difficult task. At stake were the appropriate epistemologies and methods for theorizing about the natural world. Solutions demanded the combined resources of philosophy, physics, and mechanics: what Brading and Stan call a "philosophical mechanics." Brading and Stan analyze a century of widespread, concerted efforts to solve "the problem of bodies," they examine the consequences of the many failures, both for the problem itself and for philosophy more generally. They reveal relationships among disparate themes of 18th century physics and philosophy, from the nature of matter to the motion of a vibrating string; causation to the principle of least action; and the role of subtle matter in collision theory to analytic mechanics. All of these, Brading and Stan argue, are related to the eventual emergence of physics as an independent discipline, autonomous from philosophy, more than a century after Newton's Principia. This book provides a new framing of natural philosophy and its transformations in the Enlightenment; and it proposes an account of how physics and philosophy evolved into distinct fields of inquiry.

Theory, Evidence, Data: Themes from George E. Smith

Author : Marius Stan
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3031410416
Total Pages : 408 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (314 download)

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Book Synopsis Theory, Evidence, Data: Themes from George E. Smith by : Marius Stan

Download or read book Theory, Evidence, Data: Themes from George E. Smith written by Marius Stan and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-11-27 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book builds on the path-breaking work of George E. Smith and further explores the notions of evidence and confirmation in the exact sciences from two perspectives: conceptual and historical. Contributions in this volume investigate the philosophical presuppositions, explanatory scope, and historical precursors of evidence in mathematical physics and related disciplines. The papers are written by and of interest to philosophers and historians of science.

Mechanism and Materialism

Author : Robert E. Schofield
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400871026
Total Pages : 345 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis Mechanism and Materialism by : Robert E. Schofield

Download or read book Mechanism and Materialism written by Robert E. Schofield and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-03-08 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Robert Schofield explores the rational elements of British experimental natural philosophy in the 18th century by tracing the influence of two opposing concepts of the nature of matter and its action—mechanism and materialism. Both concepts rested on the Newtonian interpretation of their proponents, although each developed more or less independently. By integrating the developments in all the areas of experimental natural philosophy, describing their connections and the influences of Continental science, natural theology, and to a lesser degree social and institutional changes, the author demonstrates that mechanistic concepts dominated interpretations from about 1687 to 1740, when they were replaced by materialistic concepts. A revival of the mechanistic approach early in the next century made England a fertile field for ideas on the dynamic interaction of forces. Originally published in 1970. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Émilie Du Châtelet and the Foundations of Physical Science

Author : Katherine Brading
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0429787197
Total Pages : 122 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (297 download)

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Book Synopsis Émilie Du Châtelet and the Foundations of Physical Science by : Katherine Brading

Download or read book Émilie Du Châtelet and the Foundations of Physical Science written by Katherine Brading and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-12-21 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The centerpiece of Émilie Du Châtelet’s philosophy of science is her Foundations of Physics, first published in 1740. The Foundations contains epistemology, metaphysics, methodology, mechanics, and physics, including such pressing issues of the time as whether there are atoms, the appropriate roles of God and of hypotheses in scientific theorizing, how (if at all) bodies are capable of acting on one another, and whether gravity is an action-at-a-distance force. Du Châtelet sought to resolve these issues within a single philosophical framework that builds on her critique and appraisal of all the leading alternatives (Cartesian, Newtonian, Leibnizian, and so forth) of the period. The text is remarkable for being the first to attempt such a synthetic project, and even more so for the accessibility and clarity of the writing. This book argues that Du Châtelet put her finger on the central problems that lay at the intersection of physics and metaphysics at the time, and tackled them drawing on the most up-to-date resources available. It will be a useful source for students and scholars interested in the history and philosophy of science, and in the impact of women philosophers in the early modern period.

Newton's Metaphysics

Author : Eric Schliesser
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0197567711
Total Pages : 329 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (975 download)

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Book Synopsis Newton's Metaphysics by : Eric Schliesser

Download or read book Newton's Metaphysics written by Eric Schliesser and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-07-16 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this collection of new and previously published essays, noted philosopher Eric Schliesser offers new interpretations of the signifance of Isaac Newton's metaphysics on his physics and the subsequent development of philosophy more broadly. Schliesser address Newton's account of space, time, gravity, motion, inertia, and laws-all evergreens in the literature; he also breaks new ground in focusing on Newton's philosophy of time, Newton's views on emanation, and Newton's modal metaphysics. In particular, Schliesser explores the rich resonances between Newton's and Spinoza's metaphysics. Schliesser presents a new argument of the ways in which Newton and his circle respond to the treatment and accusations of Spinozism, illuminating both the details of Newton's metaphysics and the content of Spinoza's. Schliesser provides a fine-grained analysis of some of the key metaphysical concepts in Newton's physics, including controversial interpretations of Newton's ideas on space, time, inertia, and necessity. Schliesser restates his provocative interpretation of Newton's views on action at a distance as he was developing the Principia. Newton's Metaphysics contains a substantive introduction, two chapters co-authored with Zvi Biener and with Mary Domski, new chapters on Newton's modal metaphysics and his theology, and two postscripts in which Schliesser responds to some of his most important critics, including Katherine Brading, Andrew Janiak, Hylarie Kochiras, Steffen Ducheyne, and Adwait Parker. The collection presents new and varied analyses on familiar focuses of Newton's work, adding important perspectives to the recent revival of interest in Spinoza's metaphysics.

What was Mechanical about Mechanics

Author : J.C. Boudri
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9401736723
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (17 download)

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Book Synopsis What was Mechanical about Mechanics by : J.C. Boudri

Download or read book What was Mechanical about Mechanics written by J.C. Boudri and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-04-17 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Age of Reason is left the Dark Ages of the history of mechanics. Clifford A. Truesdell) 1. 1 THE INVISIBLE TRUTH OF CLASSICAL PHYSICS There are some questions that physics since the days of Newton simply cannot an swer. Perhaps the most important of these can be categorized as 'questions of eth ics', and 'questions of ultimate meaning'. The question of humanity's place in the cosmos and in nature is pre-eminently a philosophical and religious one, and physics seems to have little to contribute to answering it. Although physics claims to have made very fundamental discoveries about the cosmos and nature, its concern is with the coherence and order of material phenomena rather than with questions of mean ing. Now and then thinkers such as Stephen Hawking or Fritjof Capra emerge, who appear to claim that a total world-view can be derived from physics. Generally, however, such authors do not actually make any great effort to make good on their claim to completeness: their answers to questions of meaning often pale in compari 2 son with their answers to conventional questions in physics. Moreover, to the extent that they do attempt to answer questions of meaning, it is easy to show that they 3 draw on assumptions from outside physics.

Between Leibniz, Newton, and Kant

Author : Wolfgang Lefèvre
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3031343409
Total Pages : 397 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (313 download)

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Book Synopsis Between Leibniz, Newton, and Kant by : Wolfgang Lefèvre

Download or read book Between Leibniz, Newton, and Kant written by Wolfgang Lefèvre and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-08-16 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This addresses the transformations of metaphysics as a discipline, the emergence of analytical mechanics, the diverging avenues of 18th-century Newtonianism, the body-mind problem, and philosophical principles of classification in the life sciences. An appendix contains a critical edition and first translation into English of Newton's scholia from David Gregory's Estate on the Propositions IV through IX Book III of his Principia.

Epistemology and Natural Philosophy in the 18th Century

Author : Danilo Capecchi
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030528529
Total Pages : 567 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (35 download)

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Book Synopsis Epistemology and Natural Philosophy in the 18th Century by : Danilo Capecchi

Download or read book Epistemology and Natural Philosophy in the 18th Century written by Danilo Capecchi and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-08-25 with total page 567 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book documents the process of transformation from natural philosophy, which was considered the most important of the sciences until the early modern era, into modern disciplines such as mathematics, physics, natural history, chemistry, medicine and engineering. It focuses on the 18th century, which has often been considered uninteresting for the history of science, representing the transition from the age of genius and the birth of modern science (the 17th century) to the age of prodigious development in the 19th century. Yet the 18th century, the century of Enlightenment, as will be demonstrated here, was in fact characterized by substantial ferment and novelty. To make the text more accessible, little emphasis has been placed on the precise genesis of the various concepts and methods developed in scientific enterprises, except when doing so was necessary to make them clear. For the sake of simplicity, in several situations reference is made to the authors who are famous today, such as Newton, the Bernoullis, Euler, d’Alembert, Lagrange, Lambert, Volta et al. – not necessarily because they were the most creative and original minds, but mainly because their writings represent a synthesis of contemporary and past studies. The above names should, therefore, be considered more labels of a period than references to real historical characters.

Thinking about Causes

Author : Peter Machamer
Publisher : University of Pittsburgh Pre
ISBN 13 : 0822971119
Total Pages : 327 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (229 download)

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Book Synopsis Thinking about Causes by : Peter Machamer

Download or read book Thinking about Causes written by Peter Machamer and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 2007-06-03 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Emerging as a hot topic in the mid-twentieth century, causality is one of the most frequently discussed issues in contemporary philosophy. Causality has been a central concept in philosophy as well as in the sciences, especially the natural sciences, dating back to its beginning in Greek thought. David Hume famously claimed that causality is the cement of the universe. In general terms, it links eventualities, predicts the consequences of action, and is the cognitive basis for the acquisition and the use of categories and concepts in the child. Indeed, how could one answer why-questions, around which early rational thought begins to revolve, without hitting on the relationships between reason and consequence, cause and effect, or without drawing these distinctions? But a comprehensive definition of causality has been notoriously hard to provide, and virtually every aspect of causation has been subject to much debate and analysis. Thinking about Causes brings together top philosophers from the United States and Europe to focus on causality as a major force in philosophical and scientific thought. Topics addressed include: ancient Stoicism and moral philosophy; the case of sacramental causality; traditional causal concepts in Descartes; Kant on transcendental laws; the influence of J. S. Mill's politics on his concept of causation; plurality in causality; causality in modern physics; causality in economics; and the concept of free will. Taken together, the essays in this collection provide the best current thinking about causality, especially as it relates to the philosophy of science.

Thomas Paine: The Age of Reason

Author : Thomas Paine
Publisher : e-artnow
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 708 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (64 download)

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Book Synopsis Thomas Paine: The Age of Reason by : Thomas Paine

Download or read book Thomas Paine: The Age of Reason written by Thomas Paine and published by e-artnow. This book was released on 2019-12-18 with total page 708 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In "The Age of Reason" Thomas Paine, argues for the philosophical position of Deism. It follows in the tradition of eighteenth-century British deism, and challenges institutionalized religion and the legitimacy of the Bible. Paine's work inspired and guided many free thinkers.

The Enlightenment

Author : John Robertson
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0199591784
Total Pages : 169 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (995 download)

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Book Synopsis The Enlightenment by : John Robertson

Download or read book The Enlightenment written by John Robertson and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This introduction explores the history of the 18th-century Enlightenment movement. Considering its intellectual commitments, Robertson then turns to their impact on society, and the ways in which Enlightenment thinkers sought to further the goal of human betterment, by promoting economic improvement and civil and political justice.

Atom and Individual in the Age of Newton

Author : G. Freudenthal
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9400945000
Total Pages : 282 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis Atom and Individual in the Age of Newton by : G. Freudenthal

Download or read book Atom and Individual in the Age of Newton written by G. Freudenthal and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this stimulating investigation, Gideon Freudenthal has linked social history with the history of science by formulating an interesting proposal: that the supposed influence of social theory may be seen as actual through its co herence with the process of formation of physical concepts. The reinterpre tation of the development of science in the seventeenth century, now widely influential, receives at Freudenthal's hand its most persuasive statement, most significantly because of his attention to the theoretical form which is charac teristic. of classical Newtonian mechanics. He pursues the sources of the parallels that may be noted between that mechanics and the dominant philosophical systems and social theories of the time; and in a fascinating development Freudenthal shows how a quite precise method - as he descriptively labels it, the 'analytic-synthetic method' - which underlay the Newtonian form of theoretical argument, was due to certain interpretive premisses concerning particle mechanics. If he is right, these depend upon a particular stage of con ceptual achievement in the theories of both society and nature; further, that the conceptual was generalized philosophically; but, strikingly, Freudenthal shows that this concept-formation itself was linked to the specific social relations of the times of Newton and Hobbes.

Seeking Nature's Logic

Author : David B. Wilson
Publisher : Penn State Press
ISBN 13 : 0271035250
Total Pages : 364 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (71 download)

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Book Synopsis Seeking Nature's Logic by : David B. Wilson

Download or read book Seeking Nature's Logic written by David B. Wilson and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Studies the path of natural philosophy (i.e., physics) from Isaac Newton through Scotland into the nineteenth-century background to the modern revolution in physics. Examines how the history of science has been influenced by John Robison and other notable intellectuals of the Scottish Enlightenment"--Provided by publisher.

Philosophy in an Age of Science

Author : Hilary Putnam
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674050134
Total Pages : 672 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (74 download)

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Book Synopsis Philosophy in an Age of Science by : Hilary Putnam

Download or read book Philosophy in an Age of Science written by Hilary Putnam and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2012-04-17 with total page 672 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hilary Putnam's unceasing self-criticism has led to the frequent changes of mind he is famous for, but his thinking is also marked by considerable continuity. A simultaneous interest in science and ethicsÑunusual in the current climate of contentionÑhas long characterized his thought. In Philosophy in an Age of Science, Putnam collects his papers for publicationÑhis first volume in almost two decades. Mario De Caro and David Macarthur's introduction identifies central themes to help the reader negotiate between Putnam past and Putnam present: his critique of logical positivism; his enduring aspiration to be realist about rational normativity; his anti-essentialism about a range of central philosophical notions; his reconciliation of the scientific worldview and the humanistic tradition; and his movement from reductive scientific naturalism to liberal naturalism. Putnam returns here to some of his first enthusiasms in philosophy, such as logic, mathematics, and quantum mechanics. The reader is given a glimpse, too, of ideas currently in development on the subject of perception. Putnam's work, contributing to a broad range of philosophical inquiry, has been said to represent a Òhistory of recent philosophy in outline.Ó Here it also delineates a possible future.

Science For A Polite Society

Author : Geoffrey V. Sutton
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0429977042
Total Pages : 459 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (299 download)

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Book Synopsis Science For A Polite Society by : Geoffrey V. Sutton

Download or read book Science For A Polite Society written by Geoffrey V. Sutton and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-06 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditional accounts of the scientific revolution focus on such thinkers as Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton, and usually portray it as a process of steady, rational progress. There is another side to this story, and its protagonists are more likely to be women than men, dilettante aristocrats than highly educated natural philosophers. The setting is not the laboratory, but rather the literary salons of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century France, and the action takes place sometime between Europe's last great witch hunts and the emergence of the modern world.Science for a Polite Society is an intriguing reexamination of the social, cultural, and intellectual context of the origins of modern science. The elite of French society accepted science largely because of their personal involvement and fascination with the emerging philosophy of nature. Members of salon society, especially women, were avid readers of works of natural philosophy and active participants in experiments for the edification of their peers. Some of these women went on to champion the new science and played a significant role in securing its acceptance by polite society.As Geoffrey Sutton points out, the sheer entertainment value of startling displays of electricity and chemical explosions would have played an important role in persuading the skeptical. We can only imagine the effects of such drawing-room experiments on an audience that lived in a world illuminated by tallow candles. For many, leaping electrical arcs and window-rattling detonations must have been as convincing as Newton's mathematically elegant description of the motions of the planets.With the acceptance and triumph of the new science came a prestige that made it a model of what rationality should be. The Enlightenment adopted the methods of scientific thought as the model for human progress. To be an ?enlightened? thinker meant believing that the application of scientific methods could reform political and economic life, to the lasting benefit of humanity. We live with the ambiguous results of that legacy even today, although in our own century we are perhaps more impressed by the ability of science to frighten, rather than to awe and entertain.

Mechanism and Materialism

Author : Robert E. Schofield
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (72 download)

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Book Synopsis Mechanism and Materialism by : Robert E. Schofield

Download or read book Mechanism and Materialism written by Robert E. Schofield and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Jean D'alembert-Science

Author : Hankins
Publisher : CRC Press
ISBN 13 : 9782881243998
Total Pages : 276 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (439 download)

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Book Synopsis Jean D'alembert-Science by : Hankins

Download or read book Jean D'alembert-Science written by Hankins and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 1990-05-17 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the origins of d'Alembert's philosophical ideas, and shows how abstract concepts such as force and mass were clarified and assimilated into the structure of classical mechanics. But more than this, the book is a study of the relations between science and philosophy during the Enlightenment, as reflected in the life and work of Jean d'Alembert, one of that period's most prominent spokesmen. By showing the interactions of one "philosophe" with the scientific, social and philosophical communities of the eighteenth century, Professor Hankins reveals how Enlightenment philosophy borrowed heavily from the methods and goals of science.