Description
Book SynopsisThis is the first volume of original commissioned papers on the subject of Newton and empiricism. The chapters, contributed by a leading team of both established and younger international scholars, explore the nature and extent of Newton''s relationship to a variety of empiricisms and empiricists. Among the many significant contributions of the volume are a detailed engagement with Newton''s optical writings, a careful contextualization of Newton''s methods in seventeenth century context, a critical analysis of the ways in which Locke and Hume responded to Newton, and a history of the reception of Newton''s methods in astronomy.
Trade ReviewZvi Biener and Eric Schliesser are to be congratulated on putting together a wide-ranging and broadly successful collection of essays on the topic of Newton and empiricism. * Scott Mandelbrote, Isis *
The strength of the collection seems to be that it helps illustrate the richness of both Newtonianism and empiricism ... anyone who reads through the entire volume will come away with a host of excellent resources (texts, distinctions, taxonomies, arguments) for thinking about these issues. * Journal of the History of Philosophy *
It is a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding read.This book is a rich resource for those interested in Newton's engagement with and impact on the philosophical problems of his time, and on subsequent philosophy of science to the present day. Whether or not you have any prior knowledge of Newton's work, this collection is sure to contain something that will be of interest. * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Online *
Table of ContentsIntroduction ; I. The Roots of Newton's Experimental Method ; 1. Stephen Gaukroger (Aberdeen & Sydney): "Empiricism as a Development of Experimental Natural Philosophy" ; 2. Dana Jalobeanu (Bucharest): "Constructing Natural Historical Facts: Baconian Methodology in Newton's First Paper on Light and Colors" ; 3. Philippe Hamou (Universite de Lille III): "Colorific Properties, Visual Sensation and Method in Newton's Opticks" ; II. Newton and "Empiricist" Philosophers ; 4.Lisa Downing (Ohio State): "Locke's Metaphysics and Newtonian Metaphysics" ; 5. Geoff Gorham & Ed Slowik. "Locke and Newton on Space and Time and their Sensible Measures" ; 6. Yoram Hazony (Shalem Institute): "Hume's Attack on Newton: A Reappraisal" ; 7. Tamas Demeter (Max Planck Institute): "Enlarging the Bounds of Moral Philosophy: Newton's Method and Hume's Science of Man" ; III. Newtonian Method in 18th and 18th-Century Science ; 8. Tammy Nyden (Grinnel College): "Living Force at Leiden: De Volder, 's Gravesande and the Reception of Newtonianism" ; 9. Charles Wolfe (Sydney): "On the role of Newtonian analogies in eighteenth-century life science: Vitalism and provisionally inexplicable explicative devices" ; 10. George Smith (Tufts): "Closing the Loop: Testing Newtonian Gravity, Then and Now"
