Newton’s Scientific and Philosophical Legacy

Abstract

This volume contains the Proceedings of the International Colloqui um "Newton's Scientific and Philosophical Legacy", that was held at the Catholic University of Nijmegen (The Netherlands) from June 9th to 12th 1987 to celebrate the Tercentenary of the publication of Newton's Philo sophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1667). Although 1987 was a busy year for Newton scholars, we were happy that five of most prom inent among them were able to come to Nijmegen and speak on the vari ous aspects of Newton's thought. They are the Professors I. Bernard Cohen (Harvard), Gale Christianson (Indiana State), B.J. Dobbs (Northwestern), Richard H. Popkin (UCLA) and Mordechai Feingold (Boston University). No doubt, recent scholarship has put Newton's genius in a quite different perspective from the one that had come to make up what may be called Newtonian mythology. Although his achievements in the areas of mechanics, mathematics, and optics remain indisputed, Newton's scientific efforts were apparently entirely subordi nate to his religious beliefs. This volume has been divided into four parts, preceded by a Pream ble in which Prof. Christianson offers a vivid portrait of Newton as a per son. The first part deals with the science of Newton as he himself under stood that term. The second part considers the influence of Newton's work on later scientific developments. The third part deals primarily with the question of the methodological influence of Newton, and the last part with his more philosophical legacy. Two editorial remarks are due. Preamble -- Newton, the Man -- Again -- I: Newton's Science -- Newton's Third Law and Universal Gravity -- Newton's Alchemy and his 'Active Principle' of Gravitation -- Newton's Biblical Theology and his Theological Physics -- Newton's 'Opticks' and the Incomplete Revolution -- Newton's Pendulum Experiment and specific Characteristics of his Scientific Method in Physics -- II: Newton's Scientific Heritage -- The Surprises of Newtonian Determinism -- Newton's Conception of Time in Modern Physics and Philosophy -- Gravitation and Nineteenth-Century Physical Worldviews -- Electricity in Eighteenth-Century Holland: a Newtonian Legacy -- Reconcilation of the Newtonian Framework with Thermodynamics by the Reproducibility of a Collective Physical Quantity -- Newtonian Gravitational Theory and General Relativity in the Light of the Correspondence between their Mathematical Models -- Chemical Affinity in the 19th Century and Newtonianism -- III: Newton's Methodological Heritage -- Newton, Lavoisier and Modern Science -- Inertia, the Innate Force of Matter: a Legacy from Newton to Modern Physics -- A Charactarization of the Newtonian Paradigm -- Newton's Mathematization of Physics in Retrospect -- Probability, Planets, and Newton's Methodology -- Isaac Newton's Legacy: an Insight into Resilient Patterns of Thought -- Newton's Construction of the Law of Gravitation -- IV: Newton's Philosophical Heritage -- Partnership in Glory: Newton and Locke through the Enlightenment and beyond -- What Survives from the Classical Concept of Absolute Time -- Newton's Theory of Matter -- Ethics, Politics and Sociology as Newtonian Sciences -- Aristotle Wittgenstein, alias Isaac Newton between Fact and Substance -- A Word About the Authors.