Download Free Newtons Principia Revisited Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Newtons Principia Revisited and write the review.

PROBLEM. The treatise is devoted to the reconstruction of our 'instinctive beliefs' in classical mechanics and to present them 'as much isolated and as free from irrelevant additions as possible'. The same motivation has driven many authors since the publication of Newton's Principia. IMPORTANCE. Classical mechanics will remain the basic reference and tool for mechanics on terrestrial and planetary scale as well as the proto-theory of relativistic and quantum mechanics. But it can only serve its purpose if it is not considered as obsolete, but if its foundations and implications are understood and made 'absolutely' clear. METHOD. Based on the 'instinctive belief' that the foundations of classical mechanics cannot be found and reconstructed within mechanics itself but only 'outside', classical mechanics is 'understood' by embedding it into an adequate theory of knowledge and adequate proto- and meta-theories in terms of the 'language of dynamics'. Evidence is produced that available philosophical expositions are not adequate for the purpose at hand. Mechanics is treated as part of physics, not of mathematics. Not sophisticated mathematical artifacts, necessary for solving specific problems, but the intellectually satisfactory foundation of mechanics in general is subject and purpose of the exercise. The goal is reached using axiomatic systems as models. SCOPE. Following an account of the unsatisfactory state of affairs the treatise covers the epistemological foundations, abstract proto-mechanics, i. e. the theories of time and space, meta-mechanics, i. e. the theories of state space models and of quantities proper, and, as an instance of the latter, abstract elementary mechanics, the theory of translational motions of 'small' solid bodies in three-dimensional Euclidean space, including classical general relativity. Subsequently the theory of classical kinematics is developed as basis for interpreted proto-mechanics and interpreted elementary mechanics. As an amus
This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note that the online publication date for this handbook is the date that the first article in the title was published online. For more information, please read the site FAQs.
This book challenges the traditional historiography of the Scientific Revolution, probably the single most important unifying concept in the history of science. Usually referring to the period from Copernicus to Newton (roughly 1500 to 1700), the Scientific Revolution is considered to be the central episode in the history of science, the historical moment at which that unique way of looking at the world that we call 'modern science' and its attendant institutions emerged. It has been taken as the terminus a quo of all that followed. Starting with a dialogue between Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs and Richard S. Westfall, whose understanding of the Scientific Revolution differed in important ways, the papers in this volume reconsider canonical figures, their areas of study, and the formation of disciplinary boundaries during this seminal period of European intellectual history.
Edmond Halley (1656-1742), MA, LLD, FRS, Capt. RN, Savillian Professor of Geometry and Astronomer Royal, stands pre-eminent among Oxford, English, and European scientists. A contemporary of Wren, Pepys, Hooke, Handel, Purcell, and Dryden, he was a schoolboy in London while the Great Fireraged, and was an active participant in the Enlightenment, an age of profound developments in all the arts and sciences. As a younger contemporary of Isaac Newton, he had a crucial part in the Newtonian revolution in the natural sciences. It was Halley who set the question that led Newton to writethe Principia, and who edited, paid for, and reviewed it. In later years he applied the methods of the Principia widely in astronomy and geophysics. Now more widely known for his prediction of the return of "his" comet, Halley discovered the proper motion of stars, made important studies of themoon's motion, and his investigations of the Earth's magnetic field and of tides were unrialled for centuries. His prediction of the transit of Venus led to Cook's voyage to Tahiti. He was far more than an cloistered academic; his exploits as a naval captain led to perilous adventures, and he wasalso a notable servant of the State. Much material about his eventful career has come to light in recent years, making this a timely new account of the life, scientific interests, and continuing influence of this engaging and adventurous scholar. Sir Alan Cook has written a fascinating andilluminating account of Halley's life and science, making this a unique and highly readable biography of one of the key figures of his time.
Newton's philosophical analysis of space and time /Robert Disalle --Newton's concepts of force and mass, with notes on the Laws of Motion /I. Bernard Cohen --Curvature in Newton's dynamics /J. Bruce Brackenridge and Michael Nauenberg --Methodology of the Principia /George E. Smith --Newton's argument for universal gravitation /William Harper --Newton and celestial mechanics /Curtis Wilson --Newton's optics and atomism /Alan E. Shapiro --Newton's metaphysics /Howard Stein --Analysis and synthesis in Newton's mathematical work /Niccolò Guicciardini --Newton, active powers, and the mechanical philosophy /Alan Gabbey --Background to Newton's chymistry /William Newman --Newton's alchemy /Karin Figala --Newton on prophecy and the Apocalypse /Maurizio Mamiani --Newton and eighteenth-century Christianity /Scott Mandelbrote --Newton versus Leibniz : from geomentry to metaphysics /A. Rupert Hall --Newton and the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence /Domenico Bertoloni Meli.
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.
Avihu Zakai analyzes Jonathan Edwards's redemptive mode of historical thought in the context of the Enlightenment. As theologian and philosopher, Edwards has long been a towering figure in American intellectual history. Nevertheless, and despite Edwards's intense engagement with the nature of time and the meaning of history, there has been no serious attempt to explore his philosophy of history. Offering the first such exploration, Zakai considers Edwards's historical thought as a reaction, in part, to the varieties of Enlightenment historical narratives and their growing disregard for theistic considerations. Zakai analyzes the ideological origins of Edwards's insistence that the process of history depends solely on God's redemptive activity in time as manifested in a series of revivals throughout history, reading this doctrine as an answer to the threat posed to the Christian theological teleology of history by the early modern emergence of a secular conception of history and the modern legitimation of historical time. In response to the Enlightenment refashioning of secular, historical time and its growing emphasis on human agency, Edwards strove to re-establish God's preeminence within the order of time. Against the de-Christianization of history and removal of divine power from the historical process, he sought to re-enthrone God as the author and lord of history--and thus to re-enchant the historical world. Placing Edwards's historical thought in its broadest context, this book will be welcomed by those who study early modern history, American history, or religious culture and experience in America.