“…The Antique sources commenting on Archimedes' quasi-divine feat in building an artificial model of the cosmos left open how this was actually achieved, but Claudian explicitly mentioned the presence of "spirits" as movers for this "living work" (see, e.g., the seventeenth-century translation quoted in John Wilkins' Mathematical Magick (Wilkins 1648, p. 165)). Newton's machine of the world was similarly dependent on "a certain most subtle spirit" for its operation (in the expression of the Principia's General Scholiumsee (Ducheyne 2014;Kochiras 2011;McGuire 1968) for the relation of this spirit to the cause of gravity). This implies that God could not be considered as a mechanic, whose only action would have consisted in cleverly disposing passive matter and infusing an initial amount of motion in the system.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Newton was probably not committed to straightforward action at a distance between objects like the planets and the Sun (see (Ducheyne 2014;Janiak 2008;Kochiras 2011) for recent assessments of the literature on this vexed issue). He seems to have wavered between a few ways of accounting for the transmission of the action, but it is clear that he saw a crucial role for what he called active principles (McGuire 1968).…”
Section: Solving New Problems In Mechanicsmentioning
Sixteenth-century Europe showed a marked rise in attention for machines as objects for theoretical reflection. Medieval society had a rich material culture involving both traditional instruments and striking new inventions (White 1962). Scholastic philosophers were familiar with some Alexandrian and Arabic texts treating the principles of the science of weights, to which authors such as Jordanus Nemorarius offered further developments (Moody and Clagett 1952). But there are no signs of the specific mode of articulation between material practice and theoretical
“…The Antique sources commenting on Archimedes' quasi-divine feat in building an artificial model of the cosmos left open how this was actually achieved, but Claudian explicitly mentioned the presence of "spirits" as movers for this "living work" (see, e.g., the seventeenth-century translation quoted in John Wilkins' Mathematical Magick (Wilkins 1648, p. 165)). Newton's machine of the world was similarly dependent on "a certain most subtle spirit" for its operation (in the expression of the Principia's General Scholiumsee (Ducheyne 2014;Kochiras 2011;McGuire 1968) for the relation of this spirit to the cause of gravity). This implies that God could not be considered as a mechanic, whose only action would have consisted in cleverly disposing passive matter and infusing an initial amount of motion in the system.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Newton was probably not committed to straightforward action at a distance between objects like the planets and the Sun (see (Ducheyne 2014;Janiak 2008;Kochiras 2011) for recent assessments of the literature on this vexed issue). He seems to have wavered between a few ways of accounting for the transmission of the action, but it is clear that he saw a crucial role for what he called active principles (McGuire 1968).…”
Section: Solving New Problems In Mechanicsmentioning
Sixteenth-century Europe showed a marked rise in attention for machines as objects for theoretical reflection. Medieval society had a rich material culture involving both traditional instruments and striking new inventions (White 1962). Scholastic philosophers were familiar with some Alexandrian and Arabic texts treating the principles of the science of weights, to which authors such as Jordanus Nemorarius offered further developments (Moody and Clagett 1952). But there are no signs of the specific mode of articulation between material practice and theoretical
“…The Antique sources commenting on Archimedes' quasi-divine feat in building an artificial model of the cosmos left open how this was actually achieved, but Claudian explicitly mentioned the presence of "spirits" as movers for this "living work" (see, e.g., the seventeenth century translation quoted in John Wilkins' Mathematical Magick (Wilkins, 1648, p. 165)). Newton's machine of the world was similarly dependent on "a certain most subtle spirit" for its operation (in the expression of the Principia's General Scholium -see (Ducheyne, 2014;Kochiras, 2011;McGuire, 1968) for the relation of this spirit to the cause of gravity). This implies that God could not be considered as a mechanic, whose only action would have consisted in cleverly disposing passive matter and infusing an initial amount of motion in the system.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Newton was probably not committed to straightforward action at a distance between objects like the planets and the Sun (see (Ducheyne, 2014;Janiak, 2008;Kochiras, 2011) for recent assessments of the literature on this vexed issue). He seems to have wavered between a few ways of accounting for the transmission of the action, but it is clear that he saw a crucial role for what he called active principles (McGuire, 1968).…”
“…Due to lack of evidence, he maintains that he does not know what such ether is. Hylarie Kochiras (, p. 174) argues that hypotheses like this are legitimate as they are ‘amenable to empirical investigation' and may furnish experiments, but not because their appeal to make ‘the world intelligible. ' If matter is inanimate and passive, it should not strive towards meaningful goals.…”
Section: Newton's Argument For Law Of Universal Gravitation and Its Umentioning
This article centers on Hume's position on the intelligibility of natural philosophy. To that end, the controversy surrounding universal gravitation shall be scrutinized. It is very well known that Hume sides with the Newtonian experimentalist approach rather than with the Leibnizian demand for intelligibility. However, what is not clear is Hume's overall position on the intelligibility of natural philosophy. It shall be argued that Hume declines Leibniz's principle of intelligibility. However, Hume does not eschew intelligibility altogether; his concept of causation itself stipulates mechanical intelligibility.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
