Rational Mechanics in the Eighteenth Century. On Structural Developments of a Mathematical Science

Pulte, Helmut

doi:10.1002/bewi.201201550

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 3 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…But contrary to Jacobi's idea that it only includes pure mathematics, and that mechanics does not correspond to that field because it should be applicable to the empirical realm (cf. Pulte 2012), Reech thought that mechanics should be grounded as a mathematical science (Reech 1852, 33). In fact, to him, statics should be established prior to dynamics, as a science of equilibrium, whose assertions grounded on a true basis would have “the same status of certainty as the truths of geometry” (ibid., 41).…”

Section: Convention In Mechanics: Jacobi Reech and Poincarémentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

From Jurisprudence to Mechanics: Jacobi, Reech, and Poincaré on Convention

Paz¹

2018

Sci Context

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ArgumentThis paper aims at understanding the concept of convention in mechanics as a notion transferred from the field of jurisprudence. This enables us to clarify it as a new epistemic category having a pertinent role in the transformation of mechanics in the nineteenth century. Such understanding permits a separation from linguistic and arbitrary conventions, thus highlighting its epistemic features and not transforming fundamental principles into mere arbitrary agreements. After addressing the main references in the literature discussing the role of convention in mechanics, we analyze its classical use as a concept originating from law. Then we explain its use by Carl G. Jacobi, Ferdinand F. Reech, and J. Henri Poincaré. Here we also show how their uses conform to the features analyzed regarding conventions in jurisprudence. Finally, we try to explain how the use of this concept, among other factors, contributed to the transformation of mechanics.

show abstract

Section: Convention In Mechanics: Jacobi Reech and Poincarémentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 14 This is what Pulte has explained as the end of the “euclidianist” conception of mechanics (cf. Pulte 2012). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

From Jurisprudence to Mechanics: Jacobi, Reech, and Poincaré on Convention

Paz¹

2018

Sci Context

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Actually Newton's method can be thought as based first on models (Ducheyne, ) backed up by the introduction of “a set of ingeniously chosen mathematical principles which function as axioms for the deductive structure of the Principia . In fact, asserted truth is ‘injected’ into rational mechanics not from the bottom, but from the top, and its flow down to the level of phenomena cannot be turned round by conflicting observations” (Pulte, , p. 189). See also, for example, Garrison (), Kleiner () and Shapiro ().…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cows, agency, and the significance of operational thinking

Olaya¹

2015

System Dynamics Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The reverence for data as the source of knowledge seems to be the rule in academic activities. In this respect, system dynamics has much to offer. One of its trademarks is "operational thinking", a distinct attitude that, unlike scientific practices that seek to understand the world by means of data analysis, seeks to transform systems in terms of operations. Operational thinking means to recognize agency as the driving force through which systems actually work: free decisionmakers invent their own future through actions that shape and create systems; they do not obey laws to be discovered by observing the past. System dynamics models provide intelligible explanations that meet such agency. Redesigning and improving human systems require then the capacity to realize and transform operational arrangements, that is, to understand and change decision processes and purposeful actions.

show abstract

Wissenschaftsgeschichte und Wissenschaftsphilosophie – Einführende Bemerkungen

Ash

2012

Ber Wissenschaftsgesch

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

History of Science and Philosophy of Science. Introductory Remarks. This article introduces two special issues of the journal History of Science Reports (Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte) with contributions on the relationships of history and philosophy of science since the seventeenth century. The introduction begins with a brief reminder of Thomas Kuhn's provocative discussion of the relationship in the 1970s, placing it in the context of the debate of the period over whether the foundation of university departments for History and Philosophy of Science in the United States had led to a mere “marriage of convenience” or something more. Following this the paper briefly outlines the transformative impact of the “practical turn” in both philosophy and history of science since the 1990s, and contends that the relationship of history and philosophy of science has nonetheless become increasingly distant over time. This is due in large part to the professionalisation of history of science and to the recent turn to cultural approaches in that field; both trends have led to the adoption of strictly historicist rather than analytical perspectives on knowledge. General historians, too, are paying more attention to the increasing impact of science and technology, but have at most instrumental use for philosophical perspectives. Thus, the distinct possibility arises that the debate between historical and analytical approaches in philosophy of science is becoming a conversation within one discipline rather than a dialogue between two disciplines: what was once a „marriage of convenience”︁ could end in respectful separation or amicable divorce. The article concludes with brief summaries of the articles published in the two special issues, indicating their relations to specific aspects of the broader topic at hand.

show abstract

Rational Mechanics in the Eighteenth Century. On Structural Developments of a Mathematical Science

Cited by 7 publications

References 3 publications

From Jurisprudence to Mechanics: Jacobi, Reech, and Poincaré on Convention

From Jurisprudence to Mechanics: Jacobi, Reech, and Poincaré on Convention

Cows, agency, and the significance of operational thinking

Wissenschaftsgeschichte und Wissenschaftsphilosophie – Einführende Bemerkungen

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About