Newton's Regulae Philosophandi
In Chris Smeenk & Eric Schliesser (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Isaac Newton. Oxford University Press (2018)
Abstract
Newton’s Regulae philosophandi—the rules for reasoning in natural philosophy—are maxims of causal reasoning and induction. This essay reviews their significance for Newton’s method of inquiry, as well as their application to particular propositions within the Principia. Two main claims emerge. First, the rules are not only interrelated, they defend various facets of the same core idea: that nature is simple and orderly by divine decree, and that, consequently, human beings can be justified in inferring universal causes from limited phenomena, if only fallibly. Second, the rules make substantive ontological assumptions on which Newton’s argument in the Principia relies.Author's Profile
My notes
Similar books and articles
Is Newton A ‘radical Empiricist’ About Method?Victor Joseph Di Fate - 2011 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 42 (1):28-36.
Do Newton’s rules of reasoning guarantee truth … must they?Quayshawn Spencer - 2004 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 35 (4):759-782.
Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation and Hume's Conception of Causality.Matias Slavov - 2013 - Philosophia Naturalis 50 (2):277-305.
Three Criticisms of Newton’s Inductive Argument in the Principia.Nicholas Maxwell - 2013 - Advances in Historical Studies 3 (1):2-11.
The Newtonian Myth.E. B. Davies - 2003 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 34 (4):763-780.
Isaac Newton’s Scientific Method: Turning Data into Evidence about Gravity and Cosmology by William L. Harper.Katherine Dunlop - 2013 - Journal of the History of Philosophy 51 (3):489-491.
Putting the Pieces Back Together Again: Reading Newton’s Principia through Newton’s MethodSteffen Ducheyne. “The main Business of natural Philosophy”: Isaac Newton’s Natural-Philosophical Methodology. Dordrecht: Springer, 2012. Pp. xxv+352. $189.00 .William L. Harper. Isaac Newton’s Scientific Method: Turning Data into Evidence about Gravity and Cosmology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Pp. xviii+424. $75.00. [REVIEW]Mary Domski - 2013 - Hopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 3 (2):318-333.
Essay Review: Newton's Principia: Introduction to Newton's ‘Principia’, Isaac Newton's ‘Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica’Introduction to Newton's ‘Principia’. CohenI. Bernard . Pp. xxviii + 380. £13.00.Isaac Newton's ‘Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica’. Edited by KoyréAlexandre and CohenI. Bernard with the assistance of WhitmanAnne . Two vols. Pp. xl + 916. £25.00.E. J. Aiton - 1973 - History of Science 11 (3):217-230.
Newton: le regulae philosophandi e il metodo sperimentale.M. Mamiani - 1996 - Rivista di Filosofia 87 (1):73-81.
An editorial history of Newton’s regulae philosophandi.Steffen Ducheyne - 2015 - Estudios de Filosofía (Universidad de Antioquia) 51.
Newton's experimental proofs as eliminative reasoning.Athanassios Raftopoulos - 1999 - Erkenntnis 50 (1):91-121.
Some reflections on Newton's Principia.E. B. Davies - 2009 - British Journal for the History of Science 42 (2):211-224.
Analytics
Added to PP
2018-05-29
Downloads
283 (#42,614)
6 months
4 (#182,451)
2018-05-29
Downloads
283 (#42,614)
6 months
4 (#182,451)
Historical graph of downloads
Author's Profile
Citations of this work
Du Châtelet on Sufficient Reason and Empirical Explanation.Aaron Wells - 2021 - Southern Journal of Philosophy 59 (4):629-655.
Newton and Hume.Matias Kimi Slavov - 2020 - Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences.
References found in this work
An Inquiry Into the Human Mind, on the Principles of Common Sense.Thomas Reid - 1997 - Cambridge University Press.
The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Founded Upon Their History.William Whewell - 1840 - New York: Johnson Reprint.