Brading, Katherine (Author)
Stan, Marius (Author)
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
Volume: 88
Pages: 312-320
We all know that, nowadays, physics and philosophy are housed in separate departments on university campuses. They are distinct disciplines with their own journals and conferences, and in general they are practiced by different people, using different tools and methods. We also know that this was not always the case: up until the early 17th century (at least), physics was a part of philosophy. So what happened? And what philosophical lessons should we take away? We argue that the split took place long after Newton's Principia (rather than before, as many standard accounts would have it), and offer a new account of the philosophical reasons that drove the separation. We argue that one particular problem, dating back to Descartes and persisting long into the 18th century, played a pivotal role. The failure to solve it, despite repeated efforts, precipitates a profound change in the relationship between physics and philosophy. The culprit is the problem of collisions. Innocuous though it may seem, this problem becomes the bellwether of deeper issues concerning the nature and properties of bodies in general. The failure to successfully address the problem led to a reconceptualization of the goals and subject-matter of physics, a change in the relationship between physics and mechanics, and a shift in who had authority over the most fundamental issues in physics.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Janiak, Andrew;
(2010)
Substance and Action in Descartes and Newton
(/isis/citation/CBB001221446/)
Article
Joshua Eisenthal;
(2021)
Hertz's Mechanics and a unitary notion of force
(/isis/citation/CBB462268539/)
Article
Schmit, Christophe;
(2014)
Rapports entre équilibre et dynamique au tournant des 17e et 18e siècles
(/isis/citation/CBB001202411/)
Article
Pesic, Peter;
(2014)
Francis Bacon, Violence, and the Motion of Liberty: The Aristotelian Background
(/isis/citation/CBB001201305/)
Chapter
Sarnowsky, Jürgen;
(2008)
Concepts of Impetus and the History of Mechanics
(/isis/citation/CBB000760474/)
Book
Boudri, J. Christian;
(2002)
What Was Mechanical about Mechanics: The Concept of Force between Metaphysics and Mechanics from Newton to Lagrange
(/isis/citation/CBB000201308/)
Chapter
Bloem, Annelies;
Fredriksson, Maria;
(2007)
Les transfert des concepts de mouvement: analyse des stratégies maniées par Evrart de Conty traducteur des Problemata pseudo-aristotéliciens
(/isis/citation/CBB001200382/)
Article
Christophe Schmit;
(2015)
Les dynamiques de Jean-Jacques Dortous de Mairan
(/isis/citation/CBB695462531/)
Chapter
Brading, Katherine;
(2012)
Newton's Law-Constitutive Approach to Bodies: A Response to Descartes
(/isis/citation/CBB001500338/)
Article
Meli, Domenico Bertoloni;
(2006)
Inherent and Centrifugal Forces in Newton
(/isis/citation/CBB000670062/)
Book
Janiak, Andrew;
Schliesser, Erick;
(2012)
Interpreting Newton: Critical Essays
(/isis/citation/CBB001500334/)
Chapter
Huggett, Nick;
(2012)
What Did Newton Mean by “Absolute Motion”?
(/isis/citation/CBB001500345/)
Chapter
Maltese, Giulio;
(2006)
On the Changing Fortune of the Newtonian Tradition in Mechanics
(/isis/citation/CBB000774503/)
Article
Preston, John;
(2008)
Mach and Hertz's Mechanics
(/isis/citation/CBB000930751/)
Chapter
Shea, William R.;
Bascelli, Tiziana;
(2008)
How Torricelli Improved on Galileo's Laws of Free Fall and Projectile Motion
(/isis/citation/CBB000953671/)
Book
Gaukroger, Stephen;
Schuster, John;
Sutton, John;
(2000)
Descartes' Natural Philosophy
(/isis/citation/CBB000100216/)
Article
Nauenberg, Michael;
(2014)
Orbital Motion and Force in Newton's Principia; the Equivalence of the Descriptions in Propositions 1 and 6
(/isis/citation/CBB001321045/)
Article
Clutton-Brock, Martin;
Topper, David;
(2011)
The Plausibility of Galileo's Tidal Theory
(/isis/citation/CBB001230540/)
Article
Coelho, Ricardo Lopes;
(2007)
The Law of Inertia: How Understanding Its History Can Improve Physics Teaching
(/isis/citation/CBB001032892/)
Chapter
Marius Stan;
(2017)
Newton’s Concepts of Force among the Leibnizians
(/isis/citation/CBB491004939/)
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
Centaurus: International Magazine of the History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology
Early Science and Medicine: A Journal for the Study of Science, Technology and Medicine in the Pre-modern Period
Journal of the History of Ideas
Monist: An International Quarterly Journal of General Philosophical Inquiry
Be the first to comment!