Article ID: CBB194940336

Newton on the Rules of Philosophizing and Hypotheses: New Evidence, New Conclusions (2021)

unapi

This essay provides solutions to the puzzles surrounding the meaning and development of Isaac Newton’s famous “Rules of Philosophizing.” It charts afresh the shift from the “Hypotheses” of the first edition of the Principia (1687) to the “Rules” of the second (1713). A completely new rule of philosophizing from an intermediate stage, when the rules were to be called “Axioms,” is presented: it contains Newton’s first ever planned attack on “hypotheses” as part of the Principia. Subsequently, the meaning and purpose of the notoriously ambiguous Hypothesis III and Rule III become clear. They were developed as part of an argument against the possibility of weightless matter, an issue of immense importance to Newton’s immediate supporters and opponents. As Newton introduced what would become Rule III, he gradually realized that it offered the inductive reasoning that underpinned both this polemical argument and the broader case for the universality of gravitation and other fundamental qualities: extension, impenetrability, inertia, and mobility. Hypothesis III could be removed and the argument against weightless matter confined to Corollary 2 to Proposition 6 of Book III. The Rules were not abstract methodological principles but were designed with a very specific polemical purpose in mind.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB194940336/

Similar Citations

Article Ducheyne, Steffen; (2009)
Understanding (in) Newton's Argument for Universal Gravitation (/isis/citation/CBB001230068/)

Chapter Downing, Lisa; (2012)
Maupertuis on Attraction as an Inherent Property of Matter (/isis/citation/CBB001500348/)

Thesis Kochiras, Hylarie; (2008)
Force, Matter, and Metaphysics in Newton's Natural Philosophy (/isis/citation/CBB001561168/)

Essay Review Guicciardini, Niccolò; (2013)
Harper and Ducheyne on Newton (/isis/citation/CBB001566365/)

Chapter George Smith; (2014)
Closing the Loop: Testing Newtonian Gravity, Then and Now (/isis/citation/CBB918539557/)

Chapter Huggett, Nick; (2012)
What Did Newton Mean by “Absolute Motion”? (/isis/citation/CBB001500345/)

Essay Review Huggett, Nick; Smith, George E; Miller, David Marshall; Harper, William; (2013)
On Newton's Method (/isis/citation/CBB001500196/)

Article Patrick J. Connolly; (2021)
Causation and Gravitation in George Cheyne's Newtonian Natural Philosophy (/isis/citation/CBB381679846/)

Article Janiak, Andrew; (2013)
Three Concepts of Causation in Newton (/isis/citation/CBB001320264/)

Chapter Pierris, Graciela de; (2012)
Newton, Locke, and Hume (/isis/citation/CBB001500347/)

Essay Review Schliesser, Eric; (2013)
The Methodological Dimension of the Newtonian Revolution (/isis/citation/CBB001500206/)

Article DiSalle, Robert; (2013)
The Transcendental Method from Newton to Kant (/isis/citation/CBB001320267/)

Chapter Brading, Katherine; (2012)
Newton's Law-Constitutive Approach to Bodies: A Response to Descartes (/isis/citation/CBB001500338/)

Book Jamie C. Kassler; (2019)
Newton’s Sensorium: Anatomy of a Concept (/isis/citation/CBB959510708/)

Chapter Biener, Zvi; Smeenk, Chris; (2012)
Cotes' Queries: Newton's Empiricism and Conceptions of Matter (/isis/citation/CBB001500342/)

Chapter Laymon, Ronald; (1983)
Newton's demonstration of universal gravitation and philosophical theories of confirmation (/isis/citation/CBB000028003/)

Article Adwait A. Parker; (2020)
Newton on active and passive quantities of matter (/isis/citation/CBB738730801/)

Article (2005)
Open Forum: Newton vs. Hooke on Gravitation (/isis/citation/CBB000640058/)

Article Ruffner, J. A.; (2012)
Newton's “De Gravitatione”: A Review and Reassessment (/isis/citation/CBB001232493/)

Authors & Contributors
Smith, George E.
Huggett, Nick
Adwait A. Parker
Connolly, Patrick J.
Schliesser, Eric
Harper, William
Concepts
Philosophy of science
Gravitation
Natural philosophy
Physics
Properties of matter
Motion (physical)
Time Periods
17th century
18th century
Places
England
Great Britain
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment