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Newton's General Scholium and the Mechanical Philosophy Newton’s General Scholium and the Mechanical Philosophy Hylarie Kochiras To cite this version: Hylarie Kochiras. Newton’s General Scholium and the Mechanical Philosophy . 2017. hal-01442121v2 HAL Id: hal-01442121 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01442121v2 Preprint submitted on 22 Mar 2017 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Bourses Fernand Braudel IFER Newton’s General Scholium and the Mechanical Philosophy Hylarie Kochiras N°122 | janvier 2017 This article pursues two objectives through a close reading of Newton’s 1713 General Scholium. First, it examines his relationship to the canonical mechanical philosophy, including his response to criticism of his own theory that that canonical philosophy’s require- ments motivated. Second, it presents an interpretation of Newton’s own mechanical philosophy, glimpsed in draft material for the General Scholium: he takes the natural world to be a machine operating by causal prin- ciples that arise only within systems and that require mathematical methods because they fundamentally involve interdependent and thus co-varying quantities. Newton’s realism about impressed forces links the two objectives examined. Working Papers Series Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 190 avenue de France - 75013 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2017-122 Newton’s General Scholium and the Mechanical Philosophy 2/34 Newton’s General Scholium and the Mechanical Philosophy Hylarie Kochiras Janvier 2017 The author Hylarie Kochiras, whose research interests in history and philosophy of science focus particularly upon Isaac Newton’s metaphysics and natural philosophy, is a Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Fernand Braudel-IFER Postdoctoral Fellow at host institution École Normale Supérieure de Paris (Labex TransferS, Mathesis, République des savoirs (USR 3608), ENS-CNRS-Collège de France). Pre- viously, she held fellowships at the Cohn Institute of Tel Aviv University, at Bucharest’s New Europe College, and at the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh. She was a visiting scholar at the University of Athens, and Visiting Assistant Professor at the University at Buffalo. The text This article was written during my stay as a Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Fernand Brau- del-IFER Postdoctoral Fellow at École Normale Supérieure de Paris. The research received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013 - MSCA-COFUND) under grant agreement n°245743 - Post-doctoral programme Braudel-IFER-FMSH, in collaboration with Labex TransferS, Mathesis, République des savoirs (USR 3608), École Normale Supérieure de Paris (ENS)-Centre national de recherche scientifique (CNRS)-Collège de France). Citing this document Hylarie Kochiras, Newton’s General Scholium and the Mechanical Philosophy, FMSH-WP-2017-122, jan- vier 2017. Les Working Papers et les Position Papers de The Working Papers and Position Papers of la Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme the FMSH are produced in the course of ont pour objectif la diffusion ouverte des tra- the scientific activities of the FMSH: the © Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 2015 vaux en train de se faire dans le cadre des chairs of the Institute for Global Studies, diverses activités scientifiques de la Fonda- Fernand Braudel-IFER grants, the Founda- Informations et soumission des textes : tion : Le Collège d’études mondiales, Bourses tion’s scientific programmes, or the scholars [email protected] Fernand Braudel-IFER, Programmes scien- hosted at the Maison Suger or as associate tifiques, hébergement à la Maison Suger, research directors. Working Papers may also Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme Séminaires et Centres associés, Directeurs be produced in partnership with affiliated 190-196 avenue de France d’études associés... institutions. 75013 Paris - France Les opinions exprimées dans cet article n’en- The views expressed in this paper are the http://www.fmsh.fr gagent que leur auteur et ne reflètent pas author’s own and do not necessarily reflect http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/FMSH-WP nécessairement les positions institutionnelles institutional positions from the Foundation http://wpfmsh.hypotheses.org de la Fondation MSH. MSH. Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 190 avenue de France - 75013 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2017-122 Newton’s General Scholium and the Mechanical Philosophy 3/34 Abstract This article pursues two objectives through a close reading of Newton’s 1713 General Scholium. First, it examines his relationship to the canonical mechanical philosophy, including his response to criticism of his own theory that that canonical philosophy’s requirements motivated. Second, it presents an interpretation of Newton’s own mechanical philosophy, glimpsed in draft material for the General Scholium: he takes the natural world to be a machine operating by causal principles that arise only within systems and that require mathematical methods because they fundamentally involve interdependent and thus co-varying quantities. Newton’s realism about impressed forces links the two objectives examined. Keywords force, Isaac Newton, General Scholium, mechanical philosophy, machine Le Scholium General de Newton et la philosophie méchanique Résumé Une lecture attentive du Scholium General de Newton permet de préciser deux points. En premier lieu, il est possible de préciser le rapport de Newton avec la philosophie mécanique canonique, y compris la réponse qu’il a donnée à ceux qui critiquaient sa théorie. En deuxième lieu, il est possible de comprendre ce qu’était la philosophie mécanique de Newton lui-même. D’après un manuscrit du Scholium Generale, il considérait que le monde naturel était une machine fonctionnant grâce à des principes causaux qui se présentent uniquement dans des systèmes et qui exigent des méthodes mathématiques car ils concernent des quantités interdépendantes et co-variantes. Le lien entre ces deux points est un réalisme quant aux forces imprimées. Mots-clefs force, Isaac Newton, Scholum General, philosophie méchanique, machine Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 190 avenue de France - 75013 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2017-122 Newton’s General Scholium and the Mechanical Philosophy 4/34 Sommaire Introduction 5 The mechanical philosophy and its orthodox form 6 The backdrop to the mechanical philosophy 6 The mechanism of material contact action and Boyle’s mechanical philosophers 6 Subsequent developments in the mechanical philosophy 8 Newton’s approach to natural philosophy and his dispute with critics 11 Newton’s goals for natural philosophy and the role of mathematical methods 11 Hypotheses and Newton’s dispute with his critics 14 Reactions to the Principia’s first edition and some events preceding the second edition 17 The General Scholium’s response to the orthodox mechanical philosophers 19 The General Scholium’s causal claim about gravity 19 The General Scholium on hypotheses 21 The machine of celestial bodies and Newton’s own 23 mechanical philosophy Machines and natural processes 23 Newton’s mechanical philosophy in “Draft C” and other texts 25 The limit of causal claims and some implications 26 The divine mechanic 27 Conclusion 28 Acknowledgements 29 References 29 Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 190 avenue de France - 75013 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2017-122 Newton’s General Scholium and the Mechanical Philosophy 5/34 Introduction they deemed the only intelligible mechanism— hen Newton composed the Gen- and moreover, for failing to provide any physical eral Scholium, which would serve mechanism at all. What they considered a vice, however, Newton considered a virtue. With his to conclude the Principia from 3 1713 onward, his longstand- most famous words, hypotheses non fingo , he ing dispute with the orthodox mechanical phil- meant to commend the restraint he had shown in osophers had reached its most truculent phase. the face of inadequate evidence—while simultan- W eously implicating the orthodox mechanical phil- Among those philosophers, Leibniz was surely foremost in Newton’s mind as he composed the osophers in deep methodological error. Indeed, Scholium, their dispute over who had first dis- while the General Scholium is a text exceedingly covered the calculus having both embittered rich in its scope, one of its chief aims was, undeni- their personal relations, and intensified their sub- ably, to assert the primacy of Newton’s method, stantive disagreements about natural philosophy and with it his conception of natural philosophy and the method proper to it. Yet this group of itself, over that of his hypothesis-feigning critics. theorists included “maintainers of vortices” gen- This chapter examines Newton’s relationship to erally, those who postulated whirlpools of mat- the mechanical philosophy, as conveyed in the ter as causing the celestial bodies to move in General Scholium. The mechanical philosophy of their characteristic paths. That meant Descartes, the
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