English Mechanical Philosophy and Newton (1642-1727)

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Ann Blair, CB-20 Lecture 14: English mechanical philosophy and Newton (1642-1727) I. English reaction to Descartes: mech phil with God put back in • Defending nat phil against accusations of arrogance, of deism; nat phil as argument ag. atheists; mechanical philosophy as Christian, more pious than Aristotle • Royal Society founded 1662. Robert Hooke, Micrographia (1665): vocabulary of awe and wonder at the contrivance of even the smallest creatures (gnat)= natural theology (John Ray, William Derham, Boyle lectures. incl Richard Bentley as 1st lecturer) II. Newton’s physics: Awe and wonder at the laws of the universe: “Behold the regions of the heavens surveyed,/ and this fair system in the balance weighed! Behold the law which (when in ruin hurled/ God out of chaos called the beauteous world) th'Almighty fixed when all things good he saw!/ Behold the chaste, inviolable law!” (prefixed to the Principia) Principia (1687)[“mathematical principles of natural philosophy]: bk 1. 3 laws of motion (inertia, F=ma; action and reaction); bk 2: derives Kepler’s 2nd and 3rd laws; bk 3: gravitational force as inverse square law (explains elliptical orbits) • 1713 2nd ed with General scholium (=additional remark): re gravitation: “hypotheses non fingo” (inscrutability of the world) + God’s dominion in the world (space and time) • Opticks (1722): more speculative. “subtle fluid”=ether III. Newton on theology: • Letters to Bentley (for Boyle lectures): gravity not a property of matter (avoid materialism); need supernatural deity to explain distribution of matter + periodic acts of reformation by God (e.g. comets) • theological mss (private): Arianism (because Biblical text supporting Trinity is corrupt); but accepts Bible as divine message: history as fulfillment of biblical prophecies • alchemy: study cohesion of matter explained by subtle spirit (=div prov) IV. Reception of Newton • prevails over DC on shape of the earth (polar expedition 1736-7) • appropriation of Newton by French Enlightenment as a deist (Mme du Chatelet, Voltaire): Newton lost to DC after all? (Laplace) Terms to retain: Universal gravitation; dominion; periodic acts of reformation; general scholium; Boyle lectures; comets; general vs special providence; natural theology; Arianism .

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