Newton as Philosopher

by Andrew Janiak

Overview

Newton's philosophical views are unique and uniquely difficult to categorise. In the course of a long career from the early 1670s until his death in 1727, he articulated profound responses to Cartesian natural philosophy and to the prevailing mechanical philosophy of his day. Newton as Philosopher presents Newton as an original and sophisticated contributor to natural philosophy, one who engaged with the principal ideas of his most important predecessor, René Descartes, and of his most influential critic, G. W. Leibniz. Unlike Descartes and Leibniz, Newton was systematic and philosophical without presenting a philosophical system, but over the course of his life, he developed a novel picture of nature, our place within it, and its relation to the creator. This rich treatment of his philosophical ideas, the first in English for thirty years, will be of wide interest to historians of philosophy, science, and ideas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521172448
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/09/2010
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	210
Product dimensions:	3.00(w) x 6.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Andrew Janiak is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy, Duke University. He is editor of Newton: Philosophical Writings (2004).

Table of Contents

Preface; Notes on text and translations; 1. Newton as philosopher, the very idea; 2. Physics and metaphysics: three interpretations; 3. Do forces exist? Contesting the mechanical philosophy, I; 4. Matter and mechanism: contesting the mechanical philosophy, II; 5. Space in physics and metaphysics: contra Descartes; 6. God and natural philosophy; Bibliography; index.

Editorial Reviews

"According to Janiak, Newton's rejection of the prevailing mechanist views was not merely an attempt to transform traditional metaphysical issues, such as the nature of matter or space and time, into empirical ones, but also a matter of securing a proper understanding of these physical concepts in relation to God. This is a very fine book...Summing up: Recommended"
D.B. Boersema, Pacific University, Choice

From the Publisher