Although Descartes' natural philosophy marked an advance in the development of modern science, many critics over the years, such as Newton, have rejected his particular relational' theory of space and motion. Nevertheless, it is also true that most historians and philosophers have not sufficiently investigated the viability of the Cartesian theory. This book explores, consequently, the success of the arguments against Descartes' theory of space and motion by determining if it is possible to formulate a version that can eliminate its alleged problems. In essence, this book comprises the...
Although Descartes' natural philosophy marked an advance in the development of modern science, many critics over the years, such as Newton, have rejec...
Galileo's dictum that the book of nature "is written in the language of mathematics" is emblematic of the accepted view that the scientific revolution hinged on the conceptual and methodological integration of mathematics and natural philosophy. Although the mathematization of nature is a distinctive and crucial feature of the emergence of modern science in the seventeenth century, this volume shows that it was a far more complex, contested, and context-dependent phenomenon than the received historiography has indicated, and that philosophical controversies about the implications of...
Galileo's dictum that the book of nature "is written in the language of mathematics" is emblematic of the accepted view that the scientific revolut...
This volume explores the inadequacies of the two standard conceptions of space and time, and in the process, proposes a new historical interpretation of these physical theories. This book also examines and develops alternative ontological conceptions of space, and explores additional historical elements of seventeenth century theories and other metaphysical themes.
The authors first discuss the two main opposing theories of space and time. One, known as substantivalism, proposes space to be an entity that can exist independently. The other, relationism, contends that space is a...
This volume explores the inadequacies of the two standard conceptions of space and time, and in the process, proposes a new historical interpretati...
