‘Following No Party But The Truth’: Petrus Van Musschenbroek’s Rhetorical Defence Of (Newtonian) Experimental Philosophy

Abstract

The Dutch Republic played an important role in the dissemination of Newton’s philosophy. There, it found its earliest proponents, who were instrumental in the spread of Newton’s ideas on the Continent. One of these figures was Petrus van Musschenbroek (1692-1761), who took up professorships at the universities of Duisburg, Utrecht, and Leiden. In a letter to Newton written at the beginning of his academic career, van Musschenbroek explicitly stated that it was his aim to spread the ‘Newtonian philosophy’ in the university, and from there to the rest of Dutch society. In this article, I focus on van Musschenbroek’s activities in the context of his professorship at different universities in the Dutch Republic. I analyse the way van Musschenbroek presents Newton and his philosophy in his academic orations and the prefaces to the different editions of his textbook. I argue that van Musschenbroek implicitly uses a certain view on the institution of the university and its tasks as a leverage in his defence of ‘(Newtonian) experimental philosophy’ and his attack on the existing tradition of Cartesian philosophy in the university. I also show how van Musschenbroek was not consistent in presenting his philosophy as specifically ‘Newtonian’, and increasingly emphasised that he should not be seen as a ‘follower’ of Newton, but rather as an impartial ‘experimental philosopher’. This shift, however, can be seen as motivated by the same rhetorical strategy used by van Musschenbroek in his earlier defence of ‘Newtonian’ experimental philosophy.