Early Modern Physics Research Articles

The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence as a Case Study for the Historiography of Physics

This paper examines an important episode in the history of early modern physics – the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence of 1715-16, an exchange that occurred at the intersection of physics, metaphysics and theology – before turning to questions of interpretation in the historiography of physics. Samuel Clarke, a disciple of Isaac Newton, engaged in a dispute over Newton’s commitment to absolute space and absolute time with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who criticized Newton’s views and advanced a rival account. I clarify the positions at stake in the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence, define a variety of terms – absolute space, absolute time, substantivalism, and relationalism – endogenous to the exchange, and reconstruct key elements in the philosophical dimension of the dispute. I then use the Leibniz-Clarke exchange as a springboard from which to examine interpretive considerations in the historiography of physics. I argue that the history of physics can benefit from reassessing its historiographical commitments by borrowing or appropriating some of the intellectual resources used by philosophers working in the history of philosophy. This historiographical reassessment, I contend, will not only shed new light on the Leibniz-Clarke exchange but may also reinvigorate the history of physics.

Scientific perspectivism in the phenomenological tradition

In current debates, many philosophers of science have sympathies for the project of introducing a new approach to the scientific realism debate that forges a middle way between traditional forms of scientific realism and anti-realism. One promising approach is perspectivism. Although different proponents of perspectivism differ in their respective characterizations of perspectivism, the common idea is that scientific knowledge is necessarily partial and incomplete. Perspectivism is a new position in current debates but it does have its forerunners. Figures that are typically mentioned in this context include Dewey, Feyerabend, Leibniz, Kant, Kuhn, and Putnam. Interestingly, to my knowledge, there exists no work that discusses similarities to the phenomenological tradition. This is surprising because here one can find systematically similar ideas and even a very similar terminology. It is startling because early modern physics was noticeably influenced by phenomenological ideas. And it is unfortunate because the analysis of perspectival approaches in the phenomenological tradition can help us to achieve a more nuanced understanding of different forms of perspectivism. The main objective of this paper is to show that in the phenomenological tradition one finds a well-elaborated philosophy of science that shares important similarities with current versions of perspectivism. Engaging with the phenomenological tradition is also of systematic value since it helps us to gain a better understanding of the distinctive claims of perspectivism and to distinguish various grades of perspectivism.

Keep Focusing on the Air: COVID-19 and the Historical Value of an Atmospheric Sensibility

Future historians writing about the COVID-19 crisis will need to pay more attention to the atmosphere and its role in the current crisis, for the atmosphere is connected to the current pandemic in multiple ways: the atmosphere transports aerosols; it changes as a consequence of the social crisis; air pollution and COVID-19 deaths seem to be connected; there is a triple crisis of ‘oxygen-depriving politics’; and air travel has a large effect on the transmission of the disease. Increasingly, atmosphere scientists are contributing to the science of COVID-19. Dealing with the atmosphere is useful for another reason too: in the current age, atmosphere physicists and chemists have become key architects of the Anthropocene concept, and the meteorological sciences are increasingly claiming a stake in the environmental humanities. Environmental historians who attribute a larger role to the atmosphere should follow recent trends in the larger ‘geohumanities’, a new field that has exported the meteorologists’ atmosphere into the humanities. At the same time, environmental historians could also benefit from engaging with the history of knowledge about air, not just late modern meteorology, but also early modern physics and chemistry, and the pre-nineteenth century medical sciences that were less hesitant about dealing with the air. Historians should acquire what I call an ‘atmospheric sensibility’ by looking at the sensibility of atmosphere scientists of the past. Obtaining this sensibility entails observing the way in which meteorological experts have used this knowledge to expand their discipline, in both the scientific and public realm. This knowledge can then be put to use to both create and strengthen specific themes in the environmental history of health. Areas of research could include, among many other possibilities, the difference between indoor and open-air work, or the importance of respiration, physiology and lung medicine in history. First acquiring and then deepening our atmospheric sensibility will provide a better understanding of the environmental history of health and pandemics in the current geological epoch.

Late Scholastic Analyses of Inductive Reasoning

The late scholastic era was, among others, contemporary to the “emergence of probability”, the German academic philosophy from Leibniz to Kant, and the introduction of Newtonian physics. Within this era, two branches of the late-scholastic analysis of induction can be identified, one which can be thought of as a continual development of earlier scholastic approaches, while the other one absorbed influences of early modern philosophy, mathematics, and physics. Both branches of scholastic philosophy share the terminology of modalities, probability, and forms of (inductive) arguments. Furthermore, induction was commonly considered valid as a result of being a covert syllogism. Last but not least, there appears to be a difference in emphasis between the two traditions’ analyses of induction: while Tolomei discussed the theological presuppositions of induction, Amort’s “leges contingentium” exemplify the principles of induction by aleatory phenomena and Boscovich’s rules for inductive arguments are predominately concerned with the generalisation of macro-level observations to the micro-level.

George Herbert and the Mystery of the Word: Poetry and Scripture in Seventeenth-Century England. Gary Kuchar. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. Pp. xv+288.

<i>George Herbert and the Mystery of the Word: Poetry and Scripture in Seventeenth-Century England</i>. Gary Kuchar. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. Pp. xv+288.

Notes on Contributors

Notes on Contributors

Thought Experiments and Inertial Motion: A Golden Thread in the Development of Mechanics

The history of mechanics has been extensively investigated in a number of historical works. The full story from the Greeks and medievals through the Scientific Revolution to the modern era is long and complex. But it is also incomplete. Studies to date have been admirably thorough in putting empirical discoveries into proper perspective and in making clear the great importance of mathematical innovations. But there has been surprisingly little regard for the role of thought experiments in the development of mechanics. We attempt to rectify this, at least in part. After a brief account of Greek ideas of space and motion, we focus on late medieval and early modern physics, especially the development of inertial motion. In particular, we examine the thought experiments of Buridan, Oresme, and Galileo, which did so much to undermine Aristotle’s account of motion and lead the way to the modern concept of inertia.

Quantum weirdness and surrealism

A joint exploration of early modern physics and the surreal art movement shows these twentieth-century revolutions had more in common than we thought, explains Philip Ball.

Teaching Introductory Physics

Partial table of contents: Underpinnings. Rectilinear Kinematics. Elementary Dynamics. Motion in Two Dimensions. Momentum and Energy. Static Electricity. Current Electricity. Electromagnetism. Waves and Light. Early Modern Physics. Miscellaneous Topics. Achieving Wider Scientific Literacy. Critical Thinking. Bibliography. Index.

A guide to introductory physics teaching

Underpinnings. Rectilinear Kinematics. Elementary Dynamics. Motion in Two Dimensions. Momentum and Energy. Static Electricity. Current Electricity. Electromagnetism. Waves and Light. Early Modern Physics. Miscellaneous Topics. Achieving Wider Scientific Literacy. Critical Thinking. Bibliography. Index.

Elements of Early Modern Physics, by J. L. Heilbron. Berkeley

<i>Elements of Early Modern Physics</i>, by J. L. Heilbron. Berkeley

J. L. Heilbron Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics. Berkeley: University of California Press (1979), xiv + 606 pp. $40.00.

J. L. Heilbron <b>Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics</b>. Berkeley: University of California Press (1979), xiv + 606 pp. $40.00.

Elements of Early Modern Physics.

Elements of Early Modern Physics.

Elements of Early Modern Physics

J L Heilbron 1982 Los Angeles: University of California Press ix + 301 pp price $39 Three years ago J L Heilbron published a significant work entitled Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics (California 1979). What appealed to the reviewers at the time was the value of the two introductory chapters as a basis for a synthetic history of early modern physics, with the recommendation that they should be re-issued separately and inexpensively as a stopgap measure (i.e. until some more complete history of early modern science is written).

J. L. Heilbron, Electricity in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A study of early modern physics, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, University of California Press, 1979, 8vo, pp. xiv, 606, illus., £24.00.

J. L. Heilbron, Electricity in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A study of early modern physics, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, University of California Press, 1979, 8vo, pp. xiv, 606, illus., £24.00.

John L. Heilbron [1979]: Electricity in the 17th & 18th centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics. Berkeley: University of California Press. £24.00. Pp. 606.

John L. Heilbron [1979]: Electricity in the 17th & 18th centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics. Berkeley: University of California Press. £24.00. Pp. 606.

Essay Review: Electricity and Natural Philosophy: Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries. A Study of Early Modern Physics

Essay Review: Electricity and Natural Philosophy: Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries. A Study of Early Modern Physics

Current BooksAepinus's Essay on the Theory of Electricity and Magnetism. Aepinus, P. J. ConnorElectricity from Glass: The History of the Frictional Electrical Machine 1600-1850. Willem D. HackmannElectricity in the 17th &amp; 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics. J. L. Heilbron

Previous articleNext article No AccessEssay ReviewCurrent Books Aepinus's Essay on the Theory of Electricity and Magnetism. Aepinus, P. J. Connor Electricity from Glass: The History of the Frictional Electrical Machine 1600-1850. Willem D. Hackmann Electricity in the 17th & 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics. J. L. Heilbron I. Bernard CohenI. Bernard Cohen Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Isis Volume 72, Number 3Sep., 1981 Publication of the History of Science Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/352796 Views: 4Total views on this site Citations: 2Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1981 History of Science Society, Inc.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Willem Hackmann Lightning rods and model experiments: Franklin's science comes of age, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 22, no.44 (Dec 1991): 679–684.https://doi.org/10.1016/0039-3681(91)90041-P John Neu One Hundred Seventh Critical Bibliography of the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (to January 1982), Isis 73, no.55 (Oct 2015): 5–198.https://doi.org/10.1086/353171

Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A study of Early Modern Physics

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Electricity in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics

Electricity in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics