Early Modern Science and Philosophy

In 2023 David Barrado Navascués published Cosmography in the Age of Discovery and the Scientific Revolution, arguing among other points that a wave of rationalism that began with Pico della Mirandola's Disputations Against Astrological Revolution swept astrology out of the universities. This argument is reductive. Instead, the historical record shows that in regions of Europe such as France and England judicial astrology-the form of the discipline used to make predictions-became increasingly associated with riot, unrest, civil war, and perhaps most damning in the eyes of Early Modern intellectuals in these areas, the lower classes. As a result, intellectuals such as Pierre Gassendi and the Fellows of the Royal Society of Science in England adopted a mechanical model of the cosmos that did not require celestial influences. The influence of the latter body was particularly important, as its prestige-and the concomitant prestige of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Societyundercut the reputation of astrology, since the journal would accept no astrological paper. These changes in England were in large part the result of the appropriation of astrological forecasting by those who lacked a university degree during the English Civil War (1642-46). Thus, the lapsing of astrology as an academic discipline owed more to social and cultural factors than to any rising tide of scientific rationalism.

So far, from what I have been able to ascertain about the term Mass of an object being differentiated from its Weight only began to arise as a concept after the invention of the 1st Gravity induced Pendulum Clock was invented by Christiaan Huygens in the year 1656. This ingenious device developed around the same time as many great early pioneers of modern Physics studies were being conducted as Sir Isaac Newton was also developing a keen interest in the properties of Gravity as a Force of Nature it was regarded back then, and long before Albert Einstein conceptualized this Force being due to the inertial Mass of an object bending Space-Time as well as the Speed of Light around said Mass from an Observable reference point. Ol Einstein knew how to throw a really mean curveball on a lot of prior concepts of Physics that are still being attested to this day. The funny thing was or still is, the actual Speed of Light definition we are so familiar with using today wasn't officially fixed as an unshakeable foundational Concrete Constant until 1983, a few decades after his demise.

El presente trabajo forma parte del proyecto FONDECYT N1010956: “Lo bello, lo sublime y lo siniestro. Estudio de las transformaciones historicas de las categorias esteticas en la clave de la negatividad.” Dirigido por el profesor Pablo Oyarzun R. Agradezco especialmente a los profesores Jaime Sologuren, Juan Manuel Garrido y Eduardo Molina su colabroracion en esta investigacion.

This paper, written for PHIL 202W: Early Modern Philosophy, examines Gottfried Leibniz’s Discourse on Metaphysics with a focus on his reconciliation of free will and determinism. The essay unpacks his distinction between determination and necessitation, showing how Leibniz avoids undermining divine omnipotence while preserving freedom. In short: How am I free if God knows all?

Does God answer prayer? Are there any scientific or logical limits to the extent to which God can respond? Is there anything that God cannot do? Is there anything that God will not do? Are miracles possible? In the modern age both believers and unbelievers alike think there is an essential tension
between miracles and the laws of nature. Miracles are perceived as breaking the laws of nature, while the laws of nature are upheld as unbreakable. However, it is scientifically not at all clear precisely what a law of nature is. Many physicists have found the existence of laws of nature to be profoundly mysterious. And some scientists have even described the laws of nature themselves as miraculous.

Andrés de Guevara y Basoazábal (1748-1801), jesuita
novohispano guanajuatense, escribió las Institutionum elementarium
philosophiae, donde su autor ofrece un currículo deseable para la juventud
mexicana que incluya la ciencia moderna empírica, la política
virtuosa y la sabiduría humana. A través de una traducción
comparativa del latín al español del proemio de la citada obra, este
artículo pretende: 1) contextualizar al autor novohispano, 2) mostrar
la recepción de la ciencia moderna desde los elementos aristotélicos
de los que Guevara dispuso, y 3) mostrar que la modernidad y la tradición
aristotélica se enriquecieron mutuamente; y lo que debía de
reformarse era la escolástica anquilosada. Se concluye que a través del
proemio De philosophiae vicissitudinibus de Guevara se evidencia la recepción mexicana de la modernidad emanada de una mentalidad
aristotélica.

A central figure of the Renaissance, Giovan Battista Della Porta was a polymath who bridged the worlds of natural magic and early experimental science. His seminal work, Magia naturalis, or Natural Magic, was not merely a collection of "secrets" but a profound attempt to provide a philosophical and experimental foundation for natural magic. It aimed to distinguish this form of magic from its more occult counterparts by grounding its principles in the workings of nature.
This international conference brings together leading scholars from institutions across Europe and the United States to investigate Della Porta's intellectual legacy. Through two sessions, The Art and Craft of Magic and From Natural Magic to Experimental Philosophy, we will analyze how Della Porta's work influenced a new generation of thinkers and contributed to the birth of experimental philosophy.
This event is part of the SECRETS (Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions) project and is funded by the European Union (GA number: 101148607). Attendance is free and open to the public.

Ancient astronomy described planetary motions with a kinematic approach. Kepler tried to integrate the dynamic explanation and the concept of force into this approach. His work functioned as strong proof for heliocentrism. The understanding of Kepler's three laws, however, took time. Here, we focus on the origin of the first two laws. We offer our view on this topic and try to justify it by referring to Kepler's works, Astronomia Nova and Epitome Astronomiae Copernicane, and to his letters. We also underline the new elements we introduce in the debate on Kepler's dynamics by comparing our interpretation with those provided in the literature.

This essay aims to address little-known aspects of the confessionalization of natural philosophy in sixteenth-century Italy, with a focus on controversies surrounding the age and nature of the Earth. Sources suggest that – rather than causing a process – reactions to the Protestant Reformation accelerated and shaped developments already underway at the beginning of the sixteenth century when critics of Aristotelian eter-nalism began to call for a science of nature more in line with Christian beliefs. While a Christianized history of the Earth emerged as an explicit program in late-sixteenth century Italy, I would argue that Counter-Reformation cultural policies favored, but did not enforce, the confessionalization of the field and that largely secular approaches remained vital, legitimate, and influential.

Reflection on performing Charles Butler's 17th Century Bee Madrigal, Melissomelos:

"While revisiting his first encounter with Melissomelos, Simon Jackson explores his approach in performing Butler's song of Bees. Part of the Leverhulme Trust Funded Bee-ing Human Project, studying Charles Butler's Bee Book The Feminine Monarchie and its extraordinary bee song."

Th e article focuses on Galileo's Letter to Castelli, 21 December 1613. Th e author analyzes Galileo's hermeneutical principles established in the fi rst part of the letter (the Bible should be excluded from natural investigation) and his literal interpretation of the passage from the Book of Joshua 10, 12-13, in Copernican terms, in the second part of the letter. Galileo appears to use the Bible as a scientifi c authority, supporting his Copernican views, and thus he seems to contradict his own hermeneutical principles. Th e author argues that Galileo's position is consistent, especially if one takes into account the historical context of its genesis, that is, in the context of the constant, theologically-inspired attacks on Copernicus and Galileo and his commitment to the heliocentric world system (the movement of the earth contradicts the Bible) and in the context of his newly-made telescopic observations and discoveries.

An arctic image makes news cycles from Russian occupied Yuznhy Island. In the township of Belushya Guba polar bears lie yellowing, prostrate in dunes of garbage. The photo is taken by the Instagram account friend_of_your_friend complemented with the hashtag: НОВАЯ земля "NEW land" "NEW earth". 1 It's a scene far from National Geographic's more familiar 2017 cover story: "Heart-Wrenching Starving Polar Bear on Iceless Land". The article shows a polar bear wandering a too warm ground (ribs protruding, fur soured by its own decaying body). It draws comparison to another famous photo: mother and daughter polar bear stranded on a prematurely melted shard of ice, floating out into the ocean forever until death (how much longer must they float?). Both pictures have received onerous attacks from climate change denialists. National Geographic issued a spineless apology: "we said 'this is what climate change looks like.' While science has established that there is a strong connection between melting sea ice and polar bears dying off, there is no way to know for certain why this bear was on the verge of death." In 2019 Belushya Guba, white bears feast on rubbish. The new material vitality of the North Pole is plastic. Bottle and can and bag are ruby and gem and diamond. Constellation and aurora borealis are half-transparent orts. Although bears, these lucky ones look up at the camera smiling with mouths like us. In a mobile flash sunken eyes see food from the remains of our world. Trash caddies from the heartland filling fur-stomachs. Perhaps these bears are not hungry for the first time in their lives.

This article reconstructs the atomistic theory of matter proposed by the physician and natural philosopher Jean Chrysostôme Magnen in his Democritus reviviscens sive de Atomis (1646). Drawing on Democritean doctrine, Magnen advances a theory of matter that openly breaks with the Aristotelian-Scholastic concept of prime matter. Starting from this opposition, the article explores the fundamental aspects of Magnen's atomism, highlighting both his engagement with the Aristotelian doctrine and his modern sources. Particular attention is given to Magnen's atomistic reinterpretation of Aristotle's theory of the elements, to the Scholastic background of his views on the relationship between matter and quantity, and to the medical sources that inform his theory of mixtures and his use of substantial forms. This analysis demonstrates how, through his restoration of ancient atomism, Magnen developed an atomistic model to address the challenges of medicine and natural philosophy in his time.

Descartes appears to have maintained until the end of his life that imagination plays a prominent role in mathematics. As shown both by the purely intellectual representation of the wax and his distinction between idea and image in the Meditations, he believed that we do not require images to have ideas of extended objects, existing or not. However, he argued that imagination does improve our knowledge of extension, shape, and motion. The primary aim of the present paper is to examine, particularly through Rules XIV-XVI and the Discourse on Method, how this auxiliary role played by the faculty of imagination can be found in the use of diagrams and symbolism as an aid for mathematical invention. I will argue that, while Descartes regarded (ordinary) language as a source of error, prejudice, and obscurity, he also believed that a proper use of mathematical signs provides our ideas with distinctness, as also would (the remote possibility of) a universal philosophical language.

Southampton Conference – Margaret Cavendish on Literature Conference Program, 10–12 June, University of Southampton
My talk: Milena Louise Liers (University of Paris Nanterre), “The Concept of Contemplation: Philosophy and Literature in Margaret Cavendish’s Writings”

This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies and may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the URL above for details on accessing the published version.

Modern science is the most complicated theoretical structure ever created by mankind (and possibly by any living species in our Universe). This is particularly true in modern physics which represents the most mature and elaborate branch of modern science. Nevertheless, modern science (and physics in particular) seems to make itself more complicated than necessary, and sometimes modern science seems to make itself complicated unnecessarily. This "simplistic" view to science may be supported by the fact that Nature (despite our acknowledgment of its complexity and sophistication at the level of fine details) seems to be governed by some rather simple rules and general laws which may be able (if comprehended and employed correctly) to make our science much simpler than what we actually have. In this article we try to highlight some issues about potential simplification of modern science (and physics in particular) which (i.e. simplification) could be one of the greatest goals and advancements (if achieved) of future science. In our view, the simplification of science is fundamentally related to the issue of unification of physics and the search for the so-called "theory of everything" (i.e. in a sense different to what is currently perceived and envisaged).

Modern science's way of representing pursues and entraps nature as a calculable coherence of forces', wrote Martin Heidegger in 1954, 1 echoing a half-a-century old insight that '[a] physical theory is not an explanation. It is a system of mathematical propositions, deduced from a small number of principles, which aim to represent as simply, as completely, and as exactly as possible a set of experimental laws'. 2 For Pierre Duhem, who formulated this succinct emblem of positivist thought, the clear bounds it marked allowed science's freedom, sincerity and immanent progressive power.

Nel XVIII secolo, negare l'efficacia delle emozioni e delle fantasie della donna incinta sulla conformazione del feto doveva apparire azzardato. Aveva provato a farlo, con un libello pubblicato a Londra nel 1727, un medico ugonotto fuggito alcuni decenni prima dalla Francia, suscitando però deboli consensi e ben più vivaci contestazioni. J.A. Blondel, come si chiamava quel medico, era certo che né le macchie sulla pelle (nèi, angiomi o, popolarmente, "voglie") talvolta riscontrate sul neonato, né le deformità congenite, dalle più lievi come il labbro leporino fino alle più orribili mostruosità, dovevano in alcun modo essere addebitate agli sbalzi d'umore, agl'improvvisi spaventi o ai capricci che affliggevano la madre durante la gravidanza [BLONDEL, 1727 e 1729]. Efficace nel confutare la presunta relazione tra malformazioni neonatali e la facoltà "immaginativa", egli non seppe tuttavia proporre, in maniera altrettanto convincente, una spiegazione alternativa e il suo intervento fu presto dimenticato ; ancora nella seconda metà del secolo, quella straordinaria facoltà nota a tutti e condivisa tanto nelle accademie scientifiche quanto tra la gente comune veniva invocata da Voltaire, Buffon e dai redattori dell'Encyclopédie , con buona pace del medico ugonotto e dei suoi rari epigoni. L'"immaginazionismo", contro cui polemizzava Blondel, viene da molto lontano: una delle sue più remote attestazioni si può trovare nel Genesi [XXX,[35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43], dove si racconta come il patriarca Giacobbe sapesse condizionare il colore dei capretti, prima della loro nascita, ponendo rami striati di fronte agli occhi delle capre gravide [ANGELINI, 1994b: 3-10]. Pare che l'episodio biblico abbia ispirato numerosi spunti di meditazione religiosaricorrenti sia nella Patristica cristiana sia nei commenti alla Torà [ibidem] -e

“Book Review: Routledge Handbook on the Sciences in Islamicate Societies: Practices from the 2nd/8th to the 13th/19th Centuries, ed. Sonja Brentjes, 2 vols. (London: Routledge, 2023).” Centaurus: Journal of the European Society for the History of Science 66.1-2 (2025): 245-250.

Open Access: https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/10.1484/J.CNT.5.142668

En el presente artículo se muestra que en la cosmología cartesiana no resulta claro cómo se puede hablar o referir a cuerpos individuales en el marco de un universo absolutamente compacto. Se defiende que el concepto de cuerpo individual en el interior de dicha cosmología se puede construir como una ficción del espíritu. Un cuerpo individual se puede construir como la extensión que se encuentra encerrada en una superficie maximal cuyas subdivisiones carecen de movimiento relativo entre sí. Se muestra, también, que la cosmología cartesiana puede presentarse como un modelo trivial de la Teoría M.

In the world of academia and research, citation (i.e. being cited and referred to) in scholarly publications is generally regarded as a primary metric for integrity and excellence. In other words, it is the currency of credibility and the gold standard for reliability. In this article we try to shed light on some of the bad and immoral/unethical practices related to citation in modern scholarly publications and activities. In fact, citation (and actually academic and scholarly activities in general including scholarly publishing) became in modern times an industry that is subject to many non-scholarly factors and considerations (whether sinister or benign), and this should be regarded as a form of corruption that threatens the integrity, authenticity and morality of the present and future of academia, research and scholarly activities (and actually human knowledge and progress in general). This threat is aggravated by the epidemic of predatory journalism and the wide availability of artificial intelligence tools which facilitate the abuse of scholarly publishing and citation practices and the manipulation of metrics and parameters related to these activities. We also discuss briefly the value and significance of academic and research metrics related to citation which are commonly used these days to evaluate scholars (as well as other scholarly entities like journals and institutes) and assess their scholarly works and ranks (noting the direct negative impact of the bad citation practices on these metrics and parameters and their supposed significance). We finally present some proposals to address the limitations, shortcomings and abuses of the existing practices and metrics related to citation.

This article explores the scientific perspective that exists in the philosophical work of Baruj Spinoza, placing it among Spinozist studies which contextualize the naturalistic knowledge of his time. This writing is divided into three sections according to Spinoza’s creative process: (i) his knowledge of mathematics, (ii) his definition of the motion of bodies and (iii) his interpretations of the behavior of light. The first part addresses its geometric perspective and its application, as seen in different works, for the development of the synthetic method. The second section elucidates the mechanics of bodies to affirm how Spinoza understood the relationship between matter and motion. And, finally, the third section broaches Spinoza’s mastery of dioptrics along with the dialogue he held with scientific and philosopher acquaintances and friends. The value of this research is to contribute to a global vision of Spinoza’s scientific perspective and its relation to some elements of his metaphysics.

En este texto se propone una clasificación de hipótesis que, por un lado, permite comprender aspectos relevantes de algunas filosofías de la Modernidad, y en especial de la metodología cartesiana, y por otro, resulta de utilidad en los procesos de investigación actuales en filosofía. Con el fin de profundizar en el sentido de dicha clasificación, se ofrece un breve estudio de metodología cartesiana dividido en tres partes. En la primera
se problematiza el vínculo entre la matematización del espíritu y la matematización efectiva de la naturaleza, y se analiza una hipótesis general de Descartes sobre el mundo externo. En la segunda parte se analiza el papel de la imaginación en la matematización del espíritu y en la formulación de hipótesis sobre el mundo externo. En la tercera parte se establece la clasificación de hipótesis a partir de la metodología cartesiana. Finalmente, en la conclusión se ofrece una reflexión sobre el trabajo con hipótesis en filosofía.

El texto que se traduce es la versión ampliada de la conferencia
sostenida por Lorraine Daston en la fundación Carl Friedrich von
Siemens el 6 de diciembre del año 2000. El evento fue presidido
por el Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Prinz, director del Max Planck-Institut
für Psychologische Forschung en München. La publicación alemana
original estuvo a cargo de la fundación Carl Friedrich von Siemens y
forma parte de su colección Themen, vol. 71, 2001.

96th Birth Anniversary of Prof Richard Lewontin
(29 March 1929 - 4 July 2021).
Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology & Professor of Biology
Harvard University. 


Scientism: the uncritical application of scientific or quasi-scientific methods to inappropriate fields of study or investigation
Collins English Dictionary.

Restrukturisasi perusahaan dapat dilakukan dalam berbagai bentuk, seperti merger, akuisisi, divestasi, spin-off, rekapitalisasi, dan perubahan operasional. Strategi ini dapat membantu perusahaan mengatasi masalah keuangan, meningkatkan nilai pemegang saham, serta menciptakan keunggulan kompetitif. Namun, proses restrukturisasi sering kali melibatkan tantangan besar, seperti penyesuaian struktur organisasi, pemutusan hubungan kerja, serta biaya restrukturisasi yang tinggi, banyak perusahaan yang memilih untuk menerapkan konsep holding company sebagai bentuk pengelolaan yang lebih terstruktur. Holding company adalah perusahaan induk yang memiliki saham mayoritas di beberapa anak perusahaan dengan tujuan mengendalikan dan mengelola bisnis secara lebih efisien. Restrukturisasi perusahaan dan konsep holding company merupakan strategi bisnis yang penting untuk meningkatkan efisiensi, daya saing, serta stabilitas keuangan perusahaan. Restrukturisasi dapat dilakukan melalui berbagai cara, seperti merger, akuisisi, divestasi, atau optimalisasi struktur keuangan dan operasional. Jika dijalankan dengan baik, restrukturisasi dapat membantu perusahaan mengatasi tantangan bisnis, mengurangi biaya, serta meningkatkan nilai bagi pemegang saham. Namun, proses ini juga memiliki tantangan, seperti resistensi internal, biaya implementasi yang tinggi, dan potensi dampak sosial, seperti pengurangan tenaga kerja.

Libro de acceso abierto. Descarga gratuita: https://omp.uca.edu.ar/index.php/fyl/catalog/book/134

Se ofrecen en el presente volumen las traducciones de tres textos de G. W. Leibniz (1646-1716) que se titulan Principios mecánicos (1673-1676), Sobre los secretos del movimiento y sobre la mecánica, que ha de reducirse a la geometría pura (1676), y De Pacidio a Filaletes (1676). Estos escritos no solamente fueron redactados aproximadamente en el mismo período, sino que comportan además una unidad temática que posee una importancia central en el proceso que desembocará en la reformulación leibniziana de la mecánica de corte cartesiano. El hilo conductor que los atraviesa está dado por el abordaje de cuestiones filosóficas que configuran, al decir de Leibniz en la época de la redacción de los escritos, una “metafísica del movimiento” que se encuentra en la base de las consideraciones mecánicas. Así, problemas como la noción de cambio, la composición del continuo, la causa o “acción” que da lugar al movimiento, la relatividad del movimiento y el principio fundamental de la mecánica que enuncia la equipolencia entre la causa plena y el efecto íntegro, configuran de manera central la trama de estos textos. Las traducciones están precedidas por una extensa introducción y las acompaña un robusto aparato de notas aclaratorias y ampliatorias. En la exposición introductoria el lector encontrará, entre otras cosas, una reconstrucción del contexto de autores, problemas y abordajes en torno de la mecánica en el siglo de Leibniz, así como también las concepciones que el propio autor sostuvo sobre la mecánica y el movimiento en etapas previas a la época de los textos cuya traducción ahora se presenta. De esta forma, las consideraciones preliminares le permitirán al lector no sólo comprender el suelo sobre el cual Leibniz elabora sus reflexiones, sino también, y quizás especialmente, adquirir una noción cabal de la novedad que trae consigo el abordaje profundamente metafísico de los escritos traducidos.

Moving from the consideration of divine omnipotence, Augustine’s philosophical and theological inquiry raises further questions. The aim of this paper is to deal with the inherently problematic features brought about by the notion of nature. Nature is seen by Augustine as a plastic and dynamic concept, which unifies various semantic frameworks. In this study, I will focus on nature as the broadly-recognized dimension where phaenomena take place following stable and calculated laws, arguing that the tension existing between such a notion and the divine omnipotence hardly finds a solution.

m a r t i n e p e ´c h a r m a n What Rubric for the Science of Mind? Let me introduce the issue of the science of mind in the seventeenth century by considering Nicolas Malebranche's The Search After Truth (1674), which presents the explanation of the nature of mind and of all its faculties as indispensable for "the science of man." 1 The complete study of the human mind, Malebranche says, examines the mental faculties related to the mind's union either with body (sense, imagination, passions) or with God (understanding, will). Yet these faculties are not parts composing the mind. From the outset, the Search assumes that mind is immaterial or unextended, and therefore undoubtedly "a simple, indivisible substance without any composition of parts." 2 Thus, the science of mind depends on the real distinction between mind and body. And this, notes Malebranche, "has been known with sufficient clarity for only a few years"i.e., from René Descartes. 3 In other words, the science of mind, the indispensable condition for "the most necessary of all our knowledge . . . the knowledge of ourselves," 4 was a product of Cartesian metaphysics.

En las últimas décadas los especialistas de la filosofía cartesiana se han enfocado en indagar si la naturaleza de la duda metódica que el meditador instaura en la primera de las Meditaciones debe ser considerada como una preocupación sistemáticamente rigurosa o si, por el contrario, corresponde a un artificio que cumple un valor instrumental dentro del planteamiento que propone el autor, con la esperanza de que la respuesta a esta pregunta logre esclarecer el proceso que guía a las Meditaciones. Tanto quienes sostienen que la duda metódica es fingida como quienes piensan que, en algún sentido, debe ser considerada rigurosamente, recurren a una distinción conceptual advertida por el propio Descartes para validar sus respectivas lecturas, a saber: la distinción entre certeza metafísica y certeza moral. En el presente artículo se postula que la interpretación más apropiada es la que sostienen quienes consideran que la duda metódica guarda cierto nivel genuino de rigurosidad. Para justificar nuestra adhesión se evaluará el rendimiento explicativo de cada interpretación, tanto para el orden de desarrollo planteado en la primera meditación como para la aproximación a otros problemas filosóficos planteados en las Meditaciones.

The Rigvedic period marks an early phase of Indian civilization where Vedic literature, particularly the Rigveda, plays a vital role. Among the deities described in the Rigveda, Soma is the principal god, and his conceptualization is a fundamental aspect of Vedic religion, philosophy, and culture. Soma represents not just a source of spiritual and religious meaning but also symbolizes the human connection with nature and the environment. In the 114 hymns of the Rigveda, Soma is referred to as the "source of immortality," the embodiment of life energy, and the favored beverage of the gods. Soma juice, a sacred fluid derived from a specific plant, was offered to the gods during yajnas (rituals). It was believed to bring divine pleasure, strength, and immortality. In modern contexts, the medicinal properties of Soma juice and the respect for natural sources can inspire movements in Ayurveda and environmental conservation. Scholars such as Arthur Macdonell and W. Norman Brown have linked the concept of Soma to deeper social and cultural values within the Vedic tradition. Today, this concept can not only help maintain environmental balance but also provide guidance for community cooperation.

Was Isaac Beeckman a major natural philosopher, who should have been recognized by his contemporaries as a precursor to Descartes? The editors of this otherwise innovative book seem to think that this is the case. The individual studies presented here offer many new investigations into previously overlooked aspects of the practices in which Beeckman was involved. The studies presented here are generally keenly aware of the variety of contexts in which these practices mattered to Beeckman. Yet the book also leaves many things wanting, particularly on the larger picture--as I argue here, it might be time to drop the idea that Beeckman tried to but failed to achieve the things Descartes later got done.

See: https://www.olschki.it/libro/R06202402/toc/31

This is a translation of the manuscript based on the text authenticated by A. Rupert Hall and Marie Boas Hall. The conclusion of the essay, from “Def. 5” is offered in the Halls’ translation, which offers no special difficulty. For the rest, this rather ungracious, rough and ready translation pretends to offer the advantage of important literalness and consistency in important passages, at least for as much as it is correct. The serious reader is urged to consult Newton’s Latin, in Unpublished Scientific Papers of Isaac Newton, ed. by A. Rupert Hall and Marie Boas Hall, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1962), pp.90-l2l. As the editors point out, the argument here is heavily echoed in the General Scholium of the Principia, as well as elsewhere. For reasons that are clear, I find that the grounds of Newton’s opposition to Descartes are much more comprehensive here, and more useful by way of the general analysis of the relation of the mechanical sciences to the human sciences. Bracketed entries indicate alternative, usually more literal translations; parentheses are either Newton’s own or indicate necessary grammatical structures which complete thoughts in English but are not actually required in Latin.

Lectures de Potentia Restitutiva or Of Spring: Explaining the Power of Springing Bodies ( ) is an important book for the history of science. This book is better known for Hooke's presentation of the law that bears his name. This law, or "Rule of Nature" as the author states, is commonly taught within the context of the analysis of elastic bodies and their deformations. However, the framework in which this law was introduced goes beyond the context in which it is currently taught. Alongside the presentation of Hooke's experiments with springs, the author established his vibratory theory of matter, in which the concepts of congruence and incongruence, initially presented in his Micrographia ( ), would be defined in greater detail. These concepts aimed to theoretically justify the movements of attraction and repulsion in nature. This paper seeks to study the Lectures de Potentia Restitutiva once again to better understand Hooke's thoughts about the rule which bears his name and his conception of gravity, which the author considered a force. Here Hooke's definitions of body and motion will be presented, as well as his actual objective when he formulated the so-called Hooke's Law. As we will see, Hooke intended to create a "philosophical scale" to measure the gravitational attraction between bodies. By considering his previous publications, such as An attempt to prove the motion of the Earth from Observations or Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies, or even unpublished works such as On the inflection of a direct motion into a curve by supervening Attractive principle, it becomes clear that Hooke was already opening a path toward an understanding of gravity before Newton's Principia (1687) were published. By taking into account the controversy between Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke, we also intend to strengthen the idea that Hooke was an indispensable contributor to the elaboration of a law of universal gravitation. In addition to all this, it will also be argued that the conclusions achieved by Hooke in Of Spring may have also anticipated Newton's third law of motion.