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|First Name=IssacIsaac

|DOB Year=16421643|DOB Month=DecemberJanuary|DOB Day=254

|DOD Year=17261727

|SummaryBrief='''Sir Isaac Newton''' (1642-1727) was a an English mathematician, astronomer, and physicist/natural philosopher who lived and worked in England in is widely recognized as one of the 17th and 18th century. most influential scientists of all time|Summary=Newton’s most notable contributions were made to the fields of physics, mathematics, and scientific method, which were so groundbreaking that he is currently considered to be one of the most important physicists in modern Western history.[[CiteRef::Janiak (2016)]] Philosophers of science credit Newton’s revolutionary theory of gravity and his experimental approach to conducting natural philosophy as outlined in his major work, The ''Philosophiæ Naturalis PrincipiaMathematica'' (Philosophiæ Naturalis ''Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy'' or simply the [[Newton (1687)|''Principia Mathematica'']]), whose principles became central to be the foundation for the dominant Newtonian mosaic which influenced much of late 18th and 19th century science.[[CiteRef::Janiak (2016)]] Some consider The the ''Principia'' to be the work that initially created physics as its own scientific field separate from the umbrella of metaphysics and philosophy.[[CiteRef::Janiak (2016)]]|Historical Context=Issac When Isaac Newton began his studies at Cambridge University's prestigious Trinity College in 1661, just eleven years after the death of [[Rene Descartes]] (1596-1650), and less that thirty years after the publication of his first major work, the 'Discourse on Method'. More more than a century had passed since Nicolas Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) had published his proposed a '''heliocentric cosmology in his 1543 'De revolutionibus orbium coelestium' ('On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres')in 1543. It had been fifty years since Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) had published his observations with the telescope in 1610; half a century earlier, and which uncovered dramatic evidence for the Copernican system. At about the same time, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)published his laws of planetary motion, indicating that the planets revolved around the sun on elliptical paths, replacing the circular motion and complex epicycles of Copernicus and Claudius Ptolemy (c. 100-170).[[CiteRef::Westfall (1980)|pp. 1-7]] According to Westfall, "by 1661 the debate on the heliocentric universe had been settled; those who mattered had surrendered to the irresistible elegance of Kepler's unencumbered ellipses, supported by the striking testimony of the telescope, whatever the ambiguities might be. For Newton, the heliocentric universe was never a matter in question".[[CiteRef::Westfall (1980)|p. 6]] A planetary Earth that rotated on its axis and revolved around the sun was incompatible with the accepted physics of [[Aristotle]] (384-322 BCE). The community of the time was engaged with the question of how it could be that the Earth itself was in motion through space, and with the question of how one could hope to gain reliable knowledge in the face of the failure of Aristotelian scholastic knowledge accepted for centuries.

Newton’s curriculum education at Cambridge was classical, focusing on Aristotelian rhetoric, logic, ethics, and physics. Bound to '''Aristotelian scholasticism''' by statutory rules,the University of Cambridge curriculum had changed little in the 1660’s included Aristotelian-scholastic natural philosophy decades.[[CiteRef::Christianson (1984)|p. 33]][[CiteRef::Westfall (1980)|pp. 81-90]][[CiteRef::Smith (2009)]] Like many of the more ambitious students, Newton is known to have distanced himself from classical metaphysics and instead studied the works of Réné the French natural philosopher [[René Descartes]](1596-1650) on his own. By 1664, who’s work conceived Newton is known to have read the Cartesian mosaic 1656 Latin edition of Descartes' ''Opera Philosophica'', a one volume compilation of science that dominated much Descartes' major works.[[CiteRef::Smith (2009)]] Newton is known to have been profoundly influenced by Descartes views of 17th century European natural philosophyspace, matter, and God, and by commentaries on Descartes by Henry More (1614-1687).[[CiteRef::Janiak (2016)]] Descartes had died just over a decade earlier, and his works had first been published within the preceding thirty years. They were gaining in popularity and by about 1680 would become the [[Theory Acceptance|accepted]] centerpiece of the Cambridge curriculum, as they also would in Paris by 1700.[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|ppp. 13190]] When Newton published his magnum opus,55the ''Principia'' in 1687, he was challenging a Cartesian orthodoxy. The full title of Newton's work suggests he intended it to be in dialog with Descartes' ''Principia Philosophiae'' (''Principles of Philosophy'') published in 1644.[[CiteRef::Janiak (2016)]]

Both Newton’s physics Descartes was the most prominent member of a community of '''corpuscularist''' thinkers, who maintained that visible objects were made of unobservably tiny particles, whose relations and arrangement were responsible for the properties of visible bodies. In this '''mechanical natural philosophy were heavily ''', particles influenced one another only by Descartes’ ideas. Although he disagreed with many of the theories about the natural world adopted in the Cartesian mosaicdirect physical contact, it which was clear that Newton viewed the Cartesian mosaic as a step forward from the preceding Aristotelian-scholastic onecause of all motion, and ultimately all change.[[CiteRef::Janiak Disalle (20162004)|p. 55]] When structuring his view One of the natural worldattractions of these ideas is that, unlike Aristotle's, Descartes based his model on they allowed for a Copernican view of the universemovable planetary Earth, and celestial motions weren't different in kind from terrestrial motions. They explained gravity, in qualitative terms, as opposed due to a swirling vortex of particles around the classical geocentric understandingEarth, which pushed things towards its centre. The previous Aristotelian theory of motion had been contingent on geocentrismIn accord with Copernican heliocentrism, Descartes posited that a larger vortex surrounded the sun,with the smaller planetary vorticies caught in a larger solar vortex.[[CiteRef::Disalle Garber (20041992)|p. 37]] as when the Earth is at the centre of the universe, all motion could be explained causally according to whether the moving object in question existed in the terrestrial or celestial realm, which in that mosaic were thought to be fundamentally different.[[CiteRef::Bodnar Disalle (20162004)]]In Newton's time, major champions of the mechanical natural philosophy included Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716), who was to become a major rival of Newton's.

Once For Descartes had adopted Copernican heliocentrism, the causal theory ultimate justification of knowledge claims lie with human reason and the absence of doubt. He relied on classical methods of motion as understood theorizing and conjectured hypotheses in order to construct scientific propositions.[[CiteRef::Janiak (2016)]] Such a '''rationalist''' approach to knowledge was also championed by AristotelianBaruch Spinoza (1632-1677), Nicolas Malebranche (1638-scholastic natural philosophers had to be replaced along with its cosmological model1715), and Leibniz.[[CiteRef::Disalle Lennon and Dea (20042014)|p]] But, by the early 17th century, experimental researchers like Galileo and Robert Boyle (1627-1691) had begun to elaborate and practice a very different approach to knowledge based on experimentation and extensive use of mathematics. 48Following the '''inductive methodology''' advocated by [[Francis Bacon]] Cartesian mechanics was developed around (1561-1626), they maintained that theoretical principles emerged from experimental data by a radical comprehension process of inductive generalization. However, there were also dissenters like Newton's contemporary Christiaan Huygens, who believed that most experimental work involved formulating hypotheses about unobservable entities, which were tested by their observable consequences. This was an early form of '''hypothetico-deductivism'''.|Major Contributions==== Newton on Mathematics and Natural Philosophy ===Newton's two most important works of natural philosophy were the source ''Principia'', published in 1687 [[CiteRef::Newton (1687)]], which dealt with his theories of motion was and universal gravitation, and ''Opticks: or, A Treatise of the same for all bodies in the universe. This idea acted as a pillar upon Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions, and Colours of Light'' [[CiteRef::Newton (1704)]] which a new, mechanical philosophy was constructedpublished in 1704 and dealt with his theories of light and color. According [[CiteRef::Westfall (1999)]] Newton made mathematics much more central to this the conduct of natural philosophythan Descartes, by producing a general mathematical theory of the source motion of bodies. [[CiteRef::Janiak (2016)]] He posited three mathematical '''laws of all motion of material objects is direct''', physical contact together with other material a '''law of universal gravitation'''. Changes in the state of motion of objectswere caused by '''forces''' acting on them. Quantities of force and amounts of matter were measurable. The mechanical philosophy was adopted laws specified the mathematical relationship between the acceleration experienced by Gottfried Leibnizan object, Christiaan Huygensthe quantity of matter composing it, and many other prominent scientists who worked alongside Newton, indicating that much the magnitude of later 17th century science was deeply rooted in Cartesian philosophythe forces acting on it.[[CiteRef::Disalle Smith (20042009)]]

Descartes included many revolutionary theories of In contrast with the natural world Cartesian mechanical philosophy, in his mosaicNewton’s physics, but he still largely relied material objects were not required to be in direct contact in order to influence each other's motion. Forces could act at a distance. To explain both falling bodies on classical methods Earth and the motions of the moon and planets, Newton posited a '''gravitational force''' that acted as the inverse square of the distance between objects. He claimed to have derived this relationship from Kepler's observational laws of theorizing planetary motion. The works of Ptolemy, Copernicus, and conjectured hypotheses Kepler used the mathematical language of geometry in their descriptive accounts of celestial motions. In the ''Principia'' Newton likewise presented his arguments geometrically. Unlike his predecessors, Newton sought to do more than simply describe celestial motions. He sought to explain them in terms of gravitational forces acting between bodies. In order to construct scientific propositionsdo this, Newton invented a new branch of mathematics, '''integral and differential calculus'''. Calculus deals with mathematical quantities that are continuously changing, such as the magnitude and direction of gravitational forces acting on an orbiting body.[[CiteRef::Janiak Friedman (20162002)]] Whereas in the early 17th century Galileo and Boyle had already begun to test proposed theories, Descartes still chose to use logical deductions in an attempt to prove empirical truths, instead of attempting any empirical testing or mathematical techniques.[[CiteRef::Janiak Smith (20162009)]] Many Newton developed the basic concept of Newton’s ideas were either adopted directlycalculus during 1665-6, or adapted from Descartes views of the natural worldwhile Cambridge University was closed due to a plague, however but didn't publish it until the method first decade of hypotheses the eighteenth century. He is one that Newton rejected outright, as he instead sought different methods for arriving at thus co-credited with inventing calculus with his conclusionscontemporary and rival Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716).[[CiteRef::Janiak Cohen and Smith (2016Eds.)(2002)|pp. 10-20]]|Major Contributions={{#evt:service=youtube|id=ELbm5KUYMLM|alignment=right|description=Hakob Barseghyan's lecture on Newtonian Worldview|container=frame }}

'''=== Newton on Calculus'''Methodology ===

Whereas Descartes did not rely on mathematical reasoning for his deductions Prior to the publication of scientific propositionsThe ''Principia'', Newton believed that mathematics the philosophy of motion and change in the universe was an imperative part of conducting largely a theoretical and non-mathematical enterprise. The dominating methodological approach both in the Aristotelian-scholastic and Cartesian natural philosophy, was one in which truths about the natural world were proposed as conjectural hypotheses. Cartesian '''rationalism'''sought to deduce such hypotheses from fundamental metaphysical principles that were deemed evidently true by human reason.[[CiteRef::Janiak (2016)]] In Newton’s physics[[CiteRef::Lennon and Dea (2014)]] Influenced by the more experimental and mathematically oriented methodologies of Bacon, material objects were not required to be in direct contact with each other in order for motion to occur. InsteadGalileo, objects react to each other via a forceand Boyle, Newton drew a new concept which Newton envisioned as distinction between a quantifiable property contained in all material objects, the amount of which is directly proportional to the quantity of matter contained in the object. Quantities of force conclusion drawn from observation or experimental evidence and matter were thus introduced to the mosaic as ontological entities one that were measurable. By applying Newton’s three laws of motion, material objects in the universe were compelled to accelerate through action at was merely a distancespeculative 'hypothesis'. Additionally, the laws outlined the mathematical relations between this acceleration and He explicitly rejected the quantities method of force hypotheses, and matter could instead demanded that all propositions be explained deduced from the observed phenomena and predicted mathematically, thereby giving mathematics a new central role in the study of natural philosophy. In The then converted into general principles via '''induction'Principia'', Newton made extensive use of mathematics in his argument for the unified theory of gravity.[[CiteRef::Smith McMullin (2001)]][[CiteRef::Janiak (20092016)]] The mathematical language used in The ''Principia'' was geometry, which was also the basis for many of the major models for celestial mechanics that were studied at the time, including the works of Ptolemy, Copernicus and Kepler.[[CiteRef::Smith (20092002)]]In the second edition of the ''Principia'', Newton states:

Even though Newton published his key work in <blockquote>I have not as yet been able to deduce from phenomena the language reason for these properties of geometrygravity, as a mathematician he is primarily role in inventing integral and differential calculusI do not feign hypotheses. He For whatever is co-credited independently for not deduced from the calculus alongside his contemporary phenomena must be called a hypothesis; and rival natural philosopherhypotheses, Leibnizwhether metaphysical or physical, or based on occult qualities, or mechanical, have no place in experimental philosophy.[[CiteRef::Cohen In this experimental philosophy, propositions are deduced from the phenomena and Smith (Edsare made general by induction.) (2002)|pp. 13-14]] As a mathematical techniqueThe impenetrability, mobility, calculus had been the first method that was capable and impetus of articulating bodies and the quantity laws of acceleration, unlocking a new world motion and law of calculations which geometry as a technique had gravity have been incapable of solvingfound by this method.[[CiteRef::Friedman (2002)]] Eventually, 18th century And it is enough that mathematicians Jacob Hermann gravity should really exist and Leonhard Euler expressed Newton’s should act according to the laws that we have set forth and should suffice for all the motions of motion using Newton's own technique the heavenly bodies and of calculus, but in the symbolic expression that Leibniz had developedour sea.[[CiteRef::Smith Newton (20091999)|p. 29276]] In following years, calculus became indispensable tool for scientists in the Newtonian mosaic to solve problems in physics, and to predict the behaviour of material objects with an unprecedented degree of accuracy.[[CiteRef::Smith (2009)]] Although geometry is still taught in schools today, calculus is the primary mathematical technique learned and used in physics and engineering classrooms. </blockquote>

The generality of Newton's rejection of hypotheses in natural philosophy is unclear since, in the ''Opticks'' he did discuss hypotheses about light, and did raise the possibility of an invisible aether responsible for gravitational attraction. [[CiteRef::Janiak (2016)|pp. 25-26]] His epistemological beliefs were similar to those of his contemporary and friend, [[John Locke]] (1632-1704) who maintained that all knowledge came from experience. [[CiteRef::Rogers (1982)]] Newton on methodcalled his methodology the '''experimental philosophy''', because theories about the behavior of empirical objects can only be refuted via experimental procedures.[[CiteRef::Smith (2002)]] He expressed its core beliefs in a set of four “rules for the study of natural philosophy,” which he stated in book III of The ''Principia''as follows:

Prior <blockquote># No more causes of natural things should be admitted than are both true and sufficient to explain their phenomena# Therefore, the publication causes assigned to natural effects of The ''Principia''the same kind must be, so far as possible, the philosophy same# Those qualities of motion bodies that cannot be intended and remitted (i.e. qualities that cannot be increased and change in the universe was largely a theoretical diminished) and non-mathematical enterprise. The dominating methodological approach that belong to natural philosophy both in the Aristotelian-scholastic and Cartesian mosaic, was one in all bodies on which truths about the natural world were proposed experiments can be made should be taken as conjectural hypotheses. Newton explicitly rejected the method qualities of hypothesesall bodies universally# In experimental philosophy, and instead demanded that all propositions be deduced gathered from the phenomena and then converted into general principles via by inductionshould be considered either exactly or very nearly true notwithstanding any contrary hypothesis, until yet other phenomena make such propositions either more exact or liable to exceptions. In the second edition of The ''Principia'', [[CiteRef::Newton states:(1999)|pp. 794-796]]</blockquote>

“I Out of these four rules a new, engaged method for conducting science emerged that stood in stark contrast to the previous passive and theoretical Cartesian and Aristotelian-scholastic methods. Propositions formulated based on observations of the natural world and placed back into the natural world to be tested empirically.[[CiteRef::Smith (2002)]] The calculus became deeply incorporated into the experimental method, as it was used to mathematically calculate empirical predictions from natural laws, and then evaluate how exactly the prediction matched the observed reality. Newton claimed to have not derived his law of universal gravitation using this method as yet applied to Kepler's laws of planetary motion. In the Cartesian natural philosophy, centripetal force had already been able defined as the agent that pulled the moon towards the Earth, keeping its orbit circular rather than linear. Newton appealed to rules 1) and 2) to deduce from phenomena claim that the reason for these properties of gravitycentripetal force, and I do not feign hypothesesthe force that compelled objects to move downwards towards the Earth, were merely two different expressions of the same thing. For whatever is not deduced from Newton then went on to apply the phenomena third rule, and argue that this force, which he called gravity, must be called a hypothesis; and hypotheses, whether metaphysical or physicaluniversal property of all material objects. From here, or based he went on occult qualitiesto argue for the unification of superlunary and sublunary phenomena, or mechanical, have no place which Aristotle had deemed to be distinct realms.[[CiteRef::Harper (2002)|pp. 183-184]]|Criticism=Newton's theories provoked immediate and wide interest in experimental philosophy. In this experimental philosophyBritain, propositions are deduced from the phenomena and are made general became accepted there by inductionthe first decade of the eighteenth century. [[CiteRef::Smith (2009)]][[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|p. The impenetrability210]] In continental Europe, mobilityacceptance came more slowly. To proponents of the mechanical philosophy, and impetus it was methodologically necessary that all motion be given a cause involving direct physical contact of bodies . Many of Newton's continental contemporaries, in particular Leibniz and Huygens, strongly objected to the idea that forces could act at a distance. Leibniz regarded the laws theory of motion gravitation as a regression in natural philosophy and law accused Newton of treating gravity have been found as an 'occult quality' beyond philosophical understanding. After an intense debate, Newtonian gravitation theory became accepted through much of continental Europe by this method. And it is enough that gravity should really exist and should act according to the laws that we have set forth and should suffice for all the motions middle of the heavenly bodies and of our seaeighteenth century. [[CiteRef::Janiak (2016)]] [[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|pp. 211-212]][[CiteRef::Aiton (1958)|p.”172]][[CiteRef::Newton Frangsmyr (19991974)|p. 35]]

More than two centuries after Newton called his method published the experimental philosophy''Principia'', because theories a new theory of motion and gravitation was formulated by Albert Einstein (1879-1955), who was inspired by new developments in non-Euclidean geometry and by problems with James Clerk Maxwell's (1831-1879) theory of electromagnetic radiation. The new theory replaced Newton's theory as the accepted theory of motion and gravitation by about 1920. Einstein's '''General Theory of Relativity''' explained the behavior success of empirical objects can only be refuted via experimental proceduresits predecessor by showing that its equations reduce to those of Newton in the limit of weak gravitational fields and velocities that are an insignificant fraction of that of light. Einstein's theory eliminated the problem of action at a distance by postulating that the mass of an object warps space-time, and that the local manifestation of this curvature influences distant bodies.[[CiteRef::Smith Barseghyan (20022015)|p. 125]] He expressed the core beliefs from which he derived his method in a set of four “rules for the study of natural philosophy,” which he stated in book III of The ''Principia'' as follows[[CiteRef::Isaacson (2007)]]

"1Newton's experimental philosophy shaped accepted claims about scientific methodology, influencing the methodological pronouncements of George Berkeley (1685-1753), David Hume, Thomas Reid (1710-1796), and Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). [[CiteRef::McMullin (2001)]] However, according to McMullin, Newton's methodology ran contrary to the consensus that had been emerging among natural philosophers of his time, in favor of what we now recognize as the '''hypothetico-deductive method'''. [[CiteRef::McMullin (2001) No more cause ]] Historical research shows that the scientific community did not use Newton's own criteria in evaluating his work. His theories did not become accepted outside of natural things should be admitted England until after their prediction of the oblate spheroid shape of the Earth was confirmed by expeditions to Lapland and Peru. Newton's own theories became accepted based on confirmed novel predictions that distinguished them from the rival theory of Cartesian vortices, rather than are both true by Newton's own '''inductive methodology'''. Further, Newton's theory, in fact, posited unobservable hypothetical entities, including gravitational attraction, absolute space, and sufficient to explain their phenomenaabsolute time.[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|p. 48-49]][[CiteRef::Terrall (1992)]][[CiteRef::McMullin (2001)]]

2) Therefore, By the causes assigned mid-eighteenth century natural philosophers were beginning to natural effects of the same kind must be, so far as possible, realize that many successful theories violated the same 3) Those qualities strictures of bodies that cannot be intended and remitted (i.e. qualities that cannot be increased and diminished) and that belong to all bodies on which experiments can be made should be taken as qualities of all bodies universally 4) In Newton's inductive experimental philosophy, propositions gathered from phenomena by induction should be considered either exactly or very nearly true nonwithstanding any contrary hypothesis, until yet other phenomena make such propositions either more exact or liable to exceptions.”[[CiteRef::Newton (1999)]] Out The eighteenth century saw the acceptance of these four rules a newvariety of theories that posited unobservable entities, engaged method for conducting science emerged that stood in stark contrast the previous passive and theoretical Cartesian and Aristotelianincluding Benjamin Franklin's (1706-scholastic methods. Propositions are born from natural sources and placed back into the natural world to be tested empirically.[[CiteRef::Smith (20021790)]] As the four rules were absorbed into the ensuing mosaictheory of electricity, which posited the calculus became deeply incorporated in the experimental method, as it was used to mathematically calculate from natural laws existence of an empirical predictionunobservable electric fluid, and then evaluate how exactly the prediction matched the observed reality. Using these principles, Newton was able to derive the law phlogiston theory of universal gravity in the context of his method. In the Cartesian mosaiccombustion and rust, the centripetal force had already been defined as the agent that pulled the moon towards the Earthwhich likewise posited an unobservable substance, keeping its orbit circular rather than linear. Newton applied rules 1) and 2Augustin-Jean Fresnel's (1788-1827) to determine that the centripetal force, and wave theory of light which posited an unobservable fluid ether as the force that compelled objects to move downwards towards the Earth, were merely two different expressions medium of the same thing. Newton then went on to apply the third rulelight, and argue that this force, which he called gravity, must be a universal property of all material objects. From here, he went on to argue for the unification Herman Boerhaave's (1668-1738) vibratory theory of superlunary and sublunary phenomenaheat.[[CiteRef::Harper Laudan (20021984a)|pp. 18356-18457]] Although not all of the ontological changes to the mosaic described in The ''Principia'' were immediately accepted, the new experimental philosophy that he described influenced contemporary scientists within the same century of it’s publication. [Newtons philosophy] Both prominent 17th century natural philosophers Christiaan Huygens and John Locke are known to have taken the experimental philosophy, if not necessarily the full content of Newton’s theories, to heart.[[CiteRef::Janiak Barseghyan (20162015)|p. 54]] By 1700 The methodologists of the acceptance of “experimental philosophy” methodological structure had overtaken that of Cartesianism in England.[[CiteRef::Janiak early nineteenth century, William Whewell (1794-1866) and John Hershel (20161792-1871)]]|Criticism=Although many natural philosophers in recognized that the 17th century were convinced by Newton’s views on the the proper method actual practice of conducting science, many were did not willing conform to abandon the Cartesian mechanical philosophy. Contemporary philosopher Leibniz in particular was concerned that prescribed Newtonian methodology and openly advocated the theory of gravity as a regression in natural philosophy, as Newton could not account for the source of gravity. To the Cartesians, it was more important that all motion in the universe could be given a direct cause, which was only possible under the mechanical philosophy, even if this amounted to a larger gap between theory and experimental evidencehypothetico-deductive method.[[CiteRef::Janiak Laudan (20161984a)|pp. 56-60]]|Related Topics=Methodology,|Page Status=Needs EditingEditor Approved}}{{YouTube Video|VideoID=ELbm5KUYMLM|VideoDescription=Hakob Barseghyan's lecture on Newtonian Worldview|VideoEmbedSection=Major Contributions