Ducheyne, Steffen (2009) Understanding (in) Newton’s Argument for Universal Gravitation. [Preprint]
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Abstract
In this essay, I attempt to assess Henk De Regt and Dennis Dieks recent pragmatic and contextual account of scientific understanding on the basis of an important historical case-study: understanding in Newton’s theory of universal gravitation and Huygens’ reception of universal gravitation. It will be shown that de Regt and Dieks’ CIT-criterion, which stipulates that the appropriate combination of scientists’ skills and intelligibility-enhancing theoretical virtues is a condition for scientific understanding, is too strong. On the basis of this case-study, it will be shown that scientists can understand each others’ positions qualitatively and quantitatively, despite their endorsement of different worldviews and despite their convictions as what counts as a proper explanation.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
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| Additional Information: | This is a preprint of a paper of mine forthcoming in the Journal of General Philosophy of Science. | ||||||
| Keywords: | scientific understanding, H. de Regt, D. Dieks, theoretical virtues, Newton, Principia (1687; 1713; 1726), universal gravitation, actio in distans, Huygens, Discours de la cause de la pesanteur (1690), spherical vortex cosmology, incommensurability | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics General Issues > Models and Idealization General Issues > Causation General Issues > Explanation General Issues > History of Science Case Studies |
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| Depositing User: | Steffen Ducheyne | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 20 Nov 2009 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 07 Oct 2010 15:18 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 4993 | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics General Issues > Models and Idealization General Issues > Causation General Issues > Explanation General Issues > History of Science Case Studies |
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| Date: | November 2009 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/4993 |
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