Biener, Zvi (2017) The Certainty, Modality, and Grounding of Newton’s Laws. The Monist, 100 (3). pp. 311-325.
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Abstract
Newton began his Principia with three Axiomata sive Leges Motus. We offer an interpretation of Newton’s dual label and investigate two tensions inherent in his account of laws. The first arises from the juxtaposition of Newton’s confidence in the certainty of his laws and his commitment to their variability and contingency. The second arises because Newton ascribes fundamental status both to the laws and to the bodies and forces they govern. We argue the first is resolvable, but the second is not. However, the second tension shows that Newton conceives laws as formal causes of bodies and forces. This neo-Aristotelian conception goes missing in Kantian accounts of laws, as well as accounts that stress laws’ grounding in powers and capacities.
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| Item Type: | Published Article or Volume | ||||||
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| Keywords: | Isaac Newton, Laws of Nature | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > History of Science Case Studies General Issues > Laws of Nature |
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| Depositing User: | Zvi Biener | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 30 May 2018 15:32 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 30 May 2018 15:32 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 14723 | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | The Monist | ||||||
| Official URL: | https://academic.oup.com/monist/article-abstract/1... | ||||||
| DOI or Unique Handle: | 10.1093/monist/onx012 | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > History of Science Case Studies General Issues > Laws of Nature |
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| Date: | 2017 | ||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 311-325 | ||||||
| Volume: | 100 | ||||||
| Number: | 3 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/14723 |
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