Brading, Katherine and Lin, Qiu (2023) Du Châtelet on Absolute and Relative Motion. [Preprint]

Text BradingLinUncorrectedProofs.pdf Download (308kB)

Abstract

We argue that Du Châtelet’s account of motion is an important contribution to the history of the absolute versus relative motion debate. The arguments we lay out have two main strands. First, we clarify Du Châtelet’s threefold taxonomy of motion, using Musschenbroek as a useful Newtonian foil and showing that the terminological affinity between the two is only apparent. Then, we assess Du Châtelet’s account in light of the conceptual, epistemological, and ontological challenges posed by Newton to any relational theory of motion. What we find is that, although Du Châtelet does not meet all the challenges to their full extent, her account of motion is adequate for the goal of the Principia: determining the true motions in our planetary system.

---

Export/Citation:

EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL

Social Networking:

Share |

---

Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Brading, Katherine katherine.brading@duke.edu Lin, Qiu
Keywords:	Du Châtelet, absolute motion, true motion, Newton, Musschenbroek
Subjects:	General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science Specific Sciences > Physics
Depositing User:	Katherine A. Brading
Date Deposited:	18 Nov 2024 15:22
Last Modified:	18 Nov 2024 15:22
Item ID:	24224
Journal or Publication Title:	Current Debates in Philosophy of Science.
Publisher:	Springer
Official URL:	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32375-1_3
DOI or Unique Handle:	doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32375-1_3
Subjects:	General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science Specific Sciences > Physics
Date:	2023
Page Range:	pp. 37-59
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/24224

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Altmetric.com

Actions (login required)

View Item