Asset Details
Do you wish to reserve the book?
The Cartesian background: England and France
Hey, we have placed the reservation for you!
By the way, why not check out events that you can attend while you pick your title.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place the reservation. Kindly try again later.
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
The Cartesian background: England and France
Do you wish to request the book?
The Cartesian background: England and France
Please be aware that the book you have requested cannot be checked out. If you would like to checkout this book, you can reserve another copy
We have requested the book for you!
Your request is successful and it will be processed during the Library working hours. Please check the status of your request in My Requests.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place your request. Kindly try again later.
Journal Article
The Cartesian background: England and France
2024
Overview
The 17th and 18th century opposition between Cartesian and Newtonian science is often depicted as a contest between
a priorism
and speculation on one hand, and observation and mathematical proof on the other, one of which won out. This is a simplification. In 17th century England Cartesian natural philosophy, including the vortex theory of the planetary orbits, was (intentionally) easy to understand. It was seen however as poorly disguised atheism and widely disparaged on that account by influential theologians. Amongst the 18th century French
philosophes,
this aspect of Cartesianism was hardly a problem. Newtonianism now denoted an appetite for exciting experimental demonstrations as against the dead letter of scientific books, including not only René Descartes’s
Principles
but also Isaac Newton’s (for most readers) largely impenetrable
Principia
.
Publisher
IOP Publishing
Subject
