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Isaac Newton and Natural Philosophy (Renaissance Lives), by Niccolò Guicciardini
PDF Download Isaac Newton and Natural Philosophy (Renaissance Lives), by Niccolò Guicciardini
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Review
"This pithy, nuanced biography of Isaac Newton examines the whole man, as a scientist born into the tumultuous seventeenth century and as an icon (and puzzle) through time." (Barbara Kiser Nature)"A very fine and very accessible account of one of science’s outstanding figures. . . . Newton’s life is unfolded within a rich historical context, including much more than just the optical and gravitational science which immortalized his name. . . . Guicciardini is very well placed to deal with the technical aspects of Newton’s achievement, especially in optics, mechanics, and gravitation theory, all of which he treats in considerable detail, and with great lucidity." (Allan Chapman Observatory Magazine)"This book is a very readable discussion of Newton’s researches into mathematics, optics, dynamics, and astronomy and how he set them into the context of speculations regarding the nature of matter itself and religion; but it is his work in physics, astronomy, and mathematics that has stood the test of time . . . Guicciardini is a Newtonian scholar with an international reputation. He draws on the work of many eminent academics, as well as his own detailed knowledge and understanding of both Newton’s published work and his unpublished manuscripts and private correspondence. The text is enlivened with illustrations (many in color) either drawn directly from Newton’s works to aid the following of a written argument, or to complement the text in some other way. . . . This book may well provide you with fresh ideas and insights on how to present classical mechanics." (Rick Marshall Physics Education)"What is there to be gained from another biographical treatment of Isaac Newton? This book is for those who are interested not so much in the biographical but the intellectual details. What specific puzzles did Newton face, how did he address them, and how did they shape his overall scientific oeuvre? Guicciardini presents in a short volume what until now had been treated mainly by specialists in the history of mathematics or physics. . . . Guicciardini’s book is a model for how to approach the work of an innovator like Newton not only historically but also philosophically." (Robert P. Crease History of Physics Newsletter)“In this elegant and perceptive biography, one of the leading scholars of Isaac Newton’s career provides a clear and often startling summary of the life of one of the greatest early modern scholars and philosophers of nature. With considerable intellectual balance and literary vigour, this book explores the full range of Newton’s achievements, both in the mathematics and natural philosophy which laid the foundations of his cosmology and mechanics, and his strenuously reasoned and absorbing analysis of scripture and prophecy, alchemy and apocalypse. Guicciardini is especially keen to put Newton back into the world where he labored and flourished, a milieu he shows was very different from that of current sciences or of modern religious thought to which Newton’s enterprise nevertheless made the most decisive contributions. The book offers a fascinating introduction to the aims and achievements of a towering figure of European intellectual culture.” (Simon Schaffer, University of Cambridge)
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About the Author
Niccolò Guicciardini teaches history of science at the University of Bergamo, Italy. He is the author of Reading the Principia: The Debate on Newton’s Mathematical Methods for Natural Philosophy from 1687 to 1736 and Isaac Newton on Mathematical Certainty and Method.
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Product details
Series: Renaissance Lives
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Reaktion Books (March 15, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1780239068
ISBN-13: 978-1780239064
Product Dimensions:
5.5 x 1.1 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
5.0 out of 5 stars
1 customer review
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#301,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
What should one make of “the two Newtons†(19)—the mathematician and the mystic? Newton was a veritable “last of the Sumerians, a mystical restorer of esoteric pagan wisdom†(19), who spent more time “bent over a steaming crucible in search of the philosopher’s stone†(104) than he did calculating planetary orbits. It is tempting for us to ask what drove such a brilliant scientific mind to such an obsession with alchemy and the hermeneutics of ancient religious texts.But perhaps we are asking the wrong question. Perhaps the anomaly to be explained is not Newton’s mysticism but his mathematics. “Newton’s interests in alchemy, chronology, biblical prophecies and Church history … would not have seemed unusual to his contemporaries†(20). “Prestigious status [was] conferred on practitioners in such … erudite field[s]†(190). Mathematics, on the other hand, was treated with some suspicion. It was dangerously close to having “atheistic consequences†insofar as reducing the physical world to “inescapable rules†left creation “independent of the providential action of God†(40). Its claim to absolute certainty was also undesirable: “Many natural philosophers in the Royal Society wished to allay any fears that they might propose ‘unquestionable’ or ‘dogmatic’ conclusions. Politically opinionated philosophers or dogmatic theologians were not admitted in the society, which instead promoted innocuous, moderate scepticism. … Any discourse presuming to certainty was looked upon with suspicion.†(83-84)Indeed, Newton’s interest in esoteric and religious subjects seems to have been very genuine, whereas he ended up in mathematics almost involuntarily, “not due to any choice on his part but to the fact that his mind was extraordinarily equipped for mathematical inventiveness†(35).Once in mathematics, Newton let it dictate the lead in all his work to an unprecedented extent. He dismissed qualitative and philosophical modes of doing science, deriding such speculations as “no difficult matter†(88). Instead he held that “mathematical regularities deduced with certainty from phenomena†(88) were sufficient in themselves, even though this meant his science was “devoid of physical meaning†(8) in the eyes of many contemporaries. Similarly, the deeply mathematical Principia was largely “foreign … to the [Royal] Society, whose members espoused the Baconian ideal of an experimental philosophy accessible for public discussion and beneficial to human welfare†(153).“Philosophy was for Newton a necessity rather than a vocation, a defensive strategy rather than a chosen line of research.†(180) When he did engage in it, his method was to extrapolate philosophical conclusions from mathematical results. The material nature and causal structure of e.g. planetary motion should not be sought in philosophical reflections but in mathematical results. For example, gravity “operates not according to the quantity of the surfaces of the particles upon which it acts (as mechanical causes use to do) but according to the quantity of the solid matter which they contain†(210), and hence the vortex theory of planetary motion should be dismissed. Thus a metaphysical conclusion is drawn as a corollary of a mathematical result—a form of argument giving mathematics a priority over other fields that few of Newton’s contemporaries would have granted. Similarly, “Newton’s defence of absolute space and time is based on his conviction that these notions are presupposed by good scientific practice†(166), that is to say, the mathematical theory demands them and this is reason enough to postulate them—in contrast to people like Descartes and Leibniz who found this abhorrent on purely epistemological grounds.Mathematics affords religious conclusions as well. The stable trajectories of the solar system are so unlikely to have arisen by chance that they must be attributed to “an intelligent agent … very well skilled in Mechanics and Geometry†(200), who furthermore “intervenes with a ‘continuous miracle’ to stop the stars from falling … onto each other†(202).The history of ancient civilisations is another field where conventional arguments and evidence must yield to mathematics. “Newton brought to chronology methodological innovations that depended upon his expertise in natural philosophy. … [He] received sharp criticisms from the humanists …, who thought that the discipline should be founded on antiquarian and textual evidence. Newton instead resorted to a complex argument in which the hermeneutics of classical sources were mingled with astronomical calculations on the precession of the equinoxes.†(190)Newton’s somewhat elitist emphasis on mathematics as the subject to rule them all, and readiness to radically dismiss much contemporary work on the basis of this principle, fit well with his personality and beliefs.Newton was “convinced that he was part of a circle of chosen ones†(130) and had little respect for those who were not. He kept much of his work secret—an “extremely peculiar approach to the publication and promotion of his ideas†(20). Attempts to engage with others usually led to “violent dispute†(195), which Newton approached with “a fierce, polemical vehemence†(136). He was convinced most people lived in sin and delusional beliefs. He adhered to a heretical religious faith, “which, if it had become public, would have completely compromised his academic and political career†(28). “Manuscripts survive in which Newton explains the rules for maximizing concentration in research and avoiding the temptations of worldly pleasures which he the lists in … detail … bordering on the pornographic.†(34) “As far as we know, Newton remained a virgin†all his life (33).“The position of professor allowed him to devote himself to research, almost undisturbed†for much of his life (76), his teaching being “perhaps almost non-existent†(79). His misanthropic tendencies were no less marked when he became a more public figure. “During his long presidency†he ruled the Royal Society “as an absolute monarch†(187-188), for instance “forcibly†confiscating the records of the Royal Observatory when the Astronomer Royal did not collaborate to his liking (187). He took “a morbid pleasure in sending counterfeiters to the gallows†(185) when his appointment at the Mint put him in a position to do so.Newton’s dislike of his fellow man was accompanied by great respect for ancient wisdom (one is tempted to call it an “equal and opposite†force in the manner of his third law). In mathematics, he had “a critical attitude, bordering on contempt, with regard to the algebraic methods of the ‘Moderns’,†but “nothing short of veneration†for “the ‘Ancients’†(52). In religion, he was convinced that “corrupters … had ‘twisted the meaning’ of Holy Writ†(125). The Ancients “knew truths that concerned not only God … but Creation itself,†including “astronomical and physical knowledge that Newton tried to ‘restore’†(137). “This ancient wisdom … was kept hidden from the common people through an esoteric language†(138). For example, “ancient Greek-Roman mythology concealed instructions for alchemical recipes,†according to an allegory in which “the gods were associated with the planets, [and] the planets with metals†(114).
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