The Experiments of Willem Jacob ’s Gravesande. A Validation of Leibnizian Dynamics against Newton? - Université Paris Nanterre
Book Sections Year : 2018

The Experiments of Willem Jacob ’s Gravesande. A Validation of Leibnizian Dynamics against Newton?

Anne-Lise Rey

Abstract

In 1720, Willem Jacob ’s Gravesande wrote Physicis elementa mathematica, experimentis confirmata. Sive introductio ad philosophiam Newtonianam (An Introduction to Sir Isaac Newton’s Philosophy; or, Mathematical Elements of Natural Philosophy, Confirmed by Experiments). Although he was undoubtedly one of the most important popularizers of Newtonian physics, experimental methodology and epistemology in the 1720s, his empirical claim somehow backfired: in applying tenets of Newtonian methodology, he was ultimately led to validate the Leibnizian principle of the conservation of living forces, contrary to the Newtonians. This conclusion invited a great deal of anger, particularly from Samuel Clarke who, in a volume of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society from 1729, accused ’s Gravesande of having written the book with the aim of “darkening Newton’s philosophy”. In a reply, which ’s Gravesande published as a supplement to his Essay upon a New Theory of the Collision of Bodies, he developed a hybrid methodology that relied upon both experimentation and reason. In my paper, I shall thoroughly analyse this interesting combination.
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hal-04450603 , version 1 (10-02-2024)

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  • HAL Id : hal-04450603 , version 1

Cite

Anne-Lise Rey. The Experiments of Willem Jacob ’s Gravesande. A Validation of Leibnizian Dynamics against Newton?. Siegfried Bodenmann, Anne-Lise Rey. What does it mean to be an empiricist? Empiricisms in Eighteenth-Century Science., Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of science, 331, Springer, pp.71-85, 2018. ⟨hal-04450603⟩
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