The Newton Wars and the Beginning of the French EnlightenmentNothing is considered more natural than the connection between Isaac Newton’s science and the modernity that came into being during the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. Terms like “Newtonianism” are routinely taken as synonyms for “Enlightenment” and “modern” thought, yet the particular conjunction of these terms has a history full of accidents and contingencies. Modern physics, for example, was not the determined result of the rational unfolding of Newton’s scientific work in the eighteenth century, nor was the Enlightenment the natural and inevitable consequence of Newton’s eighteenth-century reception. Each of these outcomes, in fact, was a contingent event produced by the particular historical developments of the early eighteenth century. A comprehensive study of public culture, The Newton Wars and the Beginning of the French Enlightenment digsbelow the surface of the commonplace narratives that link Newton with Enlightenment thought to examine the actual historical changes that brought them together in eighteenth-century time and space. Drawing on the full range of early modern scientific sources, from studied scientific treatises and academic papers to book reviews, commentaries, and private correspondence, J. B. Shank challenges the widely accepted claim that Isaac Newton’s solitary genius is the reason for his iconic status as the father of modern physics and the philosophemovement. |
Contents
1 | |
Newton and French Science before 1728 | 37 |
Part 2 The Newton Wars in France | 233 |
Instituting the French Enlightenment Diderot and dAlemberts Encyclopédie | 481 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
abbé academician academy's analytical mechanics arguments astronomers attraction authority began Bernoulli Bibliothèque Bignon Buffon calculus Cambridge Cartesian Cassini Castel century Châtelet Clairaut Corr critical critique Crousaz culture d'Alembert debate defended demonstrations Descartes Desfontaines Diderot discourse discussion dispute Dortous de Mairan edition Eighteenth eighteenth-century Eléments empirical Encyclopédie English experimental Flattened the Earth Fontenelle Fontenelle's force France further Histoire honnête Ibid institution intellectual Jesuit Johann Bernoulli Journal de Trévoux Journal des savants Leibniz Leibnizian Lettres philosophiques libertine liberty Malebranche Malebranchian mathematical mathematicians Maupertuis mémoires metaphysical modern natural philosophy Newton wars Newtonian science Oeuvres offered Oxford Paris Academy Parisian philosophical physics physique Pierre Pierre Varignon polemical political position precise Principia Privat de Molières public sphere published PVARS Réaumur Rémond de Montmort Republic of Letters Royal Academy Saurin scientific Terrall theory tion tonianism treatise universal gravitation University Press Varignon vis viva vols Voltaire Voltaire's vortical wider wrote XVIIIe siècle