Nature, the Soul, and God
Nature, the Soul, and God

Author: Jean W. Rioux

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2004-04-14

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 1725241463

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The complete title of one of the most famous works ever written, Isaac Newton's Principia, was actually Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, or "The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy". Sadly, many contemporary philosophers would be hard-pressed to say just what natural philosophy (or philosophy of nature) is all about. Without question, the philosophy of nature has received relatively less attention than ethics and metaphysics for some time. In "Nature, the Soul, and God," Jean W. Rioux has brought together a number of important readings in natural philosophy, from the Pre-Socratic philosophers and Aristotle to the 19th-century entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre. Collectively, they present three ways in which one might conceive of the natural world in a pre-scientific reflection upon the way things are: either the classical materialism of Empedocles, Democritus, and Epicurus, the formalism of Plato, or the hylomorphic view espoused and defended by Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. In the sections following the consideration of nature are selections from these representative views concerning the immortality of the soul and the existence of God. Through the medium of philosophers both ancient and modern, Rioux makes the point that one's philosophical account of the natural world will have an impact upon how one regards human nature, as well as divinity itself. It all begins with nature.

Isaac Newton and Natural Philosophy
Isaac Newton and Natural Philosophy

Author: Niccolò Guicciardini

Publisher: Reaktion Books

Published: 2018-02-15

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 1780239483

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Isaac Newton is one of the greatest scientists in history, yet the spectrum of his interests was much broader than that of most contemporary scientists. In fact, Newton would have defined himself not as a scientist, but as a natural philosopher. He was deeply involved in alchemical, religious, and biblical studies, and in the later part of his life he played a prominent role in British politics, economics, and the promotion of scientific research. Newton’s pivotal work Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which sets out his laws of universal gravitation and motion, is regarded as one of the most important works in the history of science. Niccolò Guicciardini’s enlightening biography offers an accessible introduction both to Newton’s celebrated research in mathematics, optics, mechanics, and astronomy and to how Newton viewed these scientific fields in relation to his quest for the deepest secrets of the universe, matter theory and religion. Guicciardini sets Newton the natural philosopher in the troubled context of the religious and political debates ongoing during Newton’s life, a life spanning the English Civil Wars, the Restoration, the Glorious Revolution, and the Hanoverian succession. Incorporating the latest Newtonian scholarship, this fast-paced biography broadens our perception of both this iconic figure and the great scientific revolution of the early modern period.

A History of Natural Philosophy
A History of Natural Philosophy

Author: Edward Grant

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2007-01-29

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 0521869315

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This book describes how natural philosophy and exact mathematical sciences joined together to make the Scientific Revolution possible.

Plato's Natural Philosophy
Plato's Natural Philosophy

Author: Thomas Kjeller Johansen

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2004-07-01

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 1107320119

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Plato's dialogue the Timaeus-Critias presents two connected accounts, that of the story of Atlantis and its defeat by ancient Athens and that of the creation of the cosmos by a divine craftsman. This book offers a unified reading of the dialogue. It tackles a wide range of interpretative and philosophical issues. Topics discussed include the function of the famous Atlantis story, the notion of cosmology as 'myth' and as 'likely', and the role of God in Platonic cosmology. Other areas commented upon are Plato's concepts of 'necessity' and 'teleology', the nature of the 'receptacle', the relationship between the soul and the body, the use of perception in cosmology, and the work's peculiar monologue form. The unifying theme is teleology: Plato's attempt to show the cosmos to be organised for the good. A central lesson which emerges is that the Timaeus is closer to Aristotle's physics than previously thought.

From Natural Philosophy to the Sciences
From Natural Philosophy to the Sciences

Author: David Cahan

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2003-09-15

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 9780226089270

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During the 19th century, much of the modern scientific enterprise took shape: scientific disciplines were formed, institutions and communities were founded and unprecedented applications to and interactions with other aspects of society and culture occurred. taught us about this exciting time and identify issues that remain unexamined or require reconsideration. They treat scientific disciplines - biology, physics, chemistry, the earth sciences, mathematics and the social sciences - in their specific intellectual and sociocultural contexts as well as the broader topics of science and medicine; science and religion; scientific institutions and communities; and science, technology and industry. From Natural Philosophy to the Sciences should be valuable for historians of science, but also of great interest to scholars of all aspects of 19th-century life and culture.

The Mechanization of Natural Philosophy
The Mechanization of Natural Philosophy

Author: Sophie Roux

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-09-26

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 9400743440

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The Mechanisation of Natural Philosophy is devoted to various aspects of the transformation of natural philosophy during the 16th and 17th centuries that is usually described as mechanical philosophy . Drawing the border between the old Aristotelianism and the « new » mechanical philosophy faces historians with a delicate task, if not an impossible mission. There were many natural philosophers who actually crossed the border between the two worlds, and, inside each of these worlds, there was a vast spectrum of doctrines, arguments and intellectual practices. The expression mechanical philosophy is burdened with ambiguities. It may refer to at least three different enterprises: a description of nature in mathematical terms; the comparison of natural phenomena to existing or imaginary machines; the use in natural philosophy of mechanical analogies, i.e. analogies conceived in terms of matter and motion alone.However mechanical philosophy is defined, its ambition was greater than its real successes. There were few mathematisations of phenomena. The machines of mechanical philosophers were not only imaginary, but had little to do with the machines of mecanicians. In most of the natural sciences, analogies in terms of matter and motion alone failed to provide satisfactory accounts of phenomena.By the same authors: Mechanics and Natural Philosophy before the Scientific Revolution (Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science 254).

Grounds of Natural Philosophy
Grounds of Natural Philosophy

Author: Margaret Cavendish

Publisher: Broadview Press

Published: 2020-02-28

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 1460406877

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This edition aims to make Margaret Cavendish’s most mature philosophical work more accessible to students and scholars of the period. Grounds of Natural Philosophy is important not only because it is Cavendish’s final articulation of her metaphysics but also because it succinctly outlines her fundamental views on “the nature of nature”—or the base substance and mechanics of all natural matter—and vividly demonstrates her probabilistic approach to philosophical enquiry. Moreover, Grounds spends considerable time discussing the human body, including the functions of the mind, a topic of growing interest to both historians of philosophy and literary scholars. This Broadview Edition opens to modern readers a vibrant, unique, and provocative voice of the past that challenges our standard view of seventeenth-century English philosophy.