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. |
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Contents
| 1 | |
| 37 | |
Part 2 The Newton Wars in France | 233 |
Instituting the French Enlightenment Diderot and dAlemberts Encyclopédie | 481 |
Bibliography | 507 |
Index | 549 |
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abbé academician academy’s analytical mechanics appeared arguments astronomers attraction authority began Bernoulli Bibliothèque Bignon Buffon calculus Cartesian Cassini Castel century Châtelet Clairaut Clarke’s controversy Corr critical critique Crousaz culture d’Alembert debate decades defended demonstrations Descartes Desfontaines Diderot discourse discussion dispute Dortous de Mairan edition eighteenth eighteenth-century Eléments Éloge empirical Encyclopédie English experimental Flattened the Earth Fontenelle Fontenelle’s force France further Gamaches HARS-Mem honnête Ibid intellectual Jesuit Johann Bernoulli Journal de Trévoux Journal des savants l’Académie Leibniz Leibnizian Lettres philosophiques libertine liberty Malebranche Malebranchian mathematical mathematicians Maupertuis mémoires metaphysical modern natural philosophy Newton wars Newton’s Principia Newtonian science offered Paris Academy Parisian philosophical physics physique Pierre polemical political position precise principles Privat de Molières public sphere published PVARS reason Réaumur Rémond de Montmort Republic of Letters Royal Academy Saurin scandal scientific Terrall tion tonianism treatise universal gravitation Varignon vis viva Voltaire Voltaire’s vortical wider wrote
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Newton Wars and the Beginning of the French Enlightenment |
| Author | J. B. Shank |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press, 2008 |
| ISBN | 0226749479, 9780226749471 |
| Length | 464 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / Europe / France Science / General Science / History Science / Physics / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |