Newton’s notion and practice of unification

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 36 (1):61-78 (2005)
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Abstract

n this paper I deal with a neglected topic with respect to unification in Newton’s Principia. I will clarify Newton’s notion and practice of unification . In order to do so, I will use the recent theories on unification as tools of analysis . I will argue, after showing that neither Kitcher’s nor Schurz’s account aptly capture Newton’s notion and practice of unification, that Salmon’s later work is a good starting point for analysing this notion and its practice in the Principia. Finally, I will supplement Salmon’s account in order to answer the question at stake.Keywords: Explanation; Isaac Newton; Principia; Unification

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Steffen Ducheyne
University of Ghent

Citations of this work

Understanding (in) Newton’s Argument for Universal Gravitation.Steffen Ducheyne - 2009 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 40 (2):227-258.
The argument(s) for universal gravitation.Steffen Ducheyne - 2006 - Foundations of Science 11 (4):419-447.
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References found in this work

The methodology of scientific research programmes.Imre Lakatos - 1978 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
Explanatory unification.Philip Kitcher - 1981 - Philosophy of Science 48 (4):507-531.
Explanatory unification and the causal structure of the world.Philip Kitcher - 1989 - In Philip Kitcher & Wesley Salmon (eds.), Scientific Explanation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp. 410-505.
Four Decades of Scientific Explanation.Wesley C. Salmon & Anne Fagot-Largeault - 1989 - History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 16 (2):355.

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